Laelia milleri - Finally something different's happening

[rbarata]

After almost 6 years without a bloom it seems there's something growing inside a sheath. It was there before but today I noticed the sheath got fat and what's inside is growing bigger.
During all these years the plant became well established in its pot, with multiple growths each year, but never bloomed in spite of the numerous sheaths.

It gets full sun every winter (here, during the coldest months, the weather is usually cool/cold with clear skies) but that was not enough, it seems.

After trying a different parameter combination each year (sun, watering, temps, etc), this year I changed the watering scheme and min temps. I didn't watered it for almost two months (only occasional misting of the medium) together with lower temps at night (8ºC / 47 F) by letting it sit outside during the night. The leaves show a discoloration caused by low temps, something that I have seen in other Laelias together with the purple caused by high light intensity.

This time, if it blooms, then I have found the sweet spot for this species. By other words, these rupis don't like babysitting too much.

Let's hope for beautiful flowers.

Some photos:

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[Roberta]

Looks very hopeful!

[orchidman77]

Congratulations rbarata!! This is still one of my all-time favorite species; I hope my plants will be able to bloom soon. I can't wait for the updated bud and bloom pictures!

[rbarata]

So far so good!

[Roberta]

Looks promising!

[rbarata]

One thing I changed in my culture and forgot to mention: I've added rusty nails on top of the medium. I think OW says something about it as a "trick" from brazilian growers.

[orchidman77]

Looking good!! My two milleri that are in the "healthy, growing well, but not blooming" category. I'll try some lower temps (they're currently in a tent that doesn't get much lower than 68* F).

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by orchidman77

Looking good!! My two milleri that are in the "healthy, growing well, but not blooming" category. I'll try some lower temps (they're currently in a tent that doesn't get much lower than 68* F).

I can give you some more specifics about how I have cultivated it during the last year, in spite of the probable differences in our conditions.

For a start, I changed from indoors to outdoor growing for 90% of the time.
I tried to replicate the conditions in its habitat. I'm fortunate where I live because when temps are lower, usually we have full sun for weeks in a row. So it gets full sun all day with temps in the 20's (ºC), 70's in F, and lower than 8ºC (46 F) which is the threshold to bring it in as in the habitat temp aren't going less than this for most of the time. Indoors, during cold weather, I out it in a room that is around 12ºC (50 F).
In summer I changed from full sun all day, which is too hot and dry to bright light with full sun during late afternoon.

The watering has been daily in hot weather, by the end of the afternoon. In cold weather, no water for weeks. Only misting the top medium to let a small amount of water to flow to the bottom. Fertilizer, only when it's actively growing.

If you have more specific questions, please ask.

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