I haven't posted a blog post for a long time; it has been hellish with work... But spring is here! We are finally going to say bye-bye to snow, which should be gone in a couple days around here! This winter and spring was extremely warm for us.
I'm excited to finally see this little guy flowering! It is similar to Phalaenopsis lobbii. I think the flower is supposed to be quite a bit smaller than P. lobbii. I've had this plant for about 3-4 years. It has been sending out the flower shoots every year, but it has never completed flowering. Usually, it makes 2-3 flower shoots, but it doesn't develop flower buds, and the shoot become yellow in the summer time. It produced two shoots this year, and opened only 1 flower, but better than nothing! I'm guessing that it may want to have more seasonality, but I didn't do anything special this year. So I still don't know why it managed to flower this year.
This species was originally described from Malipo, China. So I'm guessing that it is probably deciduous in nature. In 2013, it dropped all of the leaves, but it was in June! At that time, I was quite a bit worried since it seemed to be confused about the season. Since then, it hasn't dropped all leaves.
I'm recently growing it in cool-end of intermediate; max/min temperature is around 28/18C (82/65F) in the summer and 18/13C (65/55F) in winter. Relative humidity is usually around 75-80%. Fairly shady condition. I haven't given formal winter rest, so it gets watered every day. It is fertilized for every watering with 20-30ppmN MSU. In the winter, I may use fertilizer for every 2-3 days.
From a couple years of my observation, my plant sends up the flowering shoots in late fall to early winter, and they reach to almost full length by December, but the flowering buds are not formed. Then they stay like sticks during the winter. Around February to March, the buds start to appear on the shoots. When the plant wasn't strong, it didn't form the buds; the flower shoots appears in early winter, but buds didn't form. The flowering shoots goes brown in the summer time. It is kind of interesting growth pattern, but I'm not sure if it is a natural behavior.
Spring time in Alaska is short, but it is exciting. Here is a link to video of a song which takes place in Fairbanks:
Johnny Horton - When It's Springtime In Alaska (it's forty below).
Updates from March 28, 2018
It has been a reliable bloomer, but the number of the flowering shoots and flowers have been increasing. In the winter of 2017-2018, it has experienced cooler night (10C, 50F). Also, I have been watering every other day instead of every day for over a year (both summer and winter). The plant had best flowering this year. I don't think this slight change in the culture was the reason. It is more likely that the plant is getting more mature.
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