i bought this nearly a year ago... so maybe it will be ok, but it feels like this orchid is off schedule or something. it must be the 'trickiest' orchid i have to grow. after initial success with a few dendrobiums, i was searching for a new winter dormant type and found this guy. i bought it post-bloom so a little discounted, it had 2 cut off flower stems on the large bulb that were recently cut and still green then. it had one large bare bulb, one tiny bare bulb, and a new sprout about 3" tall with 2" roots, in a 4" plastic pot with sphagnum moss. i waited about a month to water it, it came slightly damp. over the winter outdoors, the large bulb did shrivel a little, but the new growth just shot up and developed this great tropical looking plant. the new bulb is a few inches taller, but not as stocky as the first big bulb. a few weeks ago we had a heat wave, and it dried out completely. i watered it, but in the meantime the old bulb got a little wrinkly. then some sort of insect hit it hard, i came home and the plant looked all wet, like something dripped on it, but the plant above is a dendro that had not been watered that day, so i took it to the sink, it was stickier underneath the leaves, so i rinsed the whole plant off and sprayed with neem. i assumes thrips got it? it lost the two lower leaves, they turned yellow and dropped off. the other leaves are a little bug eaten, but i think ok. now i think i see 2 flower spikes beginning... i have been fertilizing with weakish worm tea... this is my first in this orchid family, and this plant still makes me nervous. i don't know if this is on schedule or not, but i am stoked it is going to flower. i am hoping to repot it when it goes dormant, that dry hot spell was too severe i think for such a small pot. i am not entirely sure how to repot it though. in small pots it likes moss, but i am not sure about using moss in a larger pot than 4". anyone with advise, please chime in!!
monnierara millenium magic is a cross between catanoches midnight jem and mormodes sinuata and from what i gather cannot be used for breeding new hybrids, it is sterile. too bad, because these have really dark blackish flowers... i can't wait! if i don't kill it in the meantime. i hope the flowers grow as fast as the plant did. it really shot up quickly.