Phalaenopsis Spiketacular Update

If you remember this post from last year: Phalaenopsis Spiketacular , the blooms have finally begun! No bud blast from the move.

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with mottled leaves:

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with solid purple blooms:

 

NOID Variegated Mini Phalaenopsis:

NOID "Medium" Phal, white flowers:

Not pictured: 

Phalaenopsis stuartina x sib. The spike is far behind all these mini phals. Hybrids are typically stronger and faster growers, this being my only species, that could explain it's lagging behind. 

Dtps. Kenneth Schubert, finally dropped it's last bud.

I'll put up some more pictures once everything has opened!

My NOID Stapelia is going to bloom

I bought this at a Home Depot in the spring. Although I prefer to buy labeled plants, (or at least ones I can ID,) I figured this one would be a fun surprise to see what species or hybrid it ended up being.

I then had the idea to email Costa Farms, my Home Depot supplier, and see if maybe they could ID it early, (Patience is not my strong point.) I wasn't sure if they'd answer ID request emails, so I sent them a basic request for maybe just the list of what Stapediads they sold/grew/whatever. I got a reply about a day later asking for a picture to ID it with, which originally exceeded my expectations.

I sent them a few pictures, and then never got a reply. Just to see if maybe that was a fluke I emailed them for a cactus ID about a month later from a different email account (including pictures) and got nothing back about that one either. Maybe if I asked a really general culture question about a very common plant they would be able to give me a generic reply letter back and all would be well. Why bother asking for pictures if no one can take the time out to ID one of their own plants anyway?

Anyway, now it is growing buds. They are supposed to be fall bloomers, so the temperature decrease as of recent must've triggered it.

Close-up of the buds

The whole plant, buds on the stem farthest right.

These are my favorite succulents and the reason I started growing them at all. Stapelia, Huernia, Orbea, etc., all the succulents that bloom with interesting, although possibly stinky flowers. For pollination most of these species flowers smell like rotting meat to attract types of flies. What's not fun about that? I'll keep it outside though because carrion isn't exactly the scent you want to perfume your home with. I realize this isn't my most thrilling post, but it's my 1st Stapelia flower ever, plus the 1st one I'll get to see in real life, so I'm pretty excited. My fingers are kind of crossed in hopes it turns out to be a Stapelia gigantea, because although I already have one it's a one stem cutting that hasn't done anything but be a one stem cutting the whole year or so I've had it. Anything else would really be fine too though, I've never been less picky in my life.

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis

While I'm waiting on some buds to bloom, I was going through pictures from this year and found some of this mini Phal that bloomed over the winter. For those of you that liked my husband's "dramatic," pictures of my plants, I came across these and figured I might as well put them up.

I like the very round shape and light purple-pink color of the flowers is interesting too, I thought the phal breeding trend was bolder brighter colors so I was expecting something different when it bloomed the 1st time 2 winters ago for me. I rescued this one from a Lowe's, out of bloom for $2. Mostly because the leaves are spotted and green/purple on top and red/purple on the undersides in high light. These pics while it was blooming we're taken during the winter when there's much less light here, so unfortunately you can't see it in the bloom pictures.

Close-up

Here's a picture below I took today where you can see the spotting. If you aren't familiar with the terminology, "NOID" is short for "no identification." However, I'd put money on Phalaenopsis schilleriana being one of the parent plants of this hybrid.

Spotty leaves with increased light levels

Finally found a variegated Phalaenopsis

Over the past year or so on my favorite forum, a number of people have posted about finding variegated miniature Phalaenopsis. This wouldn't be surprising except for the fact that they were found  at big box stores and supermarkets, (variegated orchids used to be super expensive and hard to find.)

We never get anything cool like that where I live, ever! It's aggravating when it seems like everywhere else gets shipments of interesting things from time to time and nothing ever shows up here. Lucky for me I was nowhere near home, in an A&P supermarket. Yay, a variegated mini Phal! It was the only one in what looked like a brand new shipment. This A&P also had Venus Fly Traps and Jade (Crassula ovata) plants too, very strange. What a wacky supermarket, and I've been in a ton of these, they're all over up here. (fun fact = my 1st job that wasn't "paid under the table" was as a floral designer in an A&P, they usually have cut flowers and someone to arrange them for you, a few potted plants seasonally, but that's about it.)

It was already in bloom when I got it. I'm not thrilled about the flowers, but I bought it for the leaves, really. I have to re-pot it, but I'm all out of the supplies I need so it'll have to deal.

It's currently jam packed into some algae covered long fibered sphagnum moss inside a plastic pot. I already squeezed that mess out of the larger ceramic pot with no drainage hole in the bottom when I took these pictures. It's no wonder people usually kill these and then throw them out. Not that there's anything wrong with growing in moss, but there's a specific way to water them when growing that way, and that's never on the instructions. I'm convinced being jammed into an ugly, hole-less, ceramic pot isn't done for the plant to look good and sell, but to kill it so people buy new ones when they stop blooming. The moss is usually left over from the plug it was growing in as a seedling back in Taiwan.

Not this one though, I'll pot it like I do the rest of my Phals; long fibered sphagnum moss, coco husk chips, and small grade Hydroton. Hopefully it'll live on and re-bloom next year, but until then I'm more than happy just enjoying the leaves.

The only flower in decent enough shape to take a picture of

Bonus Photo: Dtps. Kenneth Schubert today, still looking good.

Dtps. Kenneth Schubert