This is the third gigantea in my home and the largest. The other two belong to my partner (OB lurker @topicalgrain) who grew mostly carnivorous plants until Phalaenopsis gigantea gave him the orchid bug officially.
Personally I don't find them
that picky about warmth as long as it's not too cool.
This article that Peter Lin wrote about gigantea culture says he finds them pretty tolerant of wide temperature ranges. Norman Fang of orchids.com has a video on youtube where he discusses gigantea culture and hybrids and he also states that he doesn't grow them as warm as people think they should.
Our other two giganteas were acquired last summer and they both started growing a new leaf around November when temperatures in the house started cooling slightly.
This one pictured below is from Peter Lin. We were so excited about it that we took off work that day and drove 3 hours outside of Austin to pick it up in person. We met Peter in a police station parking lot. Still don't know what his greenhouse looks like.
This tiny one is an alba seedling from ebay that did not arrive in the best condition but is also growing a new leaf right now.
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The new plant is the Jiaho strain ('Jiaho Delight' x 'Jiaho's Best'). Roots looked pretty good to me.
I was worried about it being delayed in transit while temperatures were around 50F today. The moss it came with was a little wetter than I was comfortable with in that temperature but I dont think I see any terrible damage so far!
Now, potting it in rockwool cubes
was a bit of experimentation. Half of my Phal species collection is in the same potting setup and don't seem to hate it. Most continued growing like they were in sphag. But it's only been a few months. Time will tell.
Phal. gigantea from Norman's
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