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| Aerangis luteo-alba var. rhodosticta |
Arne wrote the paragraph below as an introduction to this fascinating orchid. When it arrived, it really didn't look like much but once the pendulous inflorescence appeared, this miniature orchid from Africa proved to be a jewel among our collection of orchids.
In the same way as humans are the most developed and
therefore also the youngest of all mammals, orchids are the most specialized
and youngest additions to the world of plants.
The most well-known specialized orchid species is Angraecum sequipedale in Madagascar that has a spur that is about a
foot in length that only one particular moth, Xanthopan morganii praedicta, can pollinate. We have that one and it will be presented in
this blog in a week or so (it was featured almost exactly one year ago in this
blog). Another African orchid related to
Angraecum that I always wanted to
grow is Aerangis luteo-alba var rhodosticta. It is almost the only orchid in the tropical
part of Africa that is not purely white.
It has yellowish white flowers (luteo-alba)
with a bright orange-red column (rhodosticta). It is supposedly notoriously difficult to
culture (I still don’t know why) so I hesitated to get one. Nevertheless, here it is in all its beauty
after 7 months in my care.
-by Arne.
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| A) October 26th, 2014. A healthy looking orchid which Arne transferred from the plastic pot it came in to the current cork bark. |
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| B) By Dec 14th, four distinct flower stems were in the advance stages of development. |
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| C) A clearer shot of the four flower stems. |
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| D) About one month later, January 18th, about 51 flower buds were developing at this time. |
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| E) The four flower stems at a different angle. |
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| F) Upon closer examination, you can see the spurs developing on each individual flower. |
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| G) January 25th, I decided to have Arne hold the Aerangis luteo-alba var. rhodosticta up to give a sense of proportion. |
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H) The flowers are produced in two rows on a single plane.
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| I) By January 31st, almost all flowers are opened. But as it turns out, there are 56 flowers this time around. |
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| J) Up close; the flowers open very flat. The color of our orchids are more towards pale yellow with the bright orange or vermillion hue in the center. |
I hope you found this post entertaining. The transformation of this orchid from the moment it arrived to what it is today is quite amazing. Until next time then, have a good week.
Amazing ! My favourite orchid but have never been successful growing it let alone flower. How did you grow it ?
ReplyDeleteOnce I thought this was an easy plant to grow but it isn’t. On the other hand it isn’t too difficult either. Do you have it mounted? It grows much better mounted than in a pot. I give mine water every day except when it has a short rest period in July-August in the summer and December-January in the winter when I water it every two or three days per week. The resting periods are the challenging parts because the leaves tend to soften and rot if it gets too much water but too little water stresses the plant and it will drop its leaves because of that. Charles and Margaret Baker suggest in the culture sheets to mist the plants to ensure that the leaves don’t dry out. It is also sensitive to too much light. Finally, maybe you should get another plant because it could be that it comes from a bad batch. The divisions of wild collected plants were horribly difficult to grow while seed propagated batches have proven to be much easier. I bought mine from a species specialist in California. /Arne.
DeleteYes it is a mounted plant, this one is a recent purchase, I try not to give up ! I didn't realise this plant had a rest period until recently and think I might have watered previous ones too much instead of spraying, as new leaves were growing the old one were turning yellow. I did remove the moss from under the plant as I found on other plants the stem would rot. Your Aerangis is a large plant so you must have grown it a while? I'm in England and grow mostly inside which is not ideal and only a few species now. Maureen
DeleteMaureen,
ReplyDeleteI got this plant in 2014 so I haven’t grown it for long. To be honest, I didn’t know of any rest period either. It was after I observed dark patches on some of the newly grown leaves that eventually turned yellow that I started to research the plant’s culture. The rest is subtle. If you water it every day during the time when you see growing leaves, start a slightly restricted water regimen when the growth seems to slow down. You can reduce it even more if you mist it once or twice daily.
England is a perfectly fine place to grow this plant as I also grow it indoors. I would never dare to subject it to Baltimore’s sweltering and humid summer heat. I grow it under fluorescent lights all year long. Your plant should try to put out flower stems as long as it can grow some leaves because this species is extremely floriferous. I don’t think you should let the sun hit the leaves unless it is in the morning or late afternoon. Especially winter is critical because of the low humidity indoors.
Thank you Arne for giving me some tips, by watering do you mean spraying or dunking in water? July and August are usually our hottest months,if we have any summer, would you still give them a short rest?
ReplyDeleteI took photos when I received this plant and others, from a grower in Germany, so I could note any progress or decline. It's only a small plant so I think it might be a while until it flowers although my previous plant had two spikes that didn't mature. I would love a veranda like yours to put plants out for the summer!
Maureen,
ReplyDeleteWhen I water the plant, I use a watering can with a fine spout. I let the water run along the bark and up to the lower neck of the plant. No water should collect in the center of the growths. If it does, I remove it using the tip of a paper towel. This is a rather warm loving orchid but it can only be exposed to temperatures above 25 degrees C if the relative humidity is above 50 %. Because of that I would not take it out on our deck/veranda where the temperatures easily can be 30 - 34 degrees for weeks during summer.
Thank you very much for your help and I am enjoying looking through your many beautiful plants. If I succeed in getting any flowers on the aerangis I will be sure to let you know.
DeleteThank you and best wishes to you both,
Maureen