Phalaenopsis malipoensis

[naoki]

I'm excited to finally see this little guy flowering! It is similar to Phalaenopsis lobbii. I think the flower is supposed to be quite a bit smaller than P. lobbii. I've had this plant for about 3-4 years. It has been sending out the flower shoots every year, but it has never completed flowering. Usually, it makes 2-3 flower shoots, but it doesn't develop flower buds, and the shoot become yellow in the summer time. It produced two shoots this year, and opened only 1 flower, but better than nothing! I'm guessing that it may want to have more seasonality, but I didn't do anything special this year. So I still don't know why it managed to flower this year.

This species was originally described from Malipo, China. So I'm guessing that it is probably deciduous in nature. In 2013, it dropped all of the leaves, but it was in June! At that time, I was quite a bit worried since it seemed to be confused about the season. I've posted about the out-of-season leaf drop in this thread. Since then, it hasn't dropped all leaves.

I'm recently growing it in cool-end of intermediate; max/min temperature is around 28/18C (82/65F) in the summer and 18/13C (65/55F) in winter. Relative humidity is usually around 75-80%. Fairly shady condition. I haven't given formal winter rest, so it gets watered every day. It is fertilized for every watering with 20-30ppmN MSU. In the winter, I may use fertilizer for every 2-3 days.

No additional info on the blog page (other than a link to "It's spring time in Alaska" song), but here is the link to my blog.


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis callus on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis plant on Flickr

 

[Wendy]

That is way cool! Love the 'tentacles'.

 

[MaryPientka]

Lovely!

 

[Ozpaph]

thank-you

 

[SlipperFan]

That is a very sweet flower!

 

[Lanmark]

Yay! It finally bloomed!

 

[abax]

Such a pretty small flower with a funny face. As an aside,
mine has never dropped leaves...well, old leaves at the
bottom of the plant sometimes. Mine is mounted and the
temps. never get below 60F and it blooms regularly. You
might consider cutting back a bit on the watering and
fertilizing. Maybe add a bit of sphag. to the mount?

 

[JeanLux]

Cool pics, esp. first profile shot !!!! Jean

 

[naoki]

Thanks. Thank you for the info, Angela. So, it blooms without colder period. Hmmm. I did try high and low fertilization, but it doesn't seem to matter too much. it does have pretty old sphag on the top part of the cedar single. But it may need to be replaced.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Nice. It looks very similar to lobbii - I wonder if it is more cold tolerant. I had a lobbii for a while, but it really didn't like the colder winters here, even inside. Then again I've had little luck with any Phal except the native P. japonica.

 

[naoki]

The lowest temp. I tried was 1-2 month of 7C (45F) day/night sitting next to P. wilsonii in an attempt to make them flower. I didn't manage to make them flower at that time, but they didn't seem to show any stress from it. But Fukuoka (outside) is colder than this. According to this climate data of P. wilsonii, P. wilsonii seems to be able to handle below 0C. So I wonder if it can grow outside. But the summer in Fukuoka is hotter.

I'm guessing that Fukuoka is pretty close to the cold limit of P. japonica. I was looking at this distribution map of P. japonica previously. I thought that it has somewhat weird distribution (i.e. occurrence in Shimane and Kyoto). It appears that there is no record from Fukuoka, but have you seen it in nature?

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

The lowest temp. I tried was 1-2 month of 7C (45F) day/night sitting next to P. wilsonii in an attempt to make them flower. I didn't manage to make them flower at that time, but they didn't seem to show any stress from it. But Fukuoka (outside) is colder than this. According to this climate data of P. wilsonii, P. wilsonii seems to be able to handle below 0C. So I wonder if it can grow outside. But the summer in Fukuoka is hotter.

I was in its range during my trip to Sichuan, but we didn't spend much time in the subtropical zone, so I never saw any. I'd say the winters where it is said to be found are similar to Fukuoka's, perhaps a tad warmer, and summers can be pretty hot too - maybe I should try some here and see what happens.

I'm guessing that Fukuoka is pretty close to the cold limit of P. japonica. I was looking at this distribution map of P. japonica previously. I thought that it has somewhat weird distribution (i.e. occurrence in Shimane and Kyoto). It appears that there is no record from Fukuoka, but have you seen it in nature?

Probably. I've never lost one to cold here so far and that includes the crazy cold we got last January (below freezing for 40 straight hours). I'm guessing those northern distributions are (were?) limited to coastal populations living in near frost free microclimates. I've never seen it here in Fukuoka, but I've heard it is locally abundant in Miyazaki Prefecture. The Japanese Red List states that it is endangered to critically endangered throughout Japan. Sadly, that is a common status for any commercially exploitable orchid species in Japan these days.

 

[naoki]

Its bloom is getting better! I did use cooler night temp in the winter (45-50F) this year and also reduced watering in both summer and winter, but the better bloom is probably due to age.


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr


Phalaenopsis malipoensis on Flickr

 

[Secundino]

Simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

 

[TrueNorth]

Very impressive. Well done.

 

[e-spice]

I've never heard of this species. Nice job. As usual the close up photography is amazing.