Phalaenopsis corningiana

I was lucky enough to snag a corningiana recently. According to Peter Lin of Big Leaf Orchids from whom I purchased the plant, this is a line bred sib-cross from Chien Lung Liu. Disclaimer: I got this as a flowering plant (with three spikes!) but because I think it is a recent import, I could tell that it was just repotted in sphagnum and is not established at all. Nonetheless, the flowers have great color with strong markings. So far, they have yet to put out any detectable fragrance... (*Update 1800hr: it smells amazing, and could only be described like so: Holy-mother-of grape soda candy bubblegum!!)

As with the other phals, I'm focusing on vegetative growth so this plant is in a 'spa' bag of its own. However, I do get the pleasure of updating my species list!

Borneo Phalaenopsis species list 002

Phalaenopsis amabilis
Phalaenopsis appendiculata
Phalaenopsis bellina
Phalaenopsis borneensis
Phalaenopsis cochlearis
Phalaenopsis corningiana
Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi
Phalaenopsis deliciosa
Phalaenopsis doweryensis
Phalaenopsis fimbriata
Phalaenopsis fuscata
Phalaenopsis gigantea
Phalaenopsis lamelligera
Phalaenopsis maculata
Phalaenopsis mariae
Phalaenopsis modesta
Phalaenopsis pantherina
Phalaenopsis sumatrana

*The species highlighted green are the ones I currently have.

Growing roots

Quick update on acclimating new orchids. The N0442 Phal bellina 'Ponkan AM/AOS' x 'Fifi' seedling I purchased from Orchidview had suffered some leaf rot and dropped all but one leaf, so I finally realized the error of my ways on treating smaller plants. All of them are now getting a spa treatment!

In general, most of the plants haven't been growing or putting out new roots despite my attempt to increase temperature and humidity. Therefore, I've procured a flat with a dome for the small plants and bagged the bigger plants with 1 gallon ziplock bags. Being stuck in a stuffy box on their way here and new surroundings are very stressful for the little guys. Hopefully this will encourage some root growth, especially on my sad Phal bellina.

Grow area

I'm current growing indoors, by a windowsill in the dining area with no artificial lighting. This window faces South and the phals seem to like the indirect light. Later in the summer, there will be some direct sunlight in the evening. My hope is that these phals will adapt and flower in this condition without supplemental lighting. Others windowsill growers have grown and flowered both species and hybrids by their windows, so this gives me hope!

As for temperature and humidity, I'm using the relatively cheap 'Acurite 00325' monitor and you can see it hanging out close to the tray on the right. I'm keeping growing conditions between 72F (night) and 85F (day) in this time of the year, while the humidity ranges greatly between 40% and 60% RH (Relative Humidity). Humidity is a little out of my control at this point. In the winter, I hope to acquire a humidifier to assist with keeping the RH at around 40%.

The main goal now is to help the plants acclimate to current conditions and to see if they will start growing good root systems. This usually involves a lot of waiting for Phalaenopsis, but one can only hope!

Borneo Phalaenopsis species list

This is a preliminary species list made from trawling various websites, primarily through the information already available on the excellent site, www.phals.net maintained by Alain Brochart. Taxonomy is not my forte but in time, with genomic data, we will definitely have a better way for genotyping and inferring the different species at a molecular level.

Nonetheless, because this blog is geographically constrained for species from Borneo, the geographic distribution of the list is (sadly) heavily reliant on old collection data prior to the massive loss of habitat on this island. The list is a work in progress, so it may change in the future.

Borneo Phalaenopsis species list 001

Phalaenopsis amabilis
Phalaenopsis appendiculata
Phalaenopsis bellina
Phalaenopsis borneensis
Phalaenopsis cochlearis
Phalaenopsis corningiana
Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi
Phalaenopsis deliciosa
Phalaenopsis doweryensis
Phalaenopsis fimbriata
Phalaenopsis fuscata
Phalaenopsis gigantea
Phalaenopsis lamelligera
Phalaenopsis maculata
Phalaenopsis mariae
Phalaenopsis modesta
Phalaenopsis pantherina
Phalaenopsis sumatrana

*The species highlighted green are the ones I currently have.

First entry

Greetings blogosphere,

This is a blog dedicated to the genus Phalaenopsis that are endemic or have been reportedly collected from Borneo. I have recently started acquiring representative species and hopefully this will be a nice account of the trials and tribulations associated with growing these wonderful orchids in the home setting. More to come in the following posts.

First, a picture of western Borneo from the summit of Gunung Santubong. You can see the Matang range in the background with cloud obscuring the summit of Gunung Serapi.