Phaius tankervilliae alba. Dry winter is a must?
 

Hi All, not sure if this is my first or second post.
Been watching for a few years now.

I came across the possibility of having one of these orchids, but Im very unfamiliar with terrestrial orchids.

I have dozens of others and are fairly easy to care and bloom like cattleyas, maxillarias, epidendrum, coelogyne, sobralia, etc,etc... But some websites describe these as easy. Other places describe them as very prone to rot if a strict winter with no rain is not respected. Do they really really need a strictly dry winter in order to bloom... lets say like a Dendrobium section nobile. Or are they much more forgiving and might bloom no matter what?

Thankks guys.
elj.

First of all for nobile dendrobiums and other, similar plants, it's really not "no water" that makes for a rest, it's "no fertilizer". Folks growing them in semi-hydroponics continue watering but with no food whatsoever.

That said, I don't think there's much of a parallel with phaius. Attached is a screencap from Orchid Wiz:

Thanks for your reply.
Well the ambition of the thread was not to discuss Dendrobium or to go to the "book" regarding P tankervilliae culture. That screenshot is good but Its similar to what I've already read.

I was hoping for someone to share if this plant can indeed be heavily watered in cool weather and survive and flower profuselly.

There are countless orchids that you read online that need a dry rest, can't get water in cool weather...etc... and they actually thrive and flower even when those conditions are not met in my home. Just trying to see that with this plant.

From what I know of how they grow, Phaius don't want to dry out ever. The descriptions I see of habitat for this species indicate that it's damp pretty much all the time. It comes from a wide range of elevations, so should thrive in any climate that is frost-free. I don't grow this particular one, do have a hybrid Phaius, and my challenge is keeping it wet enough. Just in general, when it is cold and wet, water less, in winter just water early in the day so things can dry out a bit before the eveinng chill.

Just for the record, for most orchids I ignore the "dry winter rest" advice, my climate is much too dry for that. They bloom anyway, orchids don't read the books or the 'net :biggrin: . A few excpetions where "dry" means "dry", but this is not one of them.

That is precisely why I posted that screencap. The last couple of sentences state that amount of water and fertilizer is directly correlated to the temperature.

Elj., just to clarify...you are growing it outside, right?
May I ask you where you live in Portugal?

Yes, indeed. You got my point Roberta. Sometimes the information available is very conservative and "thread with caution when watering" like... I get it that some orchids can and are finicky but some are as tough as nails so I just wanted to get a feel on where on the scale is Ph. tankervilliae.
As a rule of thumb we all know to water less when the temperatures are low, and the lower, the less water and so on and so fourth like Ray pointed. But what if this is not an option for the keeper?


Rbarata, I'm in Porto area...

A dry plant can tolerate lower temperatures than a wet one. If night temperatures are going down to near freezing, probably time to not water. But in a mostly-frost-free region, that would be for a few days, not for months. In nature, in the regions where most orchids grow, it may not rain much in winter, but there is humidity and dew so plants aren't really severely dried. Where I live, it is usually quite dry, not much dew and only irregular rain. So the "conventional wisdom" needs adjustments.

You're in a Mediterranean climate. I would guess the amount of rain you get varies a lot in different Winters. Many plants can tolerate a relatively dry Winter, but might have trouble during a wet year. I grow a lot of Mediterranean climate bulbs outdoors fully exposed during their growing season, but people in northern California must cover them during rainy years.

Roberta lives with a climate much like yours. I have in the past. My Winters now are much like yours, but my summers are hotter, and we have a monsoon with rain.

Phaius tankervilliae is from a wide area of southeast Asia into the Himalaya region. So it would tend to get summer monssonal rains, in winter much less rain but humidity and heavy dew. And being pretty much terrestrial, would get moisture from the damp soil even it not actually raining. Epiphytes would be more adapted to drying out than terrestrials would be, I think.