Vanda (Neofinetia) falcata, Takakuma

[naoki]

The peak blooming of this species is over in my grow area, but there are still a couple of them blooming. This is a pretty common variety, but I think tiger variegation is generally fun to grow because your culture influence the expression of the variegation, and the appearance keep changing over a long time. Some people, who isn't accustomed to Neofinetia, might think that they look sickly. It is a super easy to grow variety, and this variety has been known for at least 150 years (a bit more info in my blog page linked here). The blog post contains some fishing photos/video in Florida and Encyclia tampensis in its native habitat.

The flower shot is from 5 years ago, and I now noticed that it had a tiny bit of pink at the tip of the dorsal sepal. It is kind of weird.

 

[abax]

It doesn't look sickly to me. A sick plant surely doesn't have that many flowers. I love
these beautiful white flowers.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

I understand your predicament. It’s a fine line between lots of sun and a slightly off colored dehydrated leaves. In my many years as an ex-grower, I find that cooler weather (esp nights) and high light is the key.

 

[naoki]

Yes, i guess lots of skills are required in Neo growing to make them pretty (growing them and making them flower isn't difficult at all). Even within varieties withi tiger variegation, some would make better variegation under strong light (e.g., Kinroukaku), but others should be grown at a lower level (e.g. Hokage).