Peristeria elata is a tough plant
 

I received a bare-root Peristeria elata in late July from Ecuagenera. It cost $22 before handling and shipping. It was the tallest plant in the very long box, with two leaves more than a meter long. The largest pseudobulb is the diameter of a tennis ball. It has the stump of a spent inflorescence.

Unfortunately the box got hot in transit. This and other plants showed heat stress. The two leaves rapidly browned and dropped.

I have grown this before. It is a very sturdy, hard-to-kill plant. It is normally deciduous each winter during its dry season. Several people have written in various blogs that the plant will not flower without a completely dry winter. However, if watered all year, it will continue to grow all year. I would recommend people water smaller, not-blooming-size plant all year, so they get to blooming size faster. Then you can give them a dry winter, let leaves drop, and wait for spring flowers.

It grows to be very large, very rapidly, and doesn't do well underpotted. It requires a proportionally larger pot at each stage of its growth than its relatives, standard Cymbidiums. I would not expect flowers until the pot is, at a minimum, 8"-10" / 20-25cm in diameter, and very much larger is better.

I planted it into a standard 5 gallon / 19 liter nursery container. The mix contains mostly #4 size (extra large) perlite, with a little potting soil. You can't see the large perlite in the photo. I topped it with a layer of 50:50 small horticultural perlite and potting soil. The largest pseudobulb is the oldest, so I potted the plant with the newer pseudobulbs toward the center. The root mass prevented me from nestling the old pseudobulb against the pot.

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Looking forward to watching this thread!

Mi dos!

Thank you for all of the cultural info. What is its temperature tolerance (can it take cool winters)?

I've read it gets to 50 F / 10C or lower in habitat, but it's very dry then. I've left it outside into the low 40s F / 5C, dry, without damage.

It also gets a lot more sun in winter in habitat because the forest is deciduous, like the orchid. I'm going to water this plant until the pseudobulb is mature, then stop watering. Unless it decides to sprout another one!

Thank you so much. I’ve wanted one but was concerned that it couldn’t take the low/mid 40s in my growing area. I think I’m going to give it a go

Nice! It is always great to find orchids that are easy to grow in one's conditions. :)

Very nice! I just picked one up a few months ago from a friend and can't wait for blooms in the new few years.

I wonder if a mod can move this thread to the Stanhopea section of the forum?

ES as OP would have to make that request.

It is in the Cymbidium tribe, but not in the Stanhopea subtribe. We don't really have a good place to put it. And it grows very much like a Cymbidium.