Aerangis arachnopus

Aërangis arachnopus

It was a wonderful event last summer when I bloomed this rare and lovely species for the first time. It is native to Cameroon, Gabon and DR Congo and has a fabulous scent quite unlike any other Aërangis fragrance.

 

one more view (I have many more on flickr)

 

Thank you, everyone. This plant is in spike again and should bloom again in a few months. This species is being sold by a few EU nurseries but is very rare in North America these days and can't be found for sale, although last year Peter Lin did have a few plants for sale.

Marni and Calvin, I grow this plant in my warm vivarium, with the average night at about 16.5°C/62°F year-round, though last summer the nights were closer to 20°C/68°F in the time leading up to these blooms. Of course the humidity is always above 85% and the light is 300 foot candles.

Heike, when it was in bloom I had the same thought. The inflorescences are so light and fine, moving as easily in a light breeze as any Aëranthes inflorescence that I marvelled at what a fantastic experience it would be to behold these same blooms in the wild - someday, I hope!

CJWatson, I am sure you could bloom it just as nicely as I did.

Gilles, yes my flowers have less pink than yours. Sometimes the artificial light (my vivarium doesn't receive any natural light) can alter the colouration of flowers, though only with certain species (some Dendrobium and Bulbophyllum spp.)

Zach, after you bought yours from Andy last year, I bought one for myself from him. Mine hasn't bloomed yet, but I am doubtful that it is really arachnopus as the leaves are quite different. To Andy's credit he also told me at the time of purchase that the identity of the plants hadn't been verified.

 

LOL! The species is recorded as being from 1000m and below. I suppose at your minimum temp of 13°C/56°F you are growing it at the coolest end of what it experiences in the wild. Also, if I recall correctly, before last year, weren't you growing it cold at 10°C/50°F?

 

That would be great! When the spikes form, you could hang it over the mat

Sorry you lost yours. Rats and orchids certainly don't mix. I just saw one in my compost pile yesterday; time to reset the traps. I have heard too many horror stories of rats eating prized orchids to death, but thankfully my orchids have been spared thus far. Having a open-air compost pile in the garden may be green, but it certainly attracts unwelcome critters

 

Your welcome. A number of Aërangis do best at 300fc under