Bulbophyllum More than Aghast
 

This seedling came to me with its first bloom from Bill Thoms of bulbophyllums.com in October 2020. This is its second flower.

It is Bulbophyllum agastor 'Magnifico' x echinolabium 'Strawberry Dagger' AM/AOS. The seedlings were treated with colchicine.

The flower's natural spread is 2.5"/6.35cm across and 3.5"/8.9cm top to bottom. It has been open almost a week. I detect no scent.

Attachment 151252

Attachment 151253

It came in a 3"/7.5cm pot with large chunky bark. I didn't want to repot going into winter. The bark is old, but there are still large air spaces between chunks. I know that as long as there are large air spaces Bulbos are fine in old bark. I set the pot into a shallow dish of water so it never dried out.

Bill writes in his book Bulbos grow far better in shallow trays or baskets, filled with sphagnum layered over foam packing peanuts. He waters all his Bulbos once or twice daily. He says if a basket dries out between waterings he will stand it in a large dish of water so it never dries out.

I eventually move my Bulbos to sphagnum moss layered over foam packing peanuts, like Bill recommends. I use shallow plastic trays with no drain holes, that always have water standing on the bottom of the tray, rather than baskets. I can't be sure of watering a basket every day. A few I haven't repotted yet are in pots standing in dishes of water. The ones that arrived mounted get sprayed with water every day. When they grow some more I move pieces to shallow trays.

When I have run out of time for the day repotting Bulbos I have found they can grow for a long time, bare-root, in a dish with a little standing water, just enough to keep most of the roots submerged.

Unfortunately I just found out Bill has retired from orchid selling. His plants went to Krull-Smith, which does not have them listed yet. He still has his Bulbophyllums book available on bulbophyllums.com. I highly recommend it to anybody wanting to grow Bulbophyllums.

Very nice bloom (and probably good that it's not scented)! Interesting that they grow well that way because it seems I have everything the method requires: sphagnum, shallow plastic trays with no drain holes, and decently warm conditions. I just haven't ventured much into Bulbophyllum species. :)

I tried a few Bulbos a while back. I let them get almost dry, as recommended a lot here and there. I tried them mounted. It wasn't until I read Bill's book and began growing them as bog plants that they really took off. Of course, I picked ones appropriate for my temperatures.

I heard a talk by Bill Thoms recently at the San Francisco Orchid Society (Ah, the wonder of Zoom!)... and can still hear him saying "More water longer" . He certainly knows how to keep Bulbos happy and productive...

I am a believer. He is why I started switching to the “wet” mount instead of the baskets I was using.

Bulbos are aquatic. No matter how wet I keep them, they seem to be happy. Letting them dry out on the other hand doesn't seem beneficial.

I keep mine mounted with sphagnum both over and under the roots. That way they don't attach and are easy to replant - they don't seem to be disturbed by that at all.

I've got them in baskets, mounts and pots but aside from keeping them wet my greatest challenge is keeping them warm. Of course summer works in their favor...but not for me.