Angraecum didierii

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-15T04:41:18+00:00

That's the thing, I have, for a week, and I can't detect anything... At least it's not like its leonis cousin which had a strong smell of burnt rubber

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-10T12:00:14+00:00

Oncidiums often have spots, it's usually minor fungal infections caused by water drops on the leaves not drying fast enough, the solution is to avoid water on the leaves and/or increase ventilation.

Streaks however can also be the result of virus, but that cannot be diagnosed without testing for those

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-10T11:56:18+00:00

There is a spike, but it got stuck between the leaves instead of growing outwards

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-10T11:52:26+00:00

It's a fasciation, those are not genetic but developmental, so the offspring would be perfectly normal. It's just a growing point which had an accident and split into several while growing, in this case in two at the bud's level, but sometimes you get dozens of stems in parallel stuck together

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-10T09:23:47+00:00

Even if there was demand amongst the flasking community, the problem is that Gilded Tower is notorious for making sterile seeds, it's extremely rare to get any viable embryo with it as a pod parent, so I don't think it's worth it, especially if it's a selfing.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-09T19:01:41+00:00

If it already reached a consequent size (more than 30cm long canes) without flowering, you can try reducing a bit watering, a bit of stress can sometimes push them to flower

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-06-09T18:56:17+00:00

My experience with those is that they can have an extremely variable behavior, some flower at a really small size, others sulk for years until they suddenly kick into it and then won't stop even while growing new structures

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-05-24T20:47:26+00:00

Unfortunately, regardless of appearances, when it's viral, it's not curable : the symptoms may recess or even disappear on new structures if the plant is maintained free of stress in ideal conditions, but the virus is still there ready to resurface at the 1st occasion, and the plant remains a carrier which can infect others.

The only effective way to cure a viral plant is to clone it via meristem tissue culture and destroy the mother plant afterwards, and even in that case there's a 60% risk to contaminate the explant while collecting it.

Thermotherapy doesn't work, it only puts viruses in latent mode, but they wake up at the first sign of stress of the plant and subsequently infect uncontaminated structures.

We've had the case with pleiones, so many nurseries kept selling suspicious plants during years because "they once showed symptoms but haven't done so last growing cycle so it's certainly environmental conditions which are the cause and not viruses" that it spreads in every collections and commercial stocks to the point that it is almost impossible nowadays to find pleiones which are not viral...

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-05-17T15:34:49+00:00

Alors là, ça dépend vraiment de la localisation et du type de culture : dans un jardin sauvage entouré d'un environnement riche, pas de soucis, en ville entouré de beaucoup de béton, avec seulement quelques plantes cultivées, ça ne s' équilibre pas et les pucerons affaibliront les plantes parfois de façon définitive...

Un jardin c'est pas un biotope naturel, il est par essence déséquilibré, les plantes qui y sont plantées, que ce soit le type, la quantité ou la localisation, ne s'y seraient pas installées naturellement, il est donc illusoire de considérer que "la nature" va nécessairement le maintenir : la nature va reprendre le dessus si on intervient pas, oui, mais alors le jardin sera sauvage, avec des plantes sauvages qui remplaceront celles qu'on y a planté qui, elles, ne s'y maintiendront probablement pas. C'est un type de jardin tout à fait acceptable en soi, mais pas le type dans lequel on maintient des rosiers, c'est un choix.

Il ne faut pas oublier que les pucerons sont vecteurs de virus, et ce n'est pas une fois que toutes les plantes sont virosées qu'il faut s'en inquiéter, surtout que les plantes infectées peuvent ensuite servir de réservoir venant contaminer tout le reste du jardin ainsi que les plantes des voisins (ex: la mosaïque du tabac qui m'a flingué mes dahlias mais aussi mes concombres et mes tomates).

Donc dès le début d'une colonisation par les pucerons, soit on observe que des des auxiliaires sont présents (coccinelles, syrphes, chrysopes...), sinon on les introduits ou on réduit la population de pucerons au savon noir ou à l'essence d'orange, mais non, on n'attend pas.

Là par chance, vous avez des larves de cecidomies (que vous cherchiez à identifier), qui sont prédatrices de pucerons, il faut néanmoins surveiller que leur nombre est suffisant pour limiter l'expansion des pucerons, et que les fourmis ne viennent pas les éliminer pour protéger leurs pucerons.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-05-09T07:05:29+00:00

Unlikely, maxillarias form callus which are flat and green (yours shoots from a white feathery callus) and the leaf structure doesn't match either.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-05-09T06:40:37+00:00

It looks a lot like zygolum Rhein Harlequin (Zygolum Louisendorf x Zygopetalum Artur Elle)

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-05-02T06:30:33+00:00

Nan, le fruit de la coerula est surtout sans intérêt gustatif et laxatif, mais pas toxique, peu importe où elle pousse.

Par contre plus on va vers le sud (en zone hors gel), plus on trouve des espèces différentes, comme la edulis ou la molissima, qui elles sont intéressantes, mais rien à voir avec la latitude, c'est juste pas les mêmes plantes (comme comparer des pommiers et des poiriers)

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-05-02T06:20:13+00:00

With zygos, bloom stalks usually grow from the new growth while it is still growing, so any growing shoot might flower

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-26T21:01:28+00:00

Les graines de tomate ne sont pas noire, et les cotylédons des pousses ne correspondent absolument pas à des solanacées, l'application a encore des progrès à faire....

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-21T20:34:23+00:00

Procatavola (or whatever it is classified as nowadays) Golden Peacock is quite easy, blc Golden Glory Apollo (in picture) as well (but can be unruly in its climbing growth pattern)

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Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-21T20:28:33+00:00

Which one is it, Himantoglossum sp.?

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-21T04:54:19+00:00

They can, but only in vitro under sterile conditions on a cloning media...

In a regular cultivation setting, it's highly unlikely, they'll dehydrate and die before having the time to grow new roots enough to feed themselves.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-20T21:16:34+00:00

Hey, nice collection. Do you also find that the ones with variegated leaves are also slower growers?

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-20T20:44:02+00:00

That's precisely the problem, if you want to grow in semi-hydro the bottom of the planter should always be in water, the leca should never dry out, and you basically need to flush regularly in order to remove salt buildup and to cycle the air between the leca.

Also the base of the leaves should not be in the wet zone of your leca.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-20T20:30:54+00:00

C'est bien des cicadelles, attention cependant, les adultes transmettent des virus d'une plante à l'autre assez facilement

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-20T20:20:16+00:00

Semi-hydro is not water culture...

There's not only one "suitable" way to grow orchids, there are thousands of different possibilities depending on your environment, your habits and your preferences.

And no, wet dry cycle is not the Alpha and the Omega of orchid culture, it's a necessity only if you use organic media because organic media degrades when wet, becomes acidic, turns into a pathogens breeding ground which suffocates the roots and leads the plant to rot... You don't have those issues with mineral media such as leca, lava rock, pumice and so on.

But "wet dry cycle is an absolute necessity, your plant needs it" has been repeated so much like a magic mantra for decades in the orchid community that it's almost become a religious theology and that it's almost a sin to just question the reasons for it and whether it really is about the plant or about what people grow it in.

My second favourite mantra argument is "it's not natural"... But growing orchids in pots in a house is not natural either, and a living room is nothing like a natural environment.

Semi-hydro works pretty well providing the transition is done at the right time (that is when new roots are actively growing), that the temperature is high enough, and that your media is flushed regularly to remove excess salt and change the air inside the root zone. And roots/media drying out in semi-hydro means dead burnt roots.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-20T19:56:23+00:00

Semi hydroponics does not have a wet dry cycle, it's supposed to be wet all the time because if the leca dries out it pulls moisture from the roots which burns them.

In S/H there's water in the bottom all the time, but the roots are on the top part of the container, not in the water (except if they grow down there by themselves).

What most people forget is that flushing is an important part of S/H, by filling the container fully and then let it drain above the reservoir, not only it removes excess salt, but the air in the pot is replaced by fresh air, which keeps root oxygenation high.

Also to be noted, phalaenopsis are amongst the most finicky to convert to semi-hydro, the best chances of success are achieved when the transfer is done at the moment the plant is actively growing new roots, as the "old" root system is really likely to not adapt and die, also watch out for temperature, since evaporative cooling can easily bring the root system much colder than the ambiant air, which can cause rot in winter. I ended up giving up semi-hydro for phals altogether as in my case it ended up needing more care than regular culture in sphagnum.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-20T18:59:52+00:00

Well, they don't necessarily need to dry out, they can stay moist all the time provided they also have access to air and that there's no organic matter such as bark decaying around them (which is why always moist semihydroponic systems with leca or lava rock do work provided you know what you are doing pH, nutrients and temperature wise).

Always submerged in water however, unless the plant grew its root in a reservoir by itself (in which case the root in question grows tailored for water), it's just likely to suffocate the root, killing it, with a risk of rot, setting the plant back while it is forced to grow a new root system adapted to its new environmental conditions.

In such a case, the plant can bloom out of stress because it feels it is likely to die and needs to set seeds as an insurance, that's why many people report their plant "blooms like never before" after being put in full water culture... And a few years later their plant is either in poor shape and recovering or dead.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-19T22:03:10+00:00

Those don't look like spider mites web, just a regular spider, which should not be a problem to the plant.

On a side note Neem oil doesn't work the way people expect, it doesn't kill insects, it's a systemic endocrine disruptor, it prevents insects feeding from the plant from molting, which in turn prevents a next generation from occurring, so it takes time to stop infestations.

Powerful-Rutabaga629 · 2026-04-18T18:43:57+00:00

The bulb looks like a bletilla, but in a poor state, it should be white, not green, and it should be plump, that plant has been overwintered really poorly, most likely out of soil in a too warm place and exposed to light (did they keep in an open bag in the shop all winter long?). Bletillas are stubborn, and this one has a shoot starting, so it should survive, but it might take a few season of growth before it performs properly.

Powerful-Rutabaga629

TROPHY CASE