Bloom Event - Phalaenopsis 'Nemo'

This is another of those British grown plants I got a few years ago. I'm glad I kept one of them, although I'm not usually a fan of the stripy ones. It is rather unusual as it has a bold purple veining over a yellow background, and the plants are what I consider to be a very pleasing shape and size. Add to that that they are nicely arranged on the spike and you have a winner. Branched spikes, too.

I seem to have taken quite a nice photo there without realising it! The plant itself is growing to quite a size now and, against my better judgement, I'm going to have to repot or pot on once its done blooming, as not only is it climbing out of its pot, the growing medium is breaking down. Not that the plant is showing signs of distress at all, but it is better to act before it starts to decline. I shall repot back into coarse bark rather than medium to allow more airflow around the root zone as it will have to go into a larger pot. Here's a gratuitous close-up of the flower.

Such very delicate markings. I always think it is such a shame that Phalaenopsis come mostly without names. It seems somehow to detract from their mystique. I have to be honest and say that I have no idea whether the names on the few complex hybrids I have are actually registered with the RHS. As the plants are not bred in the UK, I would be surprised if they were. There seem to be relatively few named Phalaenopsis out there. I suppose one could argue that the more bred they are the less relevant naming becomes. Certainly with primary hybrids (species x species) and the less complicated hybrids, the name is important because it allows research into the growing requirements of the parents and therefore gives some pointers on how the hybrid should be grown. Having had a quick look on the RHS Orchid Register (Yes, such a thing exists), two hybrids come up when searching for Phalaenopsis Nemo; Hawaii Nemo and Younghome Nemo. Neither of those look anything like my plant, and one of them was registered long after I got hold of my plant. Not very helpful, then. Luckily, these complex hybrids are all grown pretty much the same and are almost indestructible provided their conditions are right.

As you can see from the shot of the whole plant, the roots are really starting to wander. This is quite normal, and provided there are roots inside the pot too, is a sign of a healthy plant. Also note that the leaves are quite a pale green. This is partly due to the breeding of the plant (some are paler than others by nature), but also partly due the plant being grown under comparitively high light. As I can grow under lights, I can get away with providing the plants with much higher levels of light than they would usually be able to withstand. If I were to provide sunlight of this brightness, the plants would have burned. However, as the plants do not burn under lights, the extra brightness has contributed to the spike length as well as flower count and colour.

You will notice that a couple of leaves at the base of the plant have started to yellow. In most hybrid Phalaenopsis, the flowering season seems to coincide with the plant entering a semi-rest period. The plants stop growing leaves and root growth slows right down while the plant concentrates on building its flower spike. Phalaenopsis do not have pseudobulbs, unlike many orchids, and the energy to build flower spikes has to come from somewhere. The thickened leaves act as a storage facility for both water and nutrient, and as this gets depleted from lower leaves, they yellow and eventually drop. After blooming, the plant will produce new leaves to replace those that drop at this time. I like to call it a 'mini autumn' In orchids with pseudobulbs, the same process takes place, except that the usage of extra nutrient and water is shown by a wrinkling of pseudobulbs, especially the older ones. Re-potting after blooming will encourage the plant to make new roots and foliage at a faster rate than it would have done otherwise.