Sedirea japonica blooming!

[hank3443]

Great pictures, I have one and seems to be happy mounted however hasn't bloomed in (4) years, Hank......

[Kmac]

Nice...I love these charming little guys!

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Such a pretty orchid species.

cheers,
BD

[Dorsetman]

What are you growing this in Maura ? I have found sphagnum moss very good , but my plant ( growing so well last year , with a spike of 14 flowers), is looking quite unhappy , maybe even losing its crown growing point - so I repotted it just today. I found the moss had gone quite hard and dusty , probably when I cooled it off and rested it dry for a month , so the fresh moss will give it a new start - I hope ... I have my fingers crossed so hard when I pass it, that it is quite painful...
Or maybe I'll keep my eyes open for a replacement when I get to Budapest later in the week.

[mauraec]

This is a relatively new plant, Geoff - it was in very early spike when I got it, and I was so afraid it would contract the dreaded "bud blast" that I scarcely looked at it, never mind repotting it. It is in a fine bark mix, but will go into S/H after it finishes blooming and I see some new growth pushing out.

I think the best indicators I have for how it will do is in assessing the other orchids I pulled out of sphagnum and placed in S/H, and particularly the phals since it reminds me so much of them. I don't have any other Aerides, but I do have a Phal equestris that actually arrived at my house at peak bud blast (it was supposed to be blooming size, but not in bloom!) and I repotted it in S/H after it recovered a bit. It was in sphagnum when it arrived, fully dried out and very unhappy. That was 6 months ago or so, and it has since started to thrive. I also took a giant Phal. hybrid out of a 5" pot of sphagnum moss and put it in S/H 4 months ago, and it is holding on. I have a very poor record with Phals, for some reason; perhaps they know they are not my favorites? But these are doing well so far.

I have found that, with my erratic cultivating habits, sphagnum moss is not my friend. It seems to stay soggy for weeks on end, and then suddenly dry out when I wasn't looking. As for the Sedirea in particular, I have pored over Bakers and found that they recommend a fast draining medium, with drying out in between watering. They also recommend intermediate light and intermediate temps. So, that is where and how mine is until it protests.

I don't know if any of this will help pull your Sedirea out of its tailspin, but I would definitely go orchid shopping in Budapest!

[Paph]

Maura, you do have a beauty: great little plant with wonderful flowers and lovely scent. I'm waiting to see some flowers on mine, well the promisings are bad so I think growing this one is pretty challenging.

[Dorsetman]

. I don't have any other Aerides, ... I have a very poor record with Phals, for some reason; and how mine is until it protests.!

Sedirea was of course an Aerides originally , but I think that is a complete red herring - it doesn't look like any Aerides, or grow like any Aerides , so Aerides cultivation hints are not useful. As to phallys - meaning the big box store plants which everyone has , my belief is that their requirements are quite different from most other orchids, which is why Mr and Mrs Joe Bloggs can grow them well in their apartments, ranches or whatever, but us specialist orchid growers can't grow them in our orchid areas. In my Orchid Society there is a lady who usually wins the Phally classes - she has 70 in her house and magnificent specimens she does produce. Her husband is a wizard too - in his greenhouse - he grows quite a range but is a Coelogyne specialist ; he shows giant plants covered in flowers , of species that no-one else has ever seen . They will both tell me that they can't swap - her Phals die in the greenhouse, and his "real orchids" as I call them, don't flourish in the house....
But I am keeping my eyes open for one or two phal species - not amabilis types or violaceas - which are quite different in all respects.

[mauraec]

Geoff - I have really focussed on how to cultivate my Sedirea specifically. This is from IOSPE. I'm basically going by their advice, which fits in nicely with my other orchids - it is in fine bark now, which is no longer freely draining, so it's going into S/H with clay pellets when it's done blooming, taken a brief rest, and started some new growth. My analogy to phals really was based on my equestris - I don't have any supermarket phals. The Sedirea just looks much like the equestris (as opposed to any Aerides, even though the phal blooms are somewhat different). My equestris is growing in S/H now and is placed where it gets much the same cultivation environment that IOSPE and Bakers suggest for the Sedirea.

I expect it will have the usual shock and protest when I repot it, but if it has new growth coming, my experience is that it will adjust in time. At least, I hope so. My favorite nursery here has many Phal amabile and violacae, all growing mounted. They seem to be okay but are not really thriving - I'm going to wait until they look a bit more established before I take them on. Good luck in finding them.



Common Name The Japan Sedirea - In Japan Nago-ran - In China E Ji Lan

Flower Size 1 to 1 1/5" [3 cm]

The 7" [18 cm] long inflorescence of this small sized, cool to warm growing species is curved, and made up of many greenish white flowers , with purple bars on the lip. The 6 to 10 flowers open in succession and are prized for their sweet fragrance. Adult plants branch freely and produce a number of inflorescences simultaneously. The orchid flowers in the spring and summer and is found in Japan. This species has a monopodial, very short stem carrying 5 to 8, narrolwy elliptic to strap shaped, obtuse at the obscurely bilobed apex leaves and can be mounted or potted in a coarse fast draining medium and given cool to warm temperatures, high humidity, semi-shade, and good air circulation.

Synonyms *Aerides japonica L. Linden & Rchb. f. 1863, Angraecum japonicum Linden 1881