This species grows quite well in my locality. This is the yellow form. You can also see the "red" form which also goes by the name of Bulbophyllum breviscaphum. The only problem this species poses for the average hobbyist is keeping the plant under control as the long internodes can result in the new growths being produced in the air instead of attached to the mount. If well cared for this plant can produce an untidy mass of small pseudobulbs, some of which will be entirely detached from the mount. I have written several articles about this plant and they can be found elsewhere in this blog.
Showing posts with label lasiochilum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lasiochilum. Show all posts
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Bulbophyllum lasiochilum Parish & Rchb.f 1874, the yellow form, easy to cultivate and and a vigorous grower under my local climatic conditions
This species grows quite well in my locality. This is the yellow form. You can also see the "red" form which also goes by the name of Bulbophyllum breviscaphum. The only problem this species poses for the average hobbyist is keeping the plant under control as the long internodes can result in the new growths being produced in the air instead of attached to the mount. If well cared for this plant can produce an untidy mass of small pseudobulbs, some of which will be entirely detached from the mount. I have written several articles about this plant and they can be found elsewhere in this blog.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Bulbophyllum lasiochilum Parish & Rchb.f 1874, the yellow flowered type
They yellow form of Bulbophyllum lasiochilum is easy to culture in the Caribbean and can thrive if one waters and fertilizes it regularly. However it has the same annoying behavior as many other Bulbophyllum, its new growths will sometimes grow away from the mount. As a result you might end with a plant where all the new growths are suspended in the air hanging grown old pseudobulbs that are dead. When the stem rots the living part of the plant can fall to the floor a be lost to snail or accidental trampling. lt is best, from time to time, to take a division of a few pseudobulbs and start it in another mount. That way if something happens to the original plant you will not lose the species.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Some Bulbophyllum that have bloomed in late Autumn and early Winter in 2014-2015
| Bulbophyllum sumatranum |
| Bulbophyllum blumei |
| Bulbophyllum lobbii var. Malacca |
| Bulbophyllum Elizabeth Ann |
| Bulbophyllum Lovely Elizabeth |
| Bulbophyllum lepidum |
| Bulbophyllum longissimum |
| Bulbophyllum lasiochilum - dark form |
| Bulbophyllum Melting Point |
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Bulbophyllum lasiochilum Parish & Rchb.f 1874, culture
| Octubre 2005 |
| October 2013 |
I have had this
plant of the red form of Bulbophyllum
lasiochilum (also known as Bulb.
breviscaphum) for about ten years.
When I received it, the plant was composed of a just three pseudobulbs
in a tiny clay pot filled with sphagnum moss.
Since I had a number of Bulbophyllum
growing in a variety of pots and mounts, I decided to experiment with this one.
I mounted the orchid
on a piece of a branch of teak. Teak
wood is known for its strong resistance to decay and its great density and
weight. The teak branch I used had been
cut the previous year to be used in a parrot cage. The parrot meticulously removed every bit of
the outer bark but the branch itself remained untouched. I
tied the clay pot to the branch with a metal wire and positioned it in such a
way that when the pseudobulb produced its new growths, they would easily reach
the mount. Given the length of the
internodes of this species, the plant started colonizing the branch with its
very first growths.
By the end of
2005, as you can see in the first photo, the plant already had several
pseudobulbs attached to the branch. Note
that the pseudobulbs are attaching to the bare branch. Eventually the clay pot was removed, I gave
it to a friend since it still had living pseudobulbs in it and they were still
producing new growths.
In the photo
taken in 2013 you can see that the pseudobulbs have migrated all the way to the
top pf the plant. The lower pseudobulbs
were alive for many years but eventually died.
Only the pseudobulbs in the top third of the branch are alive. The orchid roots rambled all over the
branch. Even though teak wood is very
hard, years of rain and fertilizing has taken their toll and parts of the
branch have decayed. However it has to
be noted that it has survived mostly intact for an impressively long time in an
environment where most wood decays or is turned into mush by insects in a few
years.
What is my verdict
about using a teak branch as a substrate?
It is clear the plant grew well, but it didn’t grow as well as other Bulb. lasiochilum that were attached to
tree fern plaques. Plants on tree fern
grew larger and produced more pseudobulbs.
My impression is that the teak branch, because it retained little by the
way of moisture and fertilizer, offered few resources that the plant could use
to grow.
Media: A piece of a branch of teak wood.
Potting: In the future as the plant overgrows the
branch, pieces will be removed and mounted in fern post and small plastic pots
with sphagnum moss.
Fertilizing: A high nitrogen fertilizer is used when the
plant is growing. None is given outside
the growing season.
Light: Full morning sun from 8:00 am to 11:00 am light
shade the rest of the day.
Watering: The local rain is enough to cover this plant
needs outside the rainy season. In the
dry season, a whole month can pass with no measurable rain, during this time
the plant is thoroughly drenched once a week.
Rainfall:
J F
M A
M J J
A S O
N D
Rainfall (mm) 99 76 84 165 283 155 141
216 237 233
176 135
(inches) 3.9
3.0 3.3 6.5 11.1 6.1 5.5 8.5 9.3 9.1
6.9 5.3
Temperature
J F M
A M J J A S O N D
High 28 29 30 30 31
32 32 32 32 31 30 29
Low 19 20 20 21 21 22 24 23 22 21 20 19
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