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Cirrhopetalum flowering!

I bought this mounted Orchid Cirrhopetalum / Bulbophyllum Louis Sander x Elizabeth Ann 'Buckleberry' because I thought it was cool the way it was growing but now it's flowering and it's really cool! I never had a bulbophyllum before so I didn't know what to expect from this plant! My crummy no zoom/focus capabilities digital camera doesn't do it justice but here's a pic of the flowers once they opened:
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Wow, thats really really cool!!!!!!

Is each tuby thing a seperate flower?
 
Yeah, there's 5 flowers on each stalk. Each stalks flowers all form slowly and then all open at once then another stalks flowers form and they all open at once and so on... There's about 6 stalks with 5 flowers on each stalk so that's 30 flowers on this thing pretty much all at once! Each leaf & bulb set sent up a stalk from the bulbs base. If I'm lucky the plant will bloom quite often once the first bloom is done in it's new home!
So far this is the only orchid that ha bloomed fully for me, but my Masdevallia is sending up about 10 flowers now so I'm hopeful my luck with cloud forest orchids will be as good as with my neps!
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Wow, thats amazing! Hehe...
My biggest orchid news is that my Onc. x Sharry Baby just bloomed... Its a half-@$$ed bloom tho... theflowers stalk doesnt even go higher than the leaves... I'm attributing this to the cold temps of canadian winters... It does smell like chocolate though, so cool!!!
 
Sword, yes that is a really kool flowering orchid. i ran a search on googles to get a better look at the flowers.

i planted 2 phal. in the log you told me about and both of them started to put out new growth right away. i also redid some of the other orchids and it seems that they do alot better in a diff mix then they come in.
 
George, Orchids quite often need new mix when you buy them. I let mine go for a month or so after I get them then I put them in new soil cos quite often what the supplier has done is use an "enriched" mix which has lots of nutrients-which Orchids don't really like but it will make them flower quicker for retail sale - which is what the distributors want! Cos it's only us diehard plant freaks who'll buy an orchid out of bloom. But these enriched mixes will cause root rot and quite often, if I've bought an orchid in a place like Target or Franks Nursery & Crafts then the roots have been partially rotted and they do benefit a lot from having the dying parts cut off (sterilize your knife in a butane lighter flame before moving to a new plant I had to toss all my Brassia hybrids cos I didn't sterilize)  and being potted in a fresh soil mix.

I'm glad the Phal is working on the hydrolog I always thought they would like it drier than the hydrolog. For those of you who don't know what George and I are talking about - it's what the above plant is mounted on. Basically it's just a moss grown block of florist foam with a  hanging frame and hook that you tie an orchid to with fishing line. I'm gonna try a large sized unknown phal hybrid that I have on a large mossy grown driftwood log that used to be in my vivarium. I'll also try and swipe a block of florist foam from my blasphemous silk flower arranging girlfriend.
 
Sword, with the hydro log i mist it everyday and place the tip of the sprayer (which is one of thous 5 Gal. pump deals) and place it in the hole and out to 5. so it really isn't soaked but is damp. w/ in a weeks time there was new growth coming from it.
yesturday i pulled a cattleya,Dendrobium and paph out of the mix they where in and the catt. roots where rotted as can be. the mix they put them into had peat in it and water was sitting on the roots 24/7 and didn't have time to dry out. but it is showing signs of new growth. which is good.
the paph root sytem was nothing i have ever seen before and was amazed. not much to it and looked like a claw
but , i placed them into the wooden crated and added wet bark into it. at least now the flower of the paph. is look straight ahead and not looking down.
 
People always talk about the fragility of orchids, but the fact that they can survive in those conditions at the plant shop/dept store is a testament to their true hardiness. So long as we give them a light and good care at the end of their arduous journey they usually come back just fine, it just takes awhile sometimes!
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yes it does take a while for some to come back. like the paph. i got most of them that where at the store there leaves where melting due to the heat. there was only one that was partly melting so i picked that one. i thought i was going to loose it cause another leave started to melt but, as soon as i cut it back past the melted part it started to do fine. the flower even didn't want to open up all the way and was looking down. with repoting 2 days ago i have noticed some growth with the new leaf that is coming from it and the flower finally desided to open up the rest of the way. yes, they do prove to be hardy when it comes to be grown in a store.
 
  • #10
Well If you guys have any further questions about Bulbophyllums or Cirrho's for that matter feel free to ask as they are my 2 favorite Genera. I also used to grow for Jerry @ Orchids Limited. So its more likely than not that I put that plant on that Hydrolog! hehe kind of a funny thought}
Glad to see its doing well for you.

