Echinolabium bloom

[smweaver]

That bloom is outstanding. How old/big is your plant? I have this species, and although it grows very well for me, that seems like all it ever wants to do. I have yet to see any flowers, although the plant itself is attractive in its own right.

Steve

[Norton]

Steve, I am not sure of the exact age but I can tell you it is quite large. It has twenty or so pseudobulbs and some of the leaves are a foot long. Currently it resides in an eight inch plastic basket. The plant is putting out at least three new growths right now and its rapidly running out of room. Once it finishes blooming I will have to move it into a ten inch basket. Not really looking forward to that! I am curious as to how big this plant can get but would hate to upset it!

[smweaver]

Thanks for your response. That sounds like a great specimen plant you have. I don't think this species reacts badly to being repotted. Mine doesn't seem to be set back at all whenever it gets repotted (of course, mine also doesn't apparently care to bloom, so maybe it's showing its resentment by simply putting on more growths rather than producing flowers).

[Tindomul]

Wow, look at the lip on that thing! Wow. Ok its on my list now! The rotten meat smell is just the icing on the cake! Love it when I tell my family I just got a plant whose blooms smells bad.

[boytjie]

Originally Posted by Norton

Currently it resides in an eight inch plastic basket. The plant is putting out at least three new growths right now and its rapidly running out of room. Once it finishes blooming I will have to move it into a ten inch basket. Not really looking forward to that!

Rather than tearing out and repotting the whole plant, you might try just plopping the eight inch basket right inside the new ten inch one, plant and all, and then filling in around it with whatever potting medium you're using. No root disturbance at all, and new growths will just climb over the rim of the old basket and expand into the new one. I've done that with a number of my plants, including Bulbos, and it worked out really well!

[Norton]

I got up the courage to pull this plant out of its basket and place it in a 10 inch water lilly basket. A couple months later its still blooming (3 spikes now) and growing like a weed. One thing that puzzles me about this plant is it will not open two blooms at once. Each spike blooms sequentially of course, but even with three spikes going at once only one will open at a time. Has anybody ever seen one with two blooms open at once?