Culture for angraecum sesquipedale

[Raver]

I got this one this morning and i was wondering whats the best culture for them, i had an agraecum didieri a few months back but it died, i think i over water it or it just didnt like being moved to s/h. How big do this plants need to be before being able to bloom. Leaf size is between 4 and 6 inches

[Dorsetman]

Looks to be a good plant. My oldest example of this has about 7 pairs of leaves ,leaf span maybe 8- 9 inches, and flowered for the first time earlier this year . The flower really is enormous, and quite long lasting. I assumed, from the very dark green of the leaves of my two plants that they want low light - yours are a much brighter green, which makes me doubt that ; it seems difficult to discover what they actually get in the wild ( and I have several books about african orchids which are not a lot of use here ! ) . I have tried hanging up in good light, but the plants didn't grow at all then ; they only grow slowly where they are now on the least bright bench in my greenhouse.
An old friend had one about 2 feet high, leaf span about 2 feet, and it had a lot of flowers most years - he grew his on the floor in a greenhouse having a lot of Vandas hanging up , so providing shade, and he said drips too , but I don't wantplants on my floor - they'd get trodden on..

[Tednz]

The first one is didieri and it flowered last year the next is viguieri, they are under other plants and that part of the shed does'nt not go below 50F

[Raver]

The guy who i bought it from said to give it cattleya light or a lil bit more and that it will grow faster this way. he said that they can get acclimated to vanda light. How often should i water it

[Dorsetman]

I'll move one of mine to the cattleya bench - watch this space !

[Raver]

Today mine got 6 hours of full sun and now its under lights getting cattleya light and it seems to be doing fine so i will keep doing this to see how the plant does and if nothing happens then it should be ok

[Halloamey]

Hi Byron ! Very healthy plant you have got there. I got an almost identical plant the last year, what I can tell you from my experience is that A. sesquipedale LOVES light and warmth. From the time it has come to India from Bremen (last December) it has produced 5 gigantic leaves. I give it full sun like Vandas, lots of water and fertilizer every other watering. It is growing in a medium that is 1:1 hard wood charcoal (1 -2 inch pieces) and coconut husk chips of roughly the same size. I will add a few pics later.

[Raver]

Cool, has yours flower before and i cant wait to see your pictures. I'm thinking on mounting this one up since it likes to be dry. I have an agraecum longiscott 'H&R' on a basket and it seems to be doing fine, i lost three leaves but not its doing better and i seen about 4 root tips coming out and there a leaf growing but i swear its been a couple months and i havent seen it grow an inch, are this ones slow growers.
(ACTUALLY I WAS JUST CHECKING SOME OLD PICTURE FROM WHEN I GOT IT AND IT APPEARS THE LEAF HAS GROWN BETWEEN 1.5 AND 2 INCHES LOL)

[Dorsetman]

I have grown A.longiscottii in hydroculture, when it did quite well - got to be a branched plant occasionally producing two spikes at the same time. Sorry I don't have a digital pic, and my 335mm slide is among a million others ( I guess - a life-time of snapping) somwhere in the loft. So I question "dry".

[Halloamey]

Hi Byron, here are the pics of my Angraecum sesquipedale. I was very busy, so posting a bit late.

The plant is thriving in this plastic basket, I don't think aloowing to the roots to dry out is a good option. Naturally Angraecum s. grows on moss and humus covered rocks where it has constant moisture at the roots, not wet but moist. Mine has not flowered yet, I think it will take 1 to 2 more years for it to flower. I have included a 10 cm pot for size comparison