Babys of January

Once again I must say, spring really is on its way and I have a reason to walk/talk you through every new baby on my windowsills. Hopefully this will be an interesting overview.

First of all, Encyclia ciliare that, for a little while, did nothing at all. But now she has delighted me, and perhaps you also, with three rapid-growing babies.

Promenaea. Generally in a sad state and looks shabby but still has a new growth, which gives me great joy of course. Nevertheless, it seems that she might be having the same problem as my (now dead) paphiopedilum primulinum. I hope not, but we must wait and see. I am hoping to get a healthier Promenaea in the spring.

The Psychopsis baby seems to be growing even if you take your eyes off it for just a minute. It seems that the tale of psychopsis’ extra slow growth does not apply to new growths. Well obviously, it will still take time for the baby to grow as big as the biggest leaf but I can allow that.

Fake-colmanara aka a “regular” yellow oncidium #2. I am not entirely sure if you see these small, tiny, near microscopic bud but I do. They emerged yesterday during watering. And even though I already repotted this particular Oncidium in autumn, I may have to repot it again in the spring. I really can not stand not seeing what is going on in the pot. Same applies for the encyclia and a few others.

The big cattleya has grown two additional growths. Hopefully we’ll also get to see more blooms near autumn. She’s got a gorgeous bloom that smells like roses.

As you can see, the biggest growth is the same size as the old bulb (bulb+leaf).

Small cattleya seems to be on growing stand-by. The only thing growing is the root visible in the first picture – that’s better than nothing, though, I suppose. I did notice however, that we have another tiny growth coming. It’s small, yes, but it is coming :)

Tiny thing between the bulb and the supportive stick..

Another one currently on stand-by is Oncidium Sotoanum. I really can’t bother doing anything with her at the moment but let’s hope that when the days get longer again her babies will also grow. Oncidium is actually quite a fast-growing one.

In this shamefully foggy picture, you can see a Colmanara 'Jungle Monarch' who has grown a secret baby and I only noticed it yesterday. What a little sneak, that one.

A dendrobium nobile baby has grown a baby of its own. I am still not quite certain that thse friends will survive (even though they have been living in this pot for half a year + almost half a year in moss)

A little bit also about the cymbidiums. The big tsümbiidium has grown four growths, no stalks, though. But I am still grateful for the babies, for if there are no growths, there are no stalks. The flowers will come in their own time.

The small cymbidium is extremely slow in her growth but again, that’s better than nothing. There is hopw for anouther growth and hopefully we’ll see even more in spring.

The Catasetum is giving me headaches by now. In January, when she should be giving me new growths, she just dries up her leaves, doesn’t even pretend to look like she’s trying to make a growth. I seriously can’t take a stand on this. Let’s just hope that the growths come some time later. It’s not like I can do anything anyway, she is the orchid here and does her orchid things the way she sees fit.

I can’t say whether I can call the Zygos’ growths babies anymore because they are the size of proper plants already, the bubls haven’t come along yet, though. The one in the red pot could possibly still be called a baby but the ones in the orange pot are all grown up.

And to wrap it up, tolumnia who has reached her growing speed and the autumn growth is pretty big by now. The “upside-down growth” is still upside-down and I hope that when I get around to setting it in a clay pot in a month or two, I can turn her over and she can grow on … not upside-down.

Happy orchid growing!

January update

Finally, this horrible darkness is over and days get longer every day. January truly is like spring to me even though, the coldest month is still to come. Nevertheless, there is more sunshine and both I and hopefully also my flowers have a tiny bit more energy.

Speaking of cold, the temperature inside our house has risen drastically. When I returned from my mini.vacation on the 28^th of December, the thermometer surprised me with a striking 27C degrees and a humidity of 35%. I almost fell over with surprise and started to decrease the temperature. The humidifier was also switched on immediately, the humidity rose to 43%, which is not exactly rosy yet but definitely better than 35%.

All of the flowers were watered before I set off but when I got back the pots were as dry as desert (psychopsis, onc. sotoanum, promenaea, onc. tiny). I’m not even going to mention the state of vanda and tolumniafor whom my heart ached the most.

Let’s address the recent progress. Rapid growth of autumn has somewhat slowed down but something is still going on. The new growth of the oncidium I talked about in the December update is starting to deserve to be regarded as a separate plant by now. She is now long enough and getting bigger each day.

The promenaea growth has also grown pretty well but for some reason or another, she likes to grow horizontally. The plants are so tiny that they can’t be directed in any way. I cannot wait for the orchid show to bring a proper promenaea to accompany my own. If everything goes well, there is hope for another new growth.

I have not killed my rescued cattleya growth and it is out of her “nubbin-state” – each day she stretches herself more and more towards the light. Her tiny root needs extra humidity each day but it’s not much of a problem to make a small round with a spray bottle once a day.

The big cattleya has two growths and it’s great! She is recovering from her sunburn and I will make sure to be smarter next summer. I am also really thinking about where I should place my flowers when summer does come around. Last summer’s cherry tree project gave me an awesome present of burnt flowers. As you can see from the picture below, the growth is already opening its leaf.

My little Psychopsis papilio has succeeded in growing a growth and I have not (yet) messed her up.

I found another growth on my Encyclia during a (not entirely) random observation.

Up next are the cambria who I promised to just give away in a big fit of anger, for they were not doing anything. Not that I have anything against green but who are we kidding, every orchid grower wants to see blooms. Especially if the plants have been doing a wonderful job at acting as a bush for two years. A few weeks after this promise had been proclaimed out loud, both of them started growing new growths and there is a definite hope for them to bloom at some point. Here is a bunch of pictures of the growths. Which growths belong to whom? I can’t remember anymore….

Zygo eem to enjoy winter. Can’t see any flower spikes but the growths are doing a good job growing. The zygo brought from Mileedi has grown ESPECIALLY big and its growths are growing especially fast. I still don't k’ow what is going on in her pot but it seems that whatever is going on there works for her. The zygo I got from the orchid show in the spring, is growing her growths over the edge of the pot, not sure whether I should repot it in upcoming spring or let it be for another year.

And this is it for this time. There hasn’t been much progress but enough to notice. Days are getting longer and then I will hopefully have more news. Oh! About masdevallias, I went to measure the conditions when there was -15C degrees outside and here is the outcome

I was a little bit thrown off by this but the plants themselves don’t seem to mind, they are not wrinkling or yellowing.

Happy growing everybody! :)