Peace
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  • #11
Ha! Fantastic Khai!
Maybe I can ask you what this nepenthes is that I bought at Orchids LTD in Jan of 2001? It was sold as maxima x bongso but looks nothing like the pic they have on their website whih is short and dark spotted. The peristome in this pic was not expanded fully now it has two "horns" on either side where it just flares a bit in this pic:
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I like Orchids Ltd it's kinda like visiting a jungle! It makes me long for a greenhouse everytime I go in there!
 
  • #12
I have a few cool Bulbophyllum and  got  a new one last week, my most expensive orchid ever, cost me Rp150,000 (about US$16).

It is called B beccarii, the flowers are nothing special but the foliage is awesome.
I found a pic of it here

Bulbophyllum beccarii

That one you have Josh is worth getting, I'll have to have a look for it.

Cheers, Troy.
 
  • #13
Oh wow! Thanks for posting that link Troy!
I've seen this Bulbophyllum at Orchid LTD and could never find out what it was.
Only $16? Wow that's as stunning as the plant! My Cirrho above was $35 it was priced at $65 but Jerry took a few bulbs which were hanging off it and made it cheaper for me (so I could buy more stuff heh&#33
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. this one is in bloom again so I'll get some better macro pics with the new camera. Also my Cirrhopetalum lapidaem is in bloom but these flowers are not as impresive as the hybrid above. It's somewhat like the blooms above but without the long tubular lip.
 
  • #14
Sword, the picture u posted of the Nep. looks like a N.x wrigleyana
 
  • #15
Hey there Swords
Well I cant be sure but it looks like you might have N. saguinea
Jerry never was the best at keeping his labels straight.
GEORGE I can tell you for sure that its not N.x wrigleyana
as Jerry has never had that plant in his collection as far as I know and I know his Nepenthese collection quite intimately.

I know you will be seeing B. beccarii available from him in the not so distant future. There should also be some hybrids with it coming too. I know because I made them.
I can tell you for sure youll be paying a #### of alot more than 16 bucks, especialy on the Jerry Fischer pricing scale. I cant believe he ripped of the #### psuedobulbs! As if this was some how off setting the price to any significant amount.
So how do you like the smell of B. E. A. Buckleberry?
Its not too unpleasant. If your into stinky flowers like me, I highly recommend Bulbophyllum medusae. The closest I can pin its sent too would be, sorry ladies, ball sweat.
I know. . thats horrible, well your telling me? Im the one sniffin it all the time.
B. echinolabium is most outstanding as well.

Peace
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  • #16
khia, well at least i know u won't be getting intimate w/ one of my plants
 
  • #17
Hehe
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well you know I try to keep my hands to myself but they call me.
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Peace
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  • #18
Since I've got the Cirrho in the highland terrarium I haven't ever smelled them if they did make a stink. Although I beleive the one you mention B. echinolabium (it has like a bouncing tongue/lip inside the flower?) was in bloom at orchids ltd a few weeks ago and it had a real funky smell when you got up close.

Yeah, the prices at OL are high sometimes but for an occasional impulse buy it's not too bad, and it's the only "local" place to get the supplies I need for my neps. If I know I can get something cheaper (like a N. rajah) I defiantely get it by mail now that I know of some good mailorder houses. I don't know why they never sell the Aristolochia cuttings when they hack it down from the rafters for the winter. I know I'd buy some! I think they told me it was A, grandifolia is just amazing. I had some slips of other Aristolochias but they didn't survive in the highland terrarium they'd have to go in the lowlander.
 
  • #19
Yes the B. echinolabium is in flower almost constantly, right alongside the B.carunculatum I think they smell like fresh paint.
Most all of Bulbophyllum posses a rocking labellum.
Just curious what did you pay for your N. rajah? How does it grow for you? Jerry Never did well with these I know to this day hes had the same plants that he orginally offered and id have to say they are most definately the SMALLEST Nepenthes he has in his collection.
As for the Aristolochia, again jerry never was good  with labels
its A. gigantea braziliensis. As to why they dont propagate it, they dont know how.
If your interested Logees has both A. gigantea available right now on their website.

Peace
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  • #20
OLs rajahs were small but they looked healthy I just figured they were new arrivals. I noticed the highland room there was a bit on the coolside for daytime when jerry was showing me around in there last summer. Warmer daytemps might increase rate of growth as well as brighter conditions I know a greenhouse won't be as bright as a terrarium but I would think less shading for the neps (esp here in minensota) would let them get even more impressive than the display ones out in the retail area the clipeata & veitchii. I wish I could start there and set up a GH or 2 just for CPs!
I paid only about $30 or $40 for my N. rajah by mail but with the number of offshoots I'm getting (4 so far) they seem to root very easily and two out of two that I've seperated have rooted and started to grow and two haven't been seperated from the main plant yet but if all offshoots survive it will have reduced the plants to about $8 each - a good deal for a rajah I'd say!
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