# Isabelia virginalis



## brasphrag (Jun 9, 2012)

This year flowering. It is a early winter bloomer for us here in Brazil. More than 20 flowers.!!
Bud detail




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## Lanmark (Jun 9, 2012)

Wonderfully grown and bloomed! :clap:


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## biothanasis (Jun 9, 2012)

Amazing!!!! Well done!!!!!!!!


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## Ozpaph (Jun 9, 2012)

how weird is that!
pretty flower. Well grown.


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## SlipperFan (Jun 9, 2012)

You have netting around the growths? Or are those roots? I've never seen anything like this.

But now, I want one!


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## NYEric (Jun 9, 2012)

Very nice. Thanks for posting. Is that from one of the sources we PM'd about? 



SlipperFan said:


> You have netting around the growths? Or are those roots? I've never seen anything like this.
> 
> But now, I want one!



That's how they grow. One of my favorite plants and one of the hardest to grow. I've killed a couple that size or bigger!


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## cnycharles (Jun 9, 2012)

very nice. i've killed at least two of these but haven't tried anytime recently. now that I've managed to grow a related species (isabelia violacea), I have a feeling that this species would be much easier to grow by using high humidity and very low water


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## W. Beetus (Jun 9, 2012)

Wow! That's a very interesting plant!


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## JeanLux (Jun 10, 2012)

Impressive: growing habit and beauty of the small flowers !!!! Jean


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## myxodex (Jun 10, 2012)

Well done ! We don't often see these, very pretty.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jun 10, 2012)

Great specimen, and so well grown and flowered.



cnycharles said:


> I have a feeling that this species would be much easier to grow by using high humidity and very low water



Yes, Charles, that is the key - high humidity, little water, plus lots of air movement. I've found this to be one tough little plant, taking down to 25 F with no harm. Same thing with Neolauchea pulchella - very hardy.


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## goods (Jun 10, 2012)

Besides the watering advice, does anyone have any more growing advice? I've had one for 2-3 years that just kind of "hangs out". It's put out a couple here and there, lost a few as well but nothing substantial one way or another. I'm probably overwatering it from what I've read in this thread, but I'm not sure why else it's so stalled.

Mine's currently on tree fern, probably a little less than Catt. light, grown outdoors and watered 2-4 times a week.


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## paphioboy (Jun 11, 2012)

At first I thought the 'netting'-covered bulbs was the rhizome, like the rabbits-foot fern (Davallia)... Interesting species and very well-grown!


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## Gcroz (Jun 11, 2012)

goods said:


> Besides the watering advice, does anyone have any more growing advice? I've had one for 2-3 years that just kind of "hangs out". It's put out a couple here and there, lost a few as well but nothing substantial one way or another. I'm probably overwatering it from what I've read in this thread, but I'm not sure why else it's so stalled.
> 
> Mine's currently on tree fern, probably a little less than Catt. light, grown outdoors and watered 2-4 times a week.



Same thing here. Mine just seems to "hang out". It does grow, but has not flowered for me. I have bloomed Neolauchea pulchella, but not the Isabelia. What kind of light do you grow it in, standard Catt light?


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## goods (Jun 11, 2012)

I've had it in light where I've bloomed Catts and Vandas, but I was surprised because it didn't seem all that bright. It got afternoon sun and filtered throughout the rest of the day. 

I've also grown this in Phal/ Bulbo. light, and this season I'm trying it a bit brighter.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jun 11, 2012)

Back in the spring of 2008 I put _Isabella virginalis, Neolauchea pulchella_, and a few other orchids out on a mossy trunk of a small hinoki cypress. The light conditions are bright shade - adequate to flower a Catt. The winters of 2010/11 and 2011/12 had long cold periods and I lost a number of plants or had to take them in for the winter. Interestingly, the _Neolauchea_ and _Isabella_ are marching on. I don't water them and last year I didn't even fertilize them once.

The only drawback is that _I. virginalis_ flowers in very late fall here - early December - so I get to enjoy the flowers for only a short time before frosty weather finishes them off.


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## brasphrag (Jun 11, 2012)

I. virginalis lives in central plateaux here in Brasil, in Minas Gerais state over at velosia. Mine started doing well after I hanged it over this wire d box filled with coconut chips. I fertilize with bocashi(organic it fertilizer) once a year and refil the decaying chips once every two years. I've noticed that after first cold winds here in my city it always start flowering. About water, it has same watering as my Phrrags and Cattleya. The only thing different I can say is that it is hanged 20cm over the soil in my outside place. In nature it also have this growing habit. Hope I could help your growing.


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## goods (Jun 11, 2012)

So if you're watering the same as Phrags, that means pretty often, correct? I'm thinking it may need more of a temp drop in fall/winter than I've been giving it.



brasphrag said:


> I. virginalis lives in central plateaux here in Brasil, in Minas Gerais state over at velosia. Mine started doing well after I hanged it over this wire d box filled with coconut chips. I fertilize with bocashi(organic it fertilizer) once a year and refil the decaying chips once every two years. I've noticed that after first cold winds here in my city it always start flowering. About water, it has same watering as my Phrrags and Cattleya. The only thing different I can say is that it is hanged 20cm over the soil in my outside place. In nature it also have this growing habit. Hope I could help your growing.


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## Stone (Jun 14, 2012)

I love this species but have never been able to find one. If you grow Sophronitella violacea, you could treat this exactly the same as they grow together.


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## e-spice (Jun 18, 2012)

So unique and pretty. Wonderfully grown! I want one now.


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## hardy (Jun 18, 2012)

I want it too 

Isn't it amazing how the skinny leaves can make enough food to grow those fat bulbs!


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## MorandiWine (Jun 18, 2012)

That is one cool plant!


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