dimorphorchis lowii questions

[palm521]

i got the farmington x sib at orchidweb (great guys to do business with) a few months back, around march 2013)

i have not seem any activity whatsoever , no new roots the new leaf is not growing, so the plant seems to be totally dormant (the plant lost a couple of old roots too and a old leaf) besides that it looks in good shape (light green due to the light exposure)

i do know that dimorphorchis is kinda a slow grower, some people say it is easy to grow , (based on the video you can see at orchidweb) some others say it is hard, any opinions?

condition wise, it is now sitting in a basket with tree ferm , some bits of bark (pine that was treated to clean it from tannins ) and a bit of sphagnum moss. temps are 29 celsius at day 15C (average) at night, humidity is constantly high over 65%. around 2600FC , and a fan blowing constantly inside my greenhouse.

i do understand that conditions varies and it is hard to provide an advice, but i am curious to see if other people have experienced the dormant state with dimorphorchis lowii as i am experiencing.

Thanks!

Antonio.

[Brooke]

I have both Dimorphorchis, lowii and rossii and have had them for over two years. I have bloomed the rossii twice but all I get is foliage and roots on the lowii.

The rossii is in a basket with pieces of bark, grows in Catt light with the foliage getting purple dots on them. It gets watered on sunny days, winter and summer. It freely grows new leaves but the roots are slower growing but they don't ever lose their growing tips.

The rossii sits right next to it and gets the same care but with much different results.

I wish I could give you a better answer but when it blooms, it will be very entertaining. Good luck with it.

Brooke

[palm521]

thanks brook,

I am yet to find the rossi, but for me (living in mexico) , it is an adventure to get plants , however people in here is creative. that is how I got plenty of my "exotic" orchids in mexico.

as a side note, I smuggled my the lowii to mexico in my luggage, bare root in a transparent plastic bag with some sphagnum moss covering the roots.

might be (part?) of the reason that it is not doing anything.?

Cheers!

Antonio.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Plants definitely do need an adjustment period, so moving an orchid from one environment to another will definitely cause the plant to delay certain growth patterns.

Blooming could also be a seasonal issue.

Addressing the question as to whether or not Dimorphorchis lowii is difficult to grow or not...

I've got a small Dimorphorchis lowii seedling, (about 3/4" tall), I've not found it difficult to grow at all! It just grows ridiculously slow. Where my Vandas are already showing signs of growth, the Dimorphorchis lowii just looks like it has done absolutely nothing!

[palm521]

found out that the plant is now starting to bring new roots, (secondary ones) , counted at least 5 new root tips, coming out from old roots.and yes plant is a quite slow grower. my plant is around 30-40 cms tall. many thanks to Jerry fisher (orchidweb) for all the emailing and support given with this plant. there is not much on the web about its culture. (i do have the farmignton x self clone, which is far more compact that the ones in nature)

in comparison , it makes my vandopsis gigantea a really fast grower LOL.

Antonio.