Oh! How They Grow!
The turning of Spring has my orchids growing and growing! They seem to be enjoying the longer days and brighter sunshine in my west-facing window which is supplemented by an LED full-spectrum grow light. While I do have a couple orchids still sulking from the repot, these orchids are just happy as clams and well on the way to establishing themselves.
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One orchid that had shown almost no sign of distress or shock is my adorable Freckles, a dendrobium Roy Tokunaga. While he came with a flower spike which blasted shortly after I brought him home from the orchid show, he also had a tiny growth that hasn't shown signs of stopping anytime soon. In fact, this growth is even taller than the original newest growth! He has adapted to the repotting with easy and has quickly put down dozens of new roots.
While I was flushing and doing my checks, I spotted the nubbin which is growing in pretty quickly. I'm already starting to see a flower spike developing on the top of the maturing growth which means that there's a good chance I'll have flower again from this guy by fall too. He's growing rather vigorously and I'm just thrilled! Talk about an example of a perfect repotting!
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I still cringe when I think about how badly I messed up during the repotting of Eris, my only Iwanagara Appleblossom. I knocked off a new growth that had started swelling up and thought I destroyed my chances with this golden cattleya hybrid. But instead of getting set back, Eris rallied another eye and put her energies into growing that new growth, just on the other side of the destroyed nubbin. That growth has slowly been getting bigger and bigger and now, it's starting to form the pseudobulb it will eventually become.
With any luck and a lot of TLC, this orchid will bloom come fall/winter. She seemed to be a healthy, happy plant when I purchased her from a member of the Newport Harbor Orchid Society and doesn't seem to have suffered too much from the rough repotting. Her bulbs have not shown any signs of wrinkling or distress but she was repotted a little later than the rest of the expo orchids. Most of my cattleya type orchids have actually taken to semi-hydro really well and Eris doesn't seem to be an exception.
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Another cattleya hybrid that has taken to semi-hydro without any distress is my myrmecatavola Sunspot, who has burst into activity since coming into my care. Her newest bulb has been putting out lots of new roots and the eye that had started to swell up before among her older pseudobulbs has grown quickly and is already developing its leaves.
There seems to be plenty of root activity within the pot where I can't see either which seems to mean that she is going to establish herself in her pot without any problems. I'm keeping an eye on another potential growth, though it hasn't shown signs of swelling. I would love for another direction of growth and add to my chances of blooms this year.