Pleione maculata, should it have any new growth by now?

[RosieC]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I mostly grow Orchids. I bought a Pleione maculata back in March and was told it was autumn flowering on new growths, but I've not seen any sign of new life yet, the old leaves fell off last week.

I've done a lot of searching on this forum and I've read that maculata is an exception to the standard growing patten of Pleiones as it flowers in autumn rather than spring. Also that it should be grown warmer than most of them over the winter and only has a very short winter rest compared to other Pleiones.

I couldn't find any info which stated exactly what time of year I should expect to see the new growth ready for flowering though. Does anyone know if I should be seeing it now, or am I worrying about nothing when it's not grown at all yet?

I would appreciate any advice anyone can give, or if anyone can point me in the direction of a thread which can help.

Rosie

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Rosie,
Welcome to the forum! What you have related about P. maculata is correct. As for flowering, the timing will vary somewhat depending on how warm they have been kept. Mine are only just beginning to show the first signs of the buds swelling on a few bulbs, with others yet to show anything. I don't usually get flowers until well into November and later. These flowers occur without the leaves being present. After flowering, it is not long before new leaves start to appear. These grow very slowly through the winter and speed up in Spring.

So don't worry if nothing seems to be happening just yet.

Cheers

Paul

[SteveC2]

Are these variable or what?  I have five in a pot which spent the summer in a shady greenhouse before moving into the coolest room in the house.  One flowered at the end of September, (and the bloom is still going save for a little slug damage), another opened last week.  Two more are now coming on strong and the fifth is showing the first signs of movement.  Of course all have been growing in exactly the same conditions, but significantly came from three different sources and so are genetically different.  This is great for prolonging the interest in the pot, but hopeless for showing!  So it really is a case of don't worry and let them do their own thing.

[RosieC]

Thanks Paul and Steve,

Good to know that I don't need to worry yet . It only has one plump bulb and one tiny, hardly worth mentioning bulb.

I had it out in the greenhouse until I read on this forum about a week ago that a cool room in the house would be better.

I let the greenhouse get quite cold (I aim for 5C but it's been down to 3C already this year) because I keep some cool growing orchids in there. The room I've moved it into is not being heated and I keep the door shut to keep it cooler , I try and keep it at 10C-15C but I've only bought a min/max thermometer today so not sure what I'm actually getting.

If I didn't dry it enough, early enough on, could that also affect it. While it was in the greenhouse I had started trying to dry it, but then had several days over a two week period when work in the greenhouse meant I had to put everything outside during the day and it rained heavily every day it did that. The old bulb it had when I bought it went soft and almost mushy at that point and I had to remove it for fear it would spread to the rest of the plant.

I have it dry now (and for the last couple of weeks) but I wonder if that could be a problem.

[RosieC]

By the way Steve, love your picture. It's such a pretty orchid so I really hope I can get it to flower.