# Pterostylis coccina



## Andrew (Mar 21, 2011)

Pterostylis coccina is one of the cauline greenhoods that was proposed to be split off into the genus Diplodium. Grows and multiplies as easily as other Pterostylis but needs to be watered a lot earlier in the growing season (mid-summer) to get a good flowering rate.


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## Kevin (Mar 21, 2011)

Very cool! I love these!


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## JeanLux (Mar 22, 2011)

I like their unique shape a lot!!! Jean


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## Shiva (Mar 22, 2011)

Interesting species.


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## NYEric (Mar 22, 2011)

Nice. Is that the pine needle topping ala Nesbitt!?


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## Andrew (Mar 22, 2011)

They're Casuarina leaves. In Australia, Casuarina leaves are probably a more popular mulch for terrestrials than pine needles. I don't know if there's any real difference between using one or the other, though.


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## Erythrone (Mar 22, 2011)

OOOOHHHH!!! Nice!


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## NYEric (Mar 22, 2011)

Thanx for the info.


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## cnycharles (Mar 22, 2011)

cool! how do you know when you should water a diplodium, or is it only for this species that you should water earlier


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## biothanasis (Mar 22, 2011)

Wonderful!!! I've always wanted to try these...! (I mean pterostylis...)


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## W. Beetus (Mar 22, 2011)

Very interesting! I like it.


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## Andrew (Mar 23, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> cool! how do you know when you should water a diplodium, or is it only for this species that you should water earlier


 
(I'll call them Diplodium in responding to this as it's so much easier)

It depends on the normal flowering time for the species you're growing. Diplodium will flower from summer to winter depending on the species. Diplodium coccinum is summer-early autumn flowering so you need to push it into growth early to get it to flower. If you start watering at the end of summer/early autumn as you do with the other Australian terrestrials all you get is rosettes. If I want to get a good flowering from coccinum I usually start watering from the last week of December/start of January (June/July in Nth Hemisphere). On the other hand my Diplodium grandiflorums (which flower in late autumn/early winter) flower well if I water them in late February/early March (August/Sepember) with my other terrestrials. 

For the robustum and truncatum you've just got from Nesbitts, robustum flowers around mid-autumn so I usually start watering this species within the last 2 weeks of January (July). truncatum is an early autumn flowering species so I usually water from the start of January (July). Diplodium truncatum is a shy flowering species though. It seems to flower better with a cool summer but even then you don’t get many flowers in the pot. 

The challenge with watering early is trying to keep them cool enough during the summer so that the tubers won’t rot. That may not be a problem in NY though.


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## labskaus (Mar 23, 2011)

Great display, Andrew!

Thanks for the info on your watering regime, that explains a lot to a rosette grower....


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## goldenrose (Mar 23, 2011)

:clap: :drool: such neat terrestrials!
Thanks for the culture tip, it's tempting .......!


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## tim (Mar 23, 2011)

I wish we could get these in the US...there's a very few of them over here - nutans, baptistii, pedunculata and some crosses is about it. I love that one...great color


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## SlipperFan (Mar 23, 2011)

These are so cool!


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## cnycharles (Mar 24, 2011)

Andrew said:


> (I'll call them Diplodium in responding to this as it's so much easier)
> 
> It depends on the normal flowering time for the species you're growing. Diplodium will flower from summer to winter depending on the species. Diplodium coccinum is summer-early autumn flowering so you need to push it into growth early to get it to flower. If you start watering at the end of summer/early autumn as you do with the other Australian terrestrials all you get is rosettes. If I want to get a good flowering from coccinum I usually start watering from the last week of December/start of January (June/July in Nth Hemisphere). On the other hand my Diplodium grandiflorums (which flower in late autumn/early winter) flower well if I water them in late February/early March (August/Sepember) with my other terrestrials.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the info, but I need a little translation. I just received the two species from australia a few days ago and they are either just starting to put out shoots or likely to soon. I should water them in right now, or wait until (july)? ... or I water them now, but then next year change to a different schedule? 
Les did say that all of the orchids that they exported generally flowered during the same season or half of year
thanks,
charles


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## NYEric (Mar 24, 2011)

I watered when I potted mine and continue to water. One Diplodium has already come up!!!


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## Andrew (Mar 25, 2011)

Charles,
Your biggest concern is getting them too shift their growing season by 6 months. I'm always happier if a plant is green than dormant. I'd be inclined to water it now (the cool weather is probably going to make it grow anyway) and try to keep it cool enough to keep it growing through summer and the following season. I probably wouldn't be concerned whether they'll flower or not, especially for the autumn flowering plants. If they go dormant as the summer approaches, you don't want them to flower at the expense of producing a replacement tuber.


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