Rossioglossum Rawdon Jester
 

Rossioglossum Rawdon Jester (grande x williamsianum)

I am particularly proud of this one. That's seven very large flowers and one bud on a single spike. I've always been told that Rossioglossums are particularly tough to grow in warmer climates, and until I decided I had to have one, I hadn't seen one in person. They apparently don't tolerate summer heat very well, and are also very finicky when it comes to repotting.

Anyway, several years ago, I decided I had to have one, and picked this up. I think it was in spike when I got it via Ebay. After it bloomed I repotted it into my standard rockwool based mix. It definitely hated being repotted, and produced one or two stunted growths before this current healthy and happy and blooming growth popped out.

Overall, it has been a tad tricky to grow. I usually water about twice a week and I'm careful not to let it sit in water. The roots appear to be active and growing year round, though the vegetative growth goes dormant for awhile after the growth matures. It gets the same LED/T8 light levels as my paphs and phrags, so it doesn't seem to need particularly bright light. The leaves were actually pretty close to flawless until recently they developed a few dark spots near the leaf tips. I've heard that these plants tend to have spotty/ugly leaves in cultivation, so I wasn't too surprised about that.

http://i.imgur.com/njoMtaOl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2TCnqP1l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/p2klGzRl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VCp8SUll.jpg

No fragrance on these, but the huge flowers make up for it. I love the tiger stripes in the sepals, I find it to be very appealing.

They are big! Good job!

Great job! <dripping saliva all over chin, neck, chest, keyboard, counter>

Odontoglossum (now Rossioglossum) grande is a plant I've wanted to grow since I was a kid, and they didn't exist. Here's a report from a place even warmer than you. I got a small Rossioglossum Rawdon Jester x Bob Hamilton on special from Hausermann's in March of this year. 3-5 years from blooming it said! Bob Hamilton is R. grande x R. Rawdon Jester, so my plant is 3/4 R. grande and 1/4 williamsianum.

It's in a 2" / 5cm, deep plastic pot. I'm not sure why they used a deep pot. It is nowhere near flowering size. I haven't killed it, and the leaves don't have any spots yet. It began s l o w l y making a new growth from the most recent pseudobulb shortly after arrival, and this growth is continuing to develop. The edges of some of the bracts on this growth are turning brown. Just last week it began making another growth from a back bulb.

I've not let it get completely dry, but I don't keep it wet, either. I use RO water or rain. It gets very bright Arizona sunroom shade, with maybe a few minutes of direct morning sun through a window in my sunroom. It is about 6 feet / 1.7 meters in front of my evaporative cooler, so it always has a 70% relative humidity, stiff breeze. Temperatures by day have ranged from 80 - 104 F / 26-40C this summer, and it has usually been around 80 F at night. I fertilize the way I fertilize my Cattleya seedlings: MSU for pure water at 85 PPM nitrogen, which is 1/2 teaspoon / 2.5ml powder per gallon / 3.75 liters water. I fertilize like this with most waterings. I flush with pure water about once every 2-3 weeks.

Before I got the evap cooler in July of this year, my plant was exposed to 100 degree F and higher days with relative humidity around 40%. Nights were sometimes higher than 80 F. It did not turn a hair.

wow beautiful, great growing!

Nice going. It's a really pretty flower.