Culture questions for Phalaenopsis gigantea!

[Cactuseed]

Thanks for asking this question. I am fascinated with this species, i have 3 seedling plants, my favorite is my avatar.
Amazing that you got a spike on so young a plant. inspiring.
I will add what you and others probably already know about gigantea: it likes more light than a typical phal, it is a slow grower, it is sensitive to repotting (doesn't like root disturbance) and hence it does well mounted (at the appropriate age)

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your kind comments and wishes!

Thanks Jarad! I really wish the pollination takes! I do like the flowers of my gigantea but i am not too picky in general. When i select a species to grow,i usually like all variation within that species

Thanks Bud! I used to think mine will take a long time to flower but found a picture of a similarly sized gigantea that flowered and kept it in the back of my mind that i may see flowers in less years than i initially thought. Then saw mine put out a spike out of the blue
I am growing mine with more direct sun than most people expose their Phalaenopsis to and that might play a role. Maybe that extra sun allowed it to build a higher energy reserve sooner and allowed it to flower while younger

I wish you success with your gigantea's Cactuseed! They are really nice plants even when small and not in bloom. I never thought my small one would be the one to flower first or that it would flower this year but it did! So grow them all well well and they may bloom for you sooner than you think


The first 2 flowers of my P. gigantea were mostly open today and since i had some free time,i decided to do a photoshoot of them and pollinate the first one with a couple of the pollinia Gregor sent me from his big Phalaenopsis gigantea(thanks a lot Gregor!!!!). Here are the pictures!






The first flower to open and the one i pollinated a little later


















The second flower to open
















The first flower to open just after pollination! You can see i have removed the anther cap and pollinia and i have pollinated the flower with pollinia from 2 flowers. The pollen sacks are visible in the photo.




Does the pollination and positioning of the pollen sacks seem correct to you? This is my first orchid pollination so i would very much appreciate your insight on that!

I hope the pollination takes!!!

[Kostas]

Here are a few updated photos of my flowering Phalaenopsis gigantea taken this past weekend! It just opened its last flower this week so opening its flowers has been a slow process so far but it seems like the flowers will last quite a bit as only the pollinated one has been slowly closing but even that one hasnt withered its petals!


















And here is a photo of the pollinated flower. It has been pollinated more than 2 weeks ago now. It closed it petals relatively fast after pollination but hasnt done much since then,just slowly closed the petals some more. Does what you see seem like the normal process for a successfully pollinated P. gigantea flower? Does it look like its gonna take and form a seed pod or not?


Thank you very much in advance!

[Brooke]

It takes a while for the bloom to totally fold and then dry out. I find it is easier to watch the ovary making slight changes when it starts to swell. The ridges get deeper before the real swelling starts.

Keep your fingers crossed it is really pollinated because sometimes it just thinks it is pregnant and you end up with cotton on the inside, not seeds.

Brooke

[Freckles.Au]

magnificent plant - very rewarding to flower i'll bet.. mine are still very young, check them out:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-one-year.html

[digriz]

Around what temperature do you keep this guy?

[camille1585]

Hi Kostas, if you're still around on OB, I was just wondering how your Phal gigantea is doing. I had been following this thread back when you first started it, and came across it again when looking up blooming information for my recently acquired gigantea baby.

Have you mounted it to a tree in your garden, or is it still a happy indoor plant? Any recent spikes?

[Ben Belton]

This is a great thread. I had never seen it before. I hope the original poster still has his plant and can post update pics.

[jkt97401]

I agree!

[NeofinetiaCanada2014]

Looks like Kostas was banned? Anyone know why? Would be nice to see him reply to this thread...


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