L. Anceps flowers are not at all short lived. In Southern California mine bloom in the late fall and can last many weeks. They are grown mounted, outdoors in a very bright, nearly full sun location. The thing that usually limits the length of the bloom is dampness on the cooler days makes them susceptible to botritis fungus. Otherwise they put on quite a display, which is typically longer lived than many cattleyas. One of the main reasons that they are used for hybrids is they are quite temperature tolerant and can lend that trait to the resulting hybrid. They can stand temperature as high as 100F and down to 32F or slightly below. As far as flower size, there are some Mexican Laelias that are larger, but most are the same size as ancepts or even slightly smaller (e.g. gouldiana, autumnalis). The Brazilian Laelia purpurata (which is actually no longer classified as a Laelia) produces much larger flowers, but the shape of the flower is quite different from the Mexican Laelias. The bulbs on your plant do not look all that great and might be caused by using the lava rock without any bark to help retain some moisture. Try a 50:50 mix of lava rock and coarse bark and see if the plant perks up. I have also found that a regular once-a-week feeding schedule will result in larger blooms

Very nice..!

Lovely blooms. Reminds me of my little mermaid..Thanks for sharing.

Very pretty!

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

+Orchids & a Dutchy Thank you!

i live in southern california and here those plants are very popular. They make great mounted plants and very quick growing in my experience. However you're right about the spike time lol and the flowers for me last about 2 weeks. but they're great cuz of all the varieties and their very tolerant of temperature extremes.

Such a pretty lavender!

I appreciate all the info. Thanks

i do remember you saying somewhere one of your favorite colors was purple. that and mint :) its an absolutely BEAUTIFUL bloom. i am absolutely envious of your collection. always enjoy seeing your videos. keep it up :)

I enjoyed this video

Yeah, that's the problem with most Cattley 'types' beautiful flowers but often don't last too long. This one varies so much in colour, size and number of blooms. I've seen these with 4 foot long (over a meter) spikes! Imagine this. At my society meeting last Friday the points competition winner was a mounted anceps with over 40 bulbs and 9 flower spikes. Still one of my favourite orchids but mine has yet to flower.

beautiful flower ,don't worry next flower will stay longer,

Really beautiful!! :) I knew the flowers of Laelia anceps (and other similar Laelia) are actually long lasting! It's strange that they are already fading out...

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

Yeah I probably screwed up somewhere, or it changed shape after I brought it inside my cooler house to take pictures.

Really interesting, I like your observations. The color is really fantastic though. Not sure I would have the patience to grow something that short-lived! :-/

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

+annaiskicking The flower is flat and full once more! So it was probably just changing shape throughout the day.

it might not be so short lived, one thing my orchids do is to close up a bit at night time and open again the other day, they do this for the first 2 days or so, so hopefully this is the case with yours too :D if it is indeed short lived then awww :( I'll cross it from my wishlist lol

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

+MissOrchidGirl You know when I looked at it last night it had completely closed in on itself. I thought, I wonder if its just reflexing for night and will become flat in the morning. Sure enough, it is flatter and darker in appearance. lol

Flower opens small and increases as it ages.

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

Well you learn something new! Thanks Randy!

Awwe it's very pretty, It's a shame it's so short lived, :-)

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

I'm thinking its more a personal flower thing rather than across the species. I must have screwed something up lol

mine usely bloom 2-4 weeks

Every time mine has bloomed for me, (3 or 4 years) each flower has opened in the morning and closed a bit in the evening for the first two or three days. It then opens and stays that way until it fades two or three weeks later. Watch the beginning of this closing process in the video below... kzread.info/dash/bejne/m4WNrJOLodm3lJc.html

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

+Aaron E (On Good Soil) Sure enough, that is what mine was doing!

Should bloom 3 weeks.

I hope I didn't miss mine since I've been gone.

@HolyCityOrchids

8 жыл бұрын

+Nick Taylor I think mine may have just opposed the temperature change. We have been getting unseasonably hot temps for this time of year.

I don't think, they should be that shortlived. I know, mine usually blooms a couple of weeks minimum. I don't remember precisely, as it's been 2 yrs since last blooming. The roots of this years growth was eaten by a hungry snail - and goodbye blooms, this year at least.

Damn you waited 4 months to see it wither before your eyes :(

Make sure your fertilizer has calcium. Major orchid fertilizers do not have calcium. I would sue them if I could.

You do not have calcium in your fertilizer.

The "wild" Laelia anceps that can be found in mxican forests are no bigger than that. In pictures it looks quite stunning, but in reallity it isn't quite. Selected crosses are bigger, which is why I find it strange that your plant gave such a small flower, unless you were given a division from a mexican plant. Regarding the short-lived flowers, they last about a week or two. Perhaps yours didn't last that long because of the low temperatures.

You don't know what your talking about. Your fired.