The "Pepper" Orchid

I call this plant my "pepper" orchid, because the flowers have a subtle fragrance of black pepper. I don't know much about this plant, except that the seller said it was an Oncidium. It has a code number, but no name or parentage. I guess that it is a proprietary orchid hybrid. I have been gravitating to orchids with fragrance lately, so I was quite pleased to find one with such an unusual scent.

Now We're Getting Somewhere

The phalaenopsis that I started from seed have continued to grow very nicely. In fact, one of them has actually started making a spike! So in about a month I should see what the results of this experiment will produce. Here is a picture of the plant, with the spike circled in yellow:

 
And here is a close-up of the spike. We have a long way to go before flowering, but I am very excited to see all the preparation and work paying off.

A miniature orchid - Neofinetia falcata

I am now growing a miniature orchid, called Neofinetia falcata. Here is a photo (as always, click on the photo to zoom in):

The fascinating thing to me is that the flowers have a long curved spur that is larger than the flower petals themselves. Notice the curved white tubes that come off the flowers and appear to go into the potting bark.
Here is another photo, with a US quarter in the picture to give a sense of scale. These guys are quite tiny. I'm impressed that they can bloom while so small:

One final picture, that shows the structure of the flowers a bit better:

I decided to do some close-ups of a few of the phalaenopsis that are in bloom right now. These are all unnamed hybrids. First, a spotted yellow phal:

The following one was sold as a blue phalaenopsis, which as far as is known does not exist in nature. The seller had injected blue dye into the stem, and the flowers did in fact appear blue when I bought the plant last year. This year, the flowers showed up in their correct natural color, namely white:

And finally, an extreme close up of a pink phal. I love the tiny red spots on the center of the flower.

All Together Now

Well this is unusual. Many of my orchids decided to bloom at the same time. I've been buying "plants in bloom" at different times of year, because I like to have something in bloom during each different season. I figured that they would continue to bloom at that same time each year. But for some reason, a whole bunch of plants all decided that now is the time. So here is a feast of colors and shapes. The only plants on display here that have a fragrance are the Miltoniopsis - the deep red flowers near the bottom of the frame. They have a spicy scent. The rest, at least to a human nose, are fragrance-free.

Sharry Baby!

My Oncidium Sharry Baby has done very well this year. There are two new pseudobulbs. One made a single spike, and the other has made two. They won't all be in bloom at the same time; the first spike has already faded and we are on to the second. The third will come much later - it hasn't even started to branch yet. But I'm just as happy that the spikes are sequential. This plant puts out a strong vanilla fragrance that fills the front of the house. This way, I get to enjoy that for many months. The plant is growing in LECA, those little brown expanded clay pellets. I wait until the pot just goes dry; i.e. no more water in the reserve outer pot. Then I run R.O. water through the LECA for a minute or two, and pour maybe 3/8" of MSU fertilizer into the outer pot. I make up the MSU to around 0.50 mS/cm conductivity, and adjust the pH to around 6.0 using a Hanna combination meter.

Here is a close-up of one of the flowers. There are just over 100 flowers on the spike, and the first spike was about the same. If the third spike does as well, I will have gotten around 300 flowers out of this plant. Very impressive!

Well. My vinicolor paphiopedilum has had twins! This plant is clearly very happy.



Last time I repotted it, there was one new fan of leaves that had detached from the mother plant. So that one went into a new pot, and in a year or two should make a flower of its own.

Here is a close-up of the flowers on the mother plant:



In other news, the keikes on the phalaenopsis are continuing to grow, but don't look all that different just yet. I'll wait until I see some leaves before posting a new picture.

I'm trying something new. I bought some Keiki paste. This is a hormone treatment, that can cause dormant buds to become activated. It it commonly used on Phalaenopsis in order to cause the orchide to make babies. Here are two photos of the developing buds. They have been treated for about a month with the paste, and are developing nicely.






Here is an update on the orchids I am growing from seed. This plant now has a 5 inch leaf. Not bad for three years. It typically takes around 5 years for a brand-new plant to flower, so I'd say we are "on schedule".