Quote Originally Posted by Kmac View Post
This was a freebie, and I've seen one phal gigantea in person, so I am thrilled to have it. But, I have a couple of questions. If anyone is familiar with this species, I'd be thrilled to have any info you can share.

  1. Is it true that it takes more light than most phals?
  2. Is it true that it takes 12 years out of flask to bloom?
  3. With a leafspan of almost 4", would you guess it is a year old? 2?
  4. Once it gets bigger, I've heard it is better to grow mounted. Any thoughts on that?
  5. How big is a mature one anyway? I am thinking it would take a rather large mount...


Thanks!
1.if u put in under brighter light condition, you will get the silvery green coloration of the leave and they bloom more freely, but under shadier conditions, the leaves lack of the silvery metallic color but leave span are longer but they don't bloom as freely.
2.can't really answer how long does it takes for it to flower from flask but 8 is what i had been told, depends a lot on cultivation method.
3.can't estimate the age from leave span, i got three baby from flask, been with me for three months, there is one with 1.5 inch leave when it came, the second leave it produce is 2 inches and the current one is near to 3 inches, so as u can see.......depends on cultivation method
4.yeap, they prefer mounted on huge trees, fern roots or drift wood. my two teenage gigantea is mounted on fern roots while the three babies are in clay pots hanged tilted to prevent water accumulation at the crown area
5.dunno much about maximum size, six feet from the last post is the biggest i have heard so far