It's Growing! Angraecum didieri

[GardenTheater]

A while back I received this mounted plant with Spanish Moss for covering the roots. I have decent humidity in my kitchen window, but was wondering if the Spanish Moss would survive...let alone the plant.

Angcm. didieri by Gardentheater, on Flickr

Happy to report both Spanish Moss and Didieri are thriving in the kitchen window.

Angraecum and Ghost Orchid by Gardentheater, on Flickr

Didieri even is producing new leaves and two new shoots. Here is a photo of a new shoot! Or is that a bud??? Woohoo either way!!!!

Angraecum didieri shoot by Gardentheater, on Flickr

[ALToronto]

That's a bud. Congratulations! Your kitchen will smell heavenly for a month. It's a big dideri, too - mine is tiny, but still blooms every 3 months or so.

[GardenTheater]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

That's a bud. Congratulations! Your kitchen will smell heavenly for a month. It's a big dideri, too - mine is tiny, but still blooms every 3 months or so.

Thanks ALToronto! I'm even happier that it's a bud. If I can get it to bloom as often as yours does, I'll be thrilled. I can't wait to experience the scent.

How do you grow yours so that it blooms often???

[WhiteRabbit]

Woooo!!!!!

[ALToronto]

Originally Posted by GardenTheater

Thanks ALToronto! I'm even happier that it's a bud. If I can get it to bloom as often as yours does, I'll be thrilled. I can't wait to experience the scent.

How do you grow yours so that it blooms often???

I don't do anything special for it. It's in a 2" pot with very coarse bark, and I water it every other day or two days. I use RO water with about 20 ppm N fertilizer (much lower concentration than anything on a label), and I alternate between 3 different fertilizers: K-Lite, Neptune's Harvest and Dyna-Gro Grow. About once a month I add KelpMax to K-Lite. It's on a south facing windowsill, with 70% humidity in the summer, 50% in the winter.

[GardenTheater]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

I don't do anything special for it. It's in a 2" pot with very coarse bark, and I water it every other day or two days. I use RO water with about 20 ppm N fertilizer (much lower concentration than anything on a label), and I alternate between 3 different fertilizers: K-Lite, Neptune's Harvest and Dyna-Gro Grow. About once a month I add KelpMax to K-Lite. It's on a south facing windowsill, with 70% humidity in the summer, 50% in the winter.

Thanks for the information. I'm going to check out the micronutrients in the fertilizers you use. Currently I just use DynaGro and might want to try rotating. Also, I've purchased a bag of powered stuff from an orchid vendor. Don't recall the brand and haven't tried it yet. My tap water comes from snow melt and the large greenhouse growers (even Masdies) use it on everything. They basically looked at me like I was nuts for buying distilled water and now I use tap water too. However if I lived 30 miles south of here, I'd have poor quality water.

[Bud]

That's a mitten=therefore its going to be a flower....you also have high humidity by looking at your gauge=that will do it for both the large didieri specimen and the Spanish moss....is that a ghost orchid beside it?

[GardenTheater]

Originally Posted by Bud

That's a mitten=therefore its going to be a flower....you also have high humidity by looking at your gauge=that will do it for both the large didieri specimen and the Spanish moss....is that a ghost orchid beside it?

Thanks Bud. That is exciting that it's a bud and it looks like there's another one on the second fan. Yes, that is a mount of Ghost Orchid seedlings from Oak Hill. Kept them alive a month so far. I suspect I'm the only Ghost windowsill grower and will lose the specialness if they die LOL. Winter will be tough on them if we need to run the furnace too long or too often.

[Bud]

My didieri had three buds but only one developed into a full flower....
better read more on the ghost culture....you may want to cradle this ghosts in Spanish moss than keep it mounted....I have mine on a windowsill too and just mounted it after three years on the moss cradle....

[GardenTheater]

Sad to hear about the didieri buds. I wonder if they're sensitive to low humidity. Do you have any theories about it? Great to hear you are a windowsill Ghost grower too. I've read a ton about them, but not ready to do the heavy lifting they might need to survive. They're sink or swim. Seems pretty easy to put some Spanish Moss next to them and create a cradle.