Phalaenopsis gigantea - long term growing project

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by camille1585

The reason I say it's not a seedling (teenage plant I'd say) is that I've seen photos of smaller plants than that blooming. It could be an outlier of course or a particularly precocious strain, but I think like most Phals, "Blooming Size" is smaller than you'd think. I managed to dig up the thread again, a member from Greece got a nice spike on his relatively small plant.

Culture questions for Phalaenopsis gigantea!

ah, i see! it makes sense with slower growers that they would take longer to reach full size. and your right that all the phal seedlings we have started out much smaller than that!!

thanks for that link! what a nice little plant that was, eh?! so with our spike starting a week later, our goal is late feb blooming. where’s roberta? i need my daily dose of “patience”....

[Dalachin]

Thanks for the thread Camille, lovely pictures. That one is definitely smaller than mine and blooming. A shame the user is no longer here to update us!

I stand corrected, mine is probably not a seedling, the seller said "mature size." But it is in a 2.5 inch pot, and when I got it I repotted it right back into that pot since the roots didn't really need anything larger... so I'm skeptical about what "mature" really means. I like "teenager" as a description.

[Mr.Fakename]

Well, it's taken approximately... decades, I think? - but the first flowers are finally opening.

I wanted red dots on a white background and got exactly that, not too bad!
Decent shape and pattern; I'm looking forward to future, improved blooms.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Mr.Fakename

Well, it's taken approximately... decades, I think? - but the first flowers are finally opening.

I wanted red dots on a white background and got exactly that, not too bad!
Decent shape and pattern; I'm looking forward to future, improved blooms.

Fantastic, well done!!!! I can certainly appreciate the amount of patience involved when it comes to gigas....

---------- Post added at 10:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 AM ----------

I've been a bit MIA lately, work is keeping me super busy and I've been really, really busy with some knitting projects as Christmas gifts.

I just wanted to share some photos of my giga. It's a really happy looking plant despite the lack of blooms (now have 2 stalled spike nubbins). This year's leaf is going to be enormous, it's not fully grown but already 32cm (12in) long. It's also never had so many leaves at once; currently 5, and it used to be maximum 3. I will need to 3D print a studier net pot as the pressure from the roots is breaking it in places...

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I just wanted to share some photos of my giga. It's a really happy looking plant despite the lack of blooms (now have 2 stalled spike nubbins). This year's leaf is going to be enormous

sorry to hear that camille. i mean the leaf being enourmous is great, but really...that's wierd that it won't spike given how long and how good it looks.

can only send good vibes the plants way!

edit to say: that light doesn't do the pant any justice, hahahaha! sorry....they are horrible for pics, no?!?!

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by tmoney

sorry to hear that camille. i mean the leaf being enourmous is great, but really...that's wierd that it won't spike given how long and how good it looks.

can only send good vibes the plants way!

edit to say: that light doesn't do the pant any justice, hahahaha! sorry....they are horrible for pics, no?!?!

Isn't artificial lighting just terrible??? I took a few photos on the shelves before giving up and holding the plant near the window!

I'm hopeful it will have sufficient energy stored up to bloom next year. Of course it might get mad at me this winter for keeping it too cool (we turned down the thermostat to 18C, but luckily under the lights it goes up to 21-22C...).

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Isn't artificial lighting just terrible??? I took a few photos on the shelves before giving up and holding the plant near the window!

I'm hopeful it will have sufficient energy stored up to bloom next year. Of course it might get mad at me this winter for keeping it too cool (we turned down the thermostat to 18C, but luckily under the lights it goes up to 21-22C...).

best of luck! our temps are lower as well...some mornings it’s about 16 in the room. but thankfully the spike is still growing. you guys all make me nervous!!

[Jinh]

I’m happy to report my Gigantea is growing its third(!) leaf for this year. Unfortunately it isn’t much to look at right now, I went to Sweden for 2 weeks in August and I thought I had set up a sufficient watering system.

I returned to discover I had not, and all 4 of my leaves were yellowed, leaving only half a green leaf. I was pretty sure I had killed it. But 2 weeks later a new leaf started at the end of August and then in mid November it started its third for the year.

The second leaf is 2-3 inches smaller than the previous ones, and of course the third is still growing. So sadly, I set it back a bit and it looks a bit ratchet, but I suppose at least it means it must have a healthy root system.

I’m hoping to repot it as soon as this new leaf finishes to what I would like to be its final setup.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by Mr.Fakename

Well, it's taken approximately... decades, I think? - but the first flowers are finally opening.

I wanted red dots on a white background and got exactly that, not too bad!
Decent shape and pattern; I'm looking forward to future, improved blooms.

Did you reach a conclusion on whether it needed a cold spell, more, or less light to bloom?

[Mr.Fakename]

Originally Posted by tmoney

yo mr. fakename! you’re back! how are those little gigantea alba seedlings you got doing? the one we kept from your little group is still doing well, but those things have a few years before flowering i think, hahaha....

All the plants died, except for the micholitzii, tetraspsis and one javanica alba. You shoud've kept them all
I'll be moving again again again in the coming weeks, maybe I'll restart a Phal collection.

Originally Posted by MateoinLosAngeles

Did you reach a conclusion on whether it needed a cold spell, more, or less light to bloom?

Nope it just bloomed on its own, so I would say that as long as you keep it well fed and it can get sufficient light, it'll do its own thing in due time.

I chatted with a commercial grower about gigantea and the fact that his personal plant was in very shady position, he said his wouldn't bloom reliably but would get massive leaves.
He insisted on the fact that while potted it never initiated a spike, but bloomed after he mounted it on cork and the plant got a bigger root system and was able to anchor itself.