Rupicolous Laelia(s)

[GuRu]

3 years ago I bought in a good mood 4 rupicolous Laelias very cheap as a bargain. At the beginning I grew them like I read in the net but they not really seemed to like it. Last year after the first one had died I changed the growing conditions slightly and since that day they have grown better. The first one Laelia rupestris is in flower now. Last yaer the first sheath blasted. I'm happy with only one flower but hope next time she will flower with at least 2 or 3 flowers.
For guys like BrucherT, who like to see the whole plant, I took an approbriate photo in advance.
Laelia rupestris :

 

[monocotman]

Lovely! Can you expand on your culture?

 

[TyroneGenade]

Very pretty and kudos on your growing skills. What changes did you make so they would thrive? I have only killed these...

 

[Paphman910]

Lovely! Can you expand on your culture?

Would like to know as well!

 

[GuRu]

.........Can you expand on your culture?

First of all, I'm an indoor grower without a greenhouse but I live in a house with many and large windows. This seems to make indoor growing easier.
I read in an German orchid forum from a Lady who wrote, that she has grown plenty of rupicolous Lalias. She would grow them during summer in full sun without any shade in the open with always up to 1cm water in the saucer. The growing medium would be a mixture of grit and sand. My plants grew in such a mixture when they arrived. I was completely unexperienced with these plants when they arrived and started growing them how the Lady had recommended....
But the result wasn't the way I expected it to be.
Spring last year I changed 3 things:
- I repotted in my standard inorganic potting medium (see photo 1) because in my eyes the sand and grit mixture was quite dense when wet.
- I grow them outside in the sun but they get some shade in the afternoon (beginning from ca. 3 - 4 p.m.)
- I removed the permanent water level in the saucer. They get watered once a week or so.
During winter I kept them at a south facing window by maybe 12-15°C and I changed this too. Last winter I kept them at west facing window slightly warmer by around 17-20 °C (depending if the sun shines or not).
Not sure if this helps ?

 

[Ozpaph]

helps a lot, thanks

 

[BrucherT]

3 years ago I bought in a good mood 4 rupicolous Laelias very cheap as a bargain. At the beginning I grew them like I read in the net but they not really seemed to like it. Last year after the first one had died I changed the growing conditions slightly and since that day they have grown better. The first one Laelia rupestris is in flower now. Last yaer the first sheath blasted. I'm happy with only one flower but hope next time she will flower with at least 2 or 3 flowers.
For guys like BrucherT, who like to see the whole plant, I took an approbriate photo in advance.
Laelia rupestris :
View attachment 33048

View attachment 33049

Awwwww I’m touched! And your plant is wonderful! That red : WOW. Congratulations on this spectacle! I see you’re growing in LECA.

 

[Paphman910]

Thanks GuRu. That confirms to me that in the winter they like to get as much light as they can get.

 

[NYEric]

Rupoicolous laelias grow on rocks in places that get rain every morning then LOTS of sun, so the rocks dry out. The German lady's culture/conditions make no sense, while your leca culture does. Just don't leave them on the roof in the hot sun all day!
Also, everyone needs to see full plant photos so we can see what it takes to bloom the plants. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JustinR]

Well done, really nice. For those who want to know more about cultivation of rupiculous laelias I found an old video on YouTube featuring Francisco Miranda , a Brazilian expert on all things rupiculous.

One of the things he said that struck me is that some species can be inundated under water for months at a time, probably don't recommend trying that at home though

 

[Carmella.carey]

Beautiful my favorite of the rock laelias is the harpophylla.
And happy St.Patrick's day from Patrick in Virginia

 

[GuRu]

Rupoicolous laelias grow on rocks in places that get rain every morning then LOTS of sun, so the rocks dry out......

Almost Eric, some species also grow sometimes in boulder or in sand. And if you replace 'get rain every morning' with 'get dew every morning' it would be perfect.

 

[GuRu]

Due to the question about my growing conditions I remenbered a fact that I had forgotten over years. Many years ago I saved on the harddisk of my computer two webpages of the 'AOS Orchid Web' about rupicolous Laelias. By now the URL of these two pages doesn't exist anymore so it is impossible to set here a link to them. Therefore I made two .pdf files of them and stored them on my personally webspace. So I am able to set a link to these articles here.
First article How To Grow Rupicolous Laelias (by AOS©) describes the growing conditions of the unknown author and the are quite similiar to mine I described in post #5.
For those interested ones who want to know more about some species and their habitat in Brazil theres another article by the AOS. I think the author was Greg Allikas The Other Jewels of Minas Gerais (by AOS©)
Hope there are some more information to interested ones.

 

[GuRu]

Sorry, the second link doesn't work at the moment. We are working on a solution (hopefully).
Now it works !

 

[tomp]

Due to the question about my growing conditions I remenbered a fact that I had forgotten over years. Many years ago I saved on the harddisk of my computer two webpages of the 'AOS Orchid Web' about rupicolous Laelias. By now the URL of these two pages doesn't exist anymore so it is impossible to set here a link to them. Therefore I made two .pdf files of them and stored them on my personally webspace. So I am able to set a link to these articles here.
First article How To Grow Rupicolous Laelias (by AOS©) describes the growing conditions of the unknown author and the are quite similiar to mine I described in post #5.
For those interested ones who want to know more about some species and their habitat in Brazil theres another article by the AOS. I think the author was Greg Allikas The Other Jewels of Minas Gerais (by AOS©).
Hope there are some more information to interested ones.

Gu..Ru Thanks for the links. I am a big fan of Rupicolous Laelias and grow both species and primary crosses. Here is Gold Star (crispa x harpophylla) which just shouts “It’s spring”

 

[Tony]

I only have one rupicolous Laelia, L. Coronet, but it has been trouble free. I have it in LECA in a clay pot and it gets fed and watered whenever the Paphs do. It has bloomed three or four times for me over the last couple of years with an improved flower count on larger pseudobulbs every time.

 

[GuRu]

I only have one rupicolous Laelia, L. Coronet, .......

Looks really nice your L. Coronet. It is L. cinnabarina x L. harpophylla, isn't it.

 

[Tony]

Looks really nice your L. Coronet. It is L. cinnabarina x L. harpophylla, isn't it.

Thank you, and yes it is.

 

[dodidoki]

Wow, very nice plant and photo, too.

 

[LadySlipper]

Simply gorgeous.