Phalaenopsis gigantea - long term growing project

[Dalachin]

I decided to mount my gigantea. I was growing it in a plastic pot with slits and one of the growing root tips sneaked out through a slit snd proceeded to get damaged when I removed the liner pot. My NOID phals do this and just keep growing the root, but my gigantea’s roots seem to be more sensitive, the tip turned black and stopped growing. It also started a new tiny new leaf but it seems to have stalled.

My mounted phal species orchids seem happier than my potted ones, especially if I mount them before they start looking poor… and I just happened to have a perfect piece of cork. My grow shelves are in the low 80s during the day and 70s at night, with 40-70 percent humidity. Wish me luck!

[Jinh]

Originally Posted by Dalachin

I decided to mount my gigantea. I was growing it in a plastic pot with slits and one of the growing root tips sneaked out through a slit snd proceeded to get damaged when I removed the liner pot. My NOID phals do this and just keep growing the root, but my gigantea’s roots seem to be more sensitive, the tip turned black and stopped growing. It also started a new tiny new leaf but it seems to have stalled.

My mounted phal species orchids seem happier than my potted ones, especially if I mount them before they start looking poor… and I just happened to have a perfect piece of cork. My grow shelves are in the low 80s during the day and 70s at night, with 40-70 percent humidity. Wish me luck!

How often are you having to water it mounted?

[Dalachin]

Every day! I plan to set up a mister system for the mounted orchids in the near future so daily attention is not mandatory.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

I'm thinking about getting at least one novelty Phal a try. My grow tent has the ideal condition for the gigantea, but I dont think I want to take the risk after some thought about adopting their primary hybrid instead. I learned from Norman that the Gigantea's leaf size genetic is a recessive gene that doesn't carry out to its hybrid. Which is kind of bummer.

[Jinh]

I got my P. Gigantea right at a year ago and the media I had repotted it in was starting to smell, so I begrudgingly repotted it again.

In that year it actually put out 3 new leaves (unfortunately it lost almost all its leaves while I was on vacation due to a watering system fail). I am quite happy with the root growth though.

I was going to grow it outdoors for the summer, but we had an extended drought so it wasn’t nearly as humid as it normally is. So for the past year it’s has been in an indoor grow tent where it stays 75-90 F, with 50-85% RH. It gets about 1000 FC from the grow light for roughly 14 hrs a day.

I fertilize about 1/4 strength every week, but just got a tds meter so might try pushing that a bit more.

The left photos are current, and the right are from 1 year ago when I received it.

[Toadwally]

Got a nice plant and made it better. Nice going.

[tmoney]

gigantea starship finally opened all 4 of its buds. a tough one to leave the spike growing naturally, but happy to see it in flower. thanks for the suggestion and the guidance, ob!



seems like it bloomed later than most of the other giganteas we saw posted online, so not sure what to make of that and no real data to support that observation! hahah. hope all of your giganteas are doing great!

[isurus79]

Awesome! Congrats!

[Manus]

Is it possible to grow gigantea well indoors without a greenhouse/grow chamber?

I live in zone 6b, so experience winters with fairly dry air. Indoors temperatures are kept around 70 degrees. Orchids are kept near south and east facing windows so probably get down to mid 60s overnight. They get good bright light throughout the day.

I have a collection of about 20 orchids, a mix of phals, onc, dens, and a few catleyas. I just started collecting a year ago, and most of my orchids were purchased immature, so haven't bloomed yet. With that said, all my plants - including my three catleyas - have had good new root and pseudobulb growth. All this to say, despite not living in an ideal location for orchids, and not having a growing room with humidifier/grow lights, they seem to be doing well.

I love the look of gigantea and would love to try and add one to my collection. I am reading here that they are a little finicky to grow though, so before buying one and killing it, I was hoping for some input.

[DBoro9]

Hi everyone! I’m new to the group. I recently purchased a Phal. gigantea and am trying to get an idea of the best potting mix to use. I tend to under water most of my orchids and have found the most success w/ my polychilos phals when I potted them in straight Sphagnum moss. I’ve read a lot of conflicting info about the growing medium for Phal gigantea—some sources say “fast-draining bark mix” others say “moisture-retentive sphagnum moss.” What is the group’s experience? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.