Preparing for next Pleione season

[enrico]

Hi all,

I started cultivation Pleione this year with a group of tongariro and I was deeply fascinated by these flowers. I'm ordering other bulbs for next season in order to expand my little collection...

I bought media to prepare the pots for next season and I had decided to use a mix of bark, peat, perlite and chopped moss...

Now a question... what kind of moss should I use? Sphagnum moss, any other in particular or any moss is fine?

Then this page made me very doubtful about my decision...

http://www.mein-orchideengarten.de/pleionen-im-blumenkasten/
An unconventional (at least for my little experience) way of pot preparation is explained on the page. I was impressed by this photo with the old bulb and maybe 10 bulbils on it
http://mein-orchideengarten.de/s/cc_images/cache_1807269602.jpg?t=1287214332
In my old pot I had a maximum of 2 bulbils on an old bulb (and they died  ) Is the result shown here normal or do you think it is merit of this technique?

Anyone tried something llike that? Any suggestion?

Thank you very much

Best regards

Enrico

[Maggi Young]

Welcome to the Forum, Enrico!

Happily there are many expert pleione growers here to help you with your questions.
I see that the picture you mention from  that link is of P. hookeriana and it is not the case  that all pleiones makes such "tip" bulbils, no matter how they are grown.

I would have thought that your potting mixture had some merit. Much easier to lose bulbs by overwatering than by unsuitable compost, I think!

[enrico]

Thank you Maggi,

I'd like to add only that I live in Italy so I have pretty hot summers.

I keep the pleione shaded in the hottest hours of the day, they are in the sun only in the early morning.

Enrico

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Hello Enrico !

Welcome to this wonderful Forum and the world of Pleione !!
A very interesting link you showed us here and a pretty special way of growing Pleiones is described there.
I've never tried anything like it and I use a compost of mixed Bark, spaghnum moss and some perlite. Occasionally I have also used normal wood moss that I collected in a local forrest.

As to bulbils growing on the old pseudobulb, I agree with Maggi, to my knowledge, only P. hookeriana makes this many very small bulbils (very difficult to grow on in my experience... )  All other Pleione mostly grow only 2 bulbils on top of the shrivelled old bulb.

Great to have you in our Pleione community and lots of succes !

[Darren]

I thought it was humilis that made all the little bulbils? the adult bulbs with their slender neck look more like humilis too.

Back when I was fanatical about Pleione I tried lots of different composts but have, largely out of laziness, now compromised with a mix of:

That (Levingtons?) 'Orchid' compost sold in purple bags at great expense in UK garden centres, perlite and sphagnum moss.

The orchid compost has a large amount of peaty fine material in and is thus pretty much useless for most epiphytic orchids (good for creating repeat business in orchid sales for the garden centre therefore...) but I find that pleione like it. If i had a bigger collection, or repotted more often, i would look for a cheaper alternative. I guess that this is roughly equivalent to Luc's mixed bark but perhaps with more fine material.

[Pascal B]

Just out of curiosity, seeing these "tip-bulbils" on the old one made me think, has anyone ever tried to promote the growth of these with Keiki-paste? The stuff they use on Phalaenopsis orchids to promote young plants on the old flowering stalks? Apparantly the region where the old leaf was attached seems to have active meristem if it is capable of producing young plants. I had a couple of different species producing the odd tip-bulbil this year (even P. formosanum) but with the application of Keiki it might actually produce bigger (or more) tip bulbils. Or has this already been tried?

[Slug Killer]

I have never had multi bulbils like that on any hookeriana and it's probably due to the fact the picture is NOT Pleione hookeriana!! Without seeing the flower I'd guess the bulbs shown are Pleione chunii which is often confused with Pleione hookeriana and this is what they are sold as by Chinese sellers on EBay. They could be Pleione humilis but more likely to have been confused with chunii. The bulbs pictured are the wrong shape and size for hookeriana.

Multi tip bulbils I have every year on both Pleione chunii and Pleione humils. I have over 200 Pleione hookeriana and they only produce two bulbils each.

If you want to take a risk you can remove the flowering shoots on Pleione humilis and Pleione chunii which makes the multi bulbils start sooner in the year and then have a longer growing season. Build up moss or bark around the neck of the old bulb and you will encourage the small bulbils to root and get larger.

I have tried keiki paste but without and success.

Picture is of last years little Pleione chunii multi bulbils

[Guus]

I have Pleione humilis and the bulbs create about 20 of these small bulbils each. The bulbs on the picture look very much like P.humilis. For potting I use bark, perlite, peat and moss that I harvest from the stones of my garden's pathways and from between the grass. I do plant all my Pleiones in those 'pond-baskets' , the plastic baskets one can use to plant waterplants in... and they are hanging in the trees in my garden.....the moss grows very well in these conditions and covers the bulbs for a great deal. At least it looks very natural.

[Maggi Young]

Sorry, folks, if I have been getting humilis and  hookeriana mixed up! 

[Slug Killer]

Sorry, folks, if I have been getting humilis and  hookeriana mixed up! 

Maggi

The picture does say Pleione hookeriana but is more likely Pleione chunii.

David

[Maggi Young]

I just thought I remembered a pleione with an "h" that made bulbils and got muddled    It's a long time since our 'pleione house' was a pleione house.....it's the Gothenburg annexe now.... not even one pleione in there!

[Maren]

Hi,
my first thought was P. humilis, which usually produces whorls of bulbils around the crown of the old pseudobulbs. These can be very tricky to grow on. The first growing season is usually not too bad, but getting them through their first winter is a bit of a challenge. The pseudobulb of humilis is elongated, ending in a point, and usually olive green in colour.

However, I believe the plant shown is P. chunii. The shape of it's pseudobulb is similar to humilis, but not quite so elongated and pointed, but usually green.

It certainly is NOT P. hookeriana, whose pseudobulbs are perfectly round, usually brown or purple in colour and quite small.

[ThomasB]

Pleione humilis and Pleione chunii are the ones here which produce these small bulbils on top of the old pseudobulbs. Somewhat similar looks 'Mawenzi' (yunnanensis x scopulorum) this year with several small bulbils although not as many and not as tiny.

[LarsB]

I just thought I remembered a pleione with an "h" that made bulbils and got muddled    It's a long time since our 'pleione house' was a pleione house.....it's the Gothenburg annexe now.... not even one pleione in there!

Just out of curiosity: why the Gothenburg annexe?

[Slug Killer]

Pleione chunii produce clusters but not on the scale of Pleione humilis but they are thankfully larger.

Picture for comparison of all three which are flowering size bulbs.