Orchid Q&A

* Air Conditioning
* Ansellia africana
* Aquarium Water
* Back Cutting
    Black Growths
* Calanthe Culture
    Catts in Hawaii
* Change of Environment
* Cymbidiella rhodocheila
* Culture of Alba Orchids
* Dehydration
    Dendrobium Care
* Dendrobium Repotting
    Dendrochilum magnum
* Dormancy
* Dry Conditions
* Epsom Salts
    Eulophia species
    Fertilizer Injector Dosage
* Flowering Vanilla
* Habenaria rhodocheila
    Holcoglossum kimballiana
* Inobulbum munificum
* Jewel Orchids
* Judging Orchids
* Leaf Color
    Leaf Residue
* Leaftip Burn
* Liparis viridiflora


Q.

Liparis viridiflora
I purchased a plant of Liparis viridiflora in May with at least 20 or more sheaths. By November, it had grown so much I had to transplant it. The new growths are also getting sheaths. I have recently tried growing it in a south-facing window with more sun. Will this plant ever flower? — Tina M. Swartz

 

A.

 

This attractive species is listed by Alex Hawkes in his classic book Encyclopaedia of Orchid Species as a winter-flowering plant, so you may expect it to flower for you sometime after late December. It apparently is one of those plants that will make multiple growths during the year, all of them flowering at once in their season. This is considered to be a good trait. From your description, you appear to be growing it under the right conditions, which Hawkes recommends as being for the smaller tropical dendrobiums. I would expect that the plant would benefit from being dried out between waterings and fed infrequently, if at all, during the cooler winter months to encourage spike formation. —
Ned Nash


Liparis viridiflora 'Noriko', CCM/AOS
Exhibitor, Yoshiko Souder. AOS File photo

Orchid Q&A

* Masdevallia coccinea
* Mastering Miltonias
* Maxillaria sophronitis
* Mealybug Infestation
* Meristemming Monopodials
    Missing Pollen
* Night Length
* Night Lights
* No Flowers
* Non-flowering Doritaenopsis
    Odontocidium Wildcat
* Oncidium Sharry Baby
* Orchid Honeydew
* Paphinia herrerae
* Paphiopedilum armeniacum
* Paphiopedilum delenatii
* Phaius Culture
    Phalaenopsis Problem
* Phalaenopsis Spiking
    Physurus herpysmoides
* Plant Sitter
* Rainwater Collection
* Redwood Bark
     Re-rooting Plants
    Spotted Oncidum Leaves
* Sticking Flowers
    Storing Pollen
* The Larger the Better
    Vanda Keiki
* Virus Question