Oh pure love!!!!!!!

Soooooo frustrated. I trapped a nice fat mouse on Tuesday who probably was the culprit who ate my sophronitis bud. Then I ran out of traps. This morning another set of buds was eaten on a wonderful rupicolous laelia hybrid from SBOE. Grrrrrr!

I feel with you!!

Laelia lundii is starting to bloom - right on time too.

And -there are a few more buds in the work.

How odd that I went first, but then this winter mine was in full sun (what sun there has been).

Not knowing what 'rupicolous' meant, I did a search and came across this article.
http://www.orchidworks.com/bra...

Bill

Great article, no? I think I started this mess with this article. Thanks Bill!!

Same here! It is a very good article!
Bill, I read it for the same reason you did!

Do you guys find these difficult to grow? After browsing the web, I see a few of these that are calling my name. They seem to be something I could grow under lights and several seem to be mini's or at least stay on the smaller side. The L. millereri ? looks real nice. I also like the L. mixta Ursula posted, long spike and all. Andy's has several others listed as easy growers.

Bill

They love growing under lights. I have bought many from a seller who grows that way. I adore them but have trouble getting them to bloom. I keep them cool in winter and cut down on water but there's only northern light in there. I plan on using grow lights next year. My exception to difficulty getting them to bloom is L. lucasiana which bloomed all winter (see above) and blooms like a champ every year. And I had L. lundii in the warm room in full sun but it only bloomed for a short time. My L. lundii x epi. bloomed for months in the cool room too. Ursula blooms them warm in her well lit greenhouse much more successfully than I.

Bill, I bought most of mine from Andy and they look fine so far. I have not all of mine bloomed yet, perhaps because those were only bought last Summer.
Since Andy's plants had fairly reddish growth, indicating that he grew them very bright, I grow them that way too and also keep them bright and sunny outside in Summer.
Now the Laelia lundii came from Hausermann ca. 7 years ago and it looked miserable until I mounted it horizontally on tree-fern. It blooms now regularly for me. The Laelia mixta flowers without a problem, it is right now still blooming from the second spike.
Bill, I would try them, and I would stay away from any bark mixture.

Yay. Rocks don't break down. But beware, the plants have a tendency to grow out of the rocks and sometimes need some strapping down! I think it says somewhere that they like to be watered at night but I don't ever do that. I will look up my fav rupicolous laelia seller's advice in e-mails he sent, if anyone would like to hear it.

Well, that was easy. You talked me into it. One article I was reading suggested lava rocks and Alifor as media. I have some PrimeAgra left over from putting some Phals into S/H(FirstRays), so I can use that and get some lava rock. Thanks!

Bill

We are terrible enablers and proud of it, Bill!!

I finally took the plunge and yesterday received Laelia briegeri and Laelia fournieri from Andy's. They seem OK in the pots they came in. I usually repot any new plant I get, but I'm thinking I should leave these until they outgrow (how's that for optimism?) their pots. Everyone raves about Andy's and I figure if the plants look happy, why disturb them for a while. I have no experience with these at all, what do you think?

Bill

Rupicolous laelias hate repotting unless the roots are exploding out. Good instinct. They like lots of bright indirect light but in winter they like it cool and less water (water if leaves are shriveling). They don't like getting their leaves wet in winter but are okay in summer. Very little fertilizer esp in winter. One seller uses osmocote (4-5 pellets once a year). I still can't get most to bloom but I'm getting closer. Grow them for their roots.

I guess they are many ways to skin a cat?
Those little plants from Andy came planted into some stones of sorts and looked good, so I left them alone. I noticed that leaves on all of them looked very reddish, indicating that he grows them in high light.
So - during the indoor season I keep them on the top shelf about a foot away from the glass ceiling, so they are sitting in maximum light for me. And since they are drying out very quickly in that spot ( good aeration going too) I spray the whole shelf daily right over the top. That top shelf holds small Cattleyas too and they do bloom fine up there.
Comes Summer, I will place them again into a small rack into full sun outside ( into the cage) and cross my fingers for nice blooms....

One of my rupicolous laelia hybrids is in bud. Laelia Seagulls Tangerine'SVO' HCC/AOS x L. milleri 'Dr. Koopowitz Red' HCC/AOS (a mouthful!) Pray for no mice!

That's a nice long spike.

Bill

Looking good!

Mouse trap is set? With Chocolate?