Ceratocentron fesselii.

[ManilaByNight]

Mounted on a wood branch. Been with me for almost a year and surprised me when I saw the orange flowers. For some strange reason it flowered being hot and dry here now (though I water 2-3 times day and dries out quickly). This is a miniature and my one and only specimen ... really very small plant as in less than an inch height. I bought it out of curiosity and as a test/challenge to see if it would thrive in my grow area. Forgot all about it until today ....

Ceratocentron fesselii

[leespg]

Beautiful miniature from your country, can it bloom at lowland, understand it's natural habitat is between 1000 to 1200 meters?

[ManilaByNight]

Yes lee that's what I initially read about this plant that it comes from the highlands. In fact, I got this from the vendor who came from the highlands. That's why I only got one plant just out of curiosity and just to test if it will thrive. I started reading and found in the IOSPE page that it is cool to hot growing. When I saw the word hot and saw the thermometer gauge on that page, I decided to try it out. As for most species I acquired from my vendor from the highlands, I kept this on the drier side in between copious waterings. It was thriving .... well .... at least it wasn't dying on me like some of the rest of other highland species. I give it a regular watering with bright light (it's hanging just like my chiloschistas at two feet below my plastic roof) and keep the area humid by watering the area and plants below. I forgot all about it. I would see it occasionally still all green but notice no new growth .... maybe this is a slow grower. I saw one green root sprouting and that was it. Until today I noticed some orangey blotches and they were buds! I was so excited. I noticed this March-April my nights here have been quite cool specially during the very early mornings in my grow area because of my constant watering in the afternoons and very early morning before I leave for work .... and with all the other plants around to keep humidity high. Maybe that temperature difference between cool evenings at dusk until daybreak and then during the day the temperature rises .... I don't know ..... just guessing ..... maybe that might have triggered the flowering???

[catttan]

Such a beautiful mini orchid!! Just love that orange colour. Congrats Jojo for blooming it.

[Paph]

Beautiful, just beautiful! I started in a similar way with minis - just one to see if it would thrive in my condition...

[Tom-19951]

It is a fantastic miniature! Don't know about the temperature range but definitely it likes to be slightly drier between waterings. Mine normally blooms in the late fall.

It is not an easy one to grow or bloom for many growers. Nicely done, Jojo.

BTW, the "wood branch" is a small cork tree branch.

[ManilaByNight]

BTW, the "wood branch" is a small cork tree branch.

No Tom. It's not cork but some native hardwood branch that came with the plant mounted and growing in it. I guess this might have been collected from the wild and the branch was broken off. It looks almost like cork from a distance but it is a native hardwood of some kind which I cannot tell.

[delphiguy]

Jojo, lucky you... I bought a 3 of these before as they're really cute... unfortunately they all died on my in less than 2 months.... Im so envious at you since not only did you manage
to grow them you were also able to flower them under the hot manila weather. I hope I can find them again...

[ManilaByNight]

Jojo, lucky you... I bought a 3 of these before as they're really cute... unfortunately they all died on my in less than 2 months.... Im so envious at you since not only did you manage
to grow them you were also able to flower them under the hot manila weather. I hope I can find them again...

Well Randy for some strange reason it flowered. Funny because I really forgot all about this plant and have not been checking up on it as I was looking at the more promising plants I have. Really ironic because when one doesn't pamper a certain plant so much then it just flowers while those plants that one always pay attention to and pamper, they don't flower at all. Clearly the opposite.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Lovely orchid Jojo.

Cheers,
BD