Stanhopea - How many leaves per pbulb?

[rbarata]

Thank you for the explanation.

People here grow them outside all year long. But those I know live near the coast where the sea prevents too low temps. I live aprox. 80 kms (50 mile) from the sea so I have occasional outside temps bellow 0ºC (32 F). Inside, in a south window, I can get 14ºC (58 F) at night and 22ºC (72 F) on a sunny day. As a reference I grow easily phals and my catt in this room.

[estación seca]

On one page, from the American Orchid Society
Stanhopea Culture Sheet

The author of the following site lives not far from the coast in southern California. There is a lot of growing information. He discusses the species and their day/night temperature requirements. Some do require warm nights, and others do fine in cooler temperatures (but not freezing.)
Stanhopea Culture

You may also wish to visit this archive site
The Stanhopea Pages by Nina Rach, edited November 2011

[rbarata]

Thank you for the links...I already know them.

There is contradictory information (as usual ) between sites.
In the first link, for the wardii specie, the average winter temp is 40-50°F (4.4-10.0°C), which is ok for me.

But, for ex, in IOSPE, is a warm to hot grow, which ranges between 66 to 85 F night average (19 to 29ºC), significantly higher.

I will try to contact an old lady from here who is an expert in orchids, with more than 5.000 at home. Her climate is more or less similar to mine so... I'll post her answer as soon as I get it.

What is the temp in your growing room?

[estación seca]

I suspect the Stanhopea blog reflects the author's experience, and those are his winter temperatures. I suspect the IOSPE entries are summer night temperatures recorded near habitat, and don't reflect what the plant tolerates. The Baker cultural sheets give extrapolations of temperatures throughout the year for the species they cover.

I use an electric heater in my sunroom at night in the winter to a minimum of 10C / 50 F. I use an electric evaporative cooler during the summer, connected to a garden hose that enters the room through a gap I leave in a glass door. I converted the electric socket into which I plug these to have a ground fault circuit interrupter, which is a very good idea for outlets near wet areas.

Now, in the hottest and most humid part of our summer, the sun only shines on the windows for 2 hours or so in the morning. There are trees to the east that screen the sun until it is well above the horizon. Evaporative cooling doesn't work well now. I run it all the time. The temperature day and night is around 26.5C / 80 F. The relative humidity is a steady 70%. Without the cooler day temperatures would be around 35-40C / 95-104 F. My experience has been plants easily tolerate daytime temperatures like this when they have much cooler nights, but not 26C. So I run the cooler during the day and it is around 26C all the time.

We get 0-12 nights below 0C / 32 F here each winter, but it warms up the next day. During the day the sun is low enough to heat the room during the 4-6 hours during which it shines directly onto the windows. Daytime temperatures may be 15C / 60 F on the very few really cold and cloudy days, to over 32C / 90 F on very many warm days. I picked 10C / 50 F for the sake of my Vandas. The many succulents that also overwinter in there tolerate temperatures almost to freezing. The winter relative humidity is between 40%-60% most of the time; when it is cooling down for the night, the RH goes much higher until the heater starts. Most of my orchids grow through the winter. In fact, the ones preferring cool nights grow better during the winter than they do during the summer, when they may struggle.

Spring and fall are dry here. The evap lowers the night temperatures to around 18C / 65 F. Day temperatures are 35-40C / 95-104 F. I let daytime temperatures rise and use the cooler at night.

I would prefer filling the evap cooler with 5-gallon / 19 liter buckets of water myself, to stay strong. It takes about 20 gallons / 75 liters of water. My bathroom is about 15 steps from the cooler. I often work long days, and the reservoir would run dry. This would not damage the cooler, because the pump has a float valve shutoff. But the cooler would be blowing hot, dry air into the sunroom. So I switched to the garden hose automatic fill system.

[rbarata]

Estacion seca, extreme climates require creativity.

Got an answer from the orchid expert I talked about. She said:

"Put it outside. It can handle temps as low as 7°C (44 F). When it gets colder move it inside. Given you possibilities, a south window is best 'cause they likt lots of light, but be careful with direct sun. Don't let it go dry, not even in winter."

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Given you possibilities, a south window is best 'cause they likt lots of light, but be careful with direct sun. Don't let it go dry, not even in winter."

Be careful with these. I used to grow my narrow leaved Stanhopeas in low Cattleya light, but they burn pretty easily.

Some species also need a fairly dry winter rest in order to get blooms. I used to stop all water to my jenishiana in winter and let it get very dry. My tigrina also got very little winter water. I never grew wardii and am not familiar with its winter rest preferences.

[rbarata]

Be careful with these. I used to grow my narrow leaved Stanhopeas in low Cattleya light, but they burn pretty easily.

Thanks for warning Isurus79. What she meant was indirect light. I grow phals in this window, obviously more shaded, but I can get several light levels in there. The problem is space...not enough space.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by rbarata

The problem is space...not enough space.

I know what you mean! I wish I had more space to grow this genus and Gongora!!

[Manfred Busche]

I would like to add a bit to the very good advice you have already got.
The new growth shown in your photograph obviously came from two (old) bulbs
which were possibly separated from a main plant.
There is some likelyhood, that this new growth will not be strong enough
to grow to maturity - it may grow bigger though, and then stop growing ...
But the next shoot will hopefully develop into a complete set of one leaf + one
bulb + new roots.

[rbarata]

There is some likelyhood, that this new growth will not be strong enough
to grow to maturity - it may grow bigger though, and then stop growing ...
But the next shoot will hopefully develop into a complete set of one leaf + one
bulb + new roots.

That's a good point, Manfred. Never thought about that. Now I know what is happening, if it will happen.