Angraecum sesquipedale, the Comet Orchid!

[Tricho]

Originally Posted by Rosim_in_BR

Tricho, whatever are the species you are growing, Angraecums are rewarding orchids and you won't regret growing them!

Presently I have

Angraecum didieri
Angraecum eichlerianum
Angraecum elephantinum
Angraecum germinyanum
Angraecum scottianum

But I will order more soon. Next year I should start so see flowers.
I'm starting to have a weak spot for african species.

[Tindomul]

Thricho, have you had luck blooming them?

[cb977]

A lot of us are trying to grow Angraecum scottianum as it was our chosen 'chid in OB's Project 2...
any secrets?

[Tricho]

sorry, not yet. There are new here.

My friend has every Angraecum mounted (due to the cold and very high humidity here in Portugal in the winter, it is the solution to avoid rot) and gives them a lot of light. Really a lot, by most people standards.

[cb977]

Thanks Tricho

[Barbara]

So beautiful, I have one of these after seeing it flower at my orchid supplier. I couldn't get over how HUGE the flower is, and it's very striking. Your plant doesn't look very big...perhaps my little fella will bloom within the year. I've heard that some will flower at a young age. I'm finding that my sesquipedale is growing alot of roots very quickly.

[starwhiz]

Congrats on the flower. It must be the coldness and humidity in Portugal that help flower this species. How often does a Angraecums flower?

[Oscarman]

Mauro that is very nice. I have been fascinated with this species since seeing it at our last show. How do you grow it? Yours seems like a small plant with 2 large blooms.

[Rosim_in_BR]

Originally Posted by Oscarman

How do you grow it? Yours seems like a small plant with 2 large blooms.

Hi Oscarman, sorry for the delay - I had not seen you post before.
Yes, my plant is far from what this Angraecum can be as to the size. It is barely higher than 10" and also 10" leaf span. For a sesquipedale, it is in fact still small. I had a larger plant before that always gave two flower stems with five huge flowers on each one.
I grow this in a transparent plastic pot using tree fern fiber as medium. I mean, I grew it that way until two months ago when I decided to switch to sphagnum moss (that cost me one of the two spikes the plant was developing!). I did that because the medium was very old and I was loosing root tips. Anyway, the plant is holding a pod and seems to be happy now.
Another important thing, it likes lots of light. I fertilize it regularly, but not as heavily as I do with Vandas. Watering follows the Cattleya cycle. Hope this can help. If you need anything else, please just let me know.