Phragmipedium starting to bloom

[Sawdust]

It starting to bloom,, there are 2 on this branch and 2 more branches with these two on them. The other two are not quite as ready as this one, so six in all. It is Phragmipedium (humboldtti Fortuna etc) not sure what that all means but we got this on about 5 years ago at the Ottawa Orchid show. It was blooming then and this is the first time since hope it last a long time. Any idea on how long they usually stay on bloom?

Here are a couple of pictures of the orchid showing all of the and one a little closer to the bloom, I will try and get better pictures once they are in bloom

4 are blooming, the photo is not good, sorry, but the orchid looks great

[BobMO]

A great site for information of species is orchidspecies.com. The site mentions your species but does not list any abnormally short or long blooming time, which it does if either is true.

Sorry I could not be of more help. Please post a picture when the bloom fully opens.

[Roberta]

That is going to be beautiful! I look forward to seeing photos as the flowers open. I think that Phrag flowers last perhaps a few weeks - but very likely they won't all open at once...that will extend the blooming time. Many Phrags will produce more than one flower on an inflorescence (in sequence) - I don't see another set of buds so perhaps this is not one of the sequential bloomers. But it will be beautiful!

[Keysguy]

As Roberta said, most Phrags are sequential bloomer which means the inflorescence keeps periodically popping out new buds. It's typical to have 2-3 flowers per spike at a time but it should present some number of flowers over a period of several months before ceasing. Culture dependent obviously.

Each flower will last anywhere from 2-6 weeks. The sad part about most Phrags is that they jettison perfectly good flowers so don't panic when you find the first one looking back at you from the floor.

[Sawdust]

thanks for the help, will post once they are blooming complete, hope they do have more.

[DeaC]

slipperorchids.info is good reading. Sitting in water is favored.

[Sawdust]

thanks I will keep it moist from now on, I think that's why it hasn't bloomed before, I started to water it more frequently these past few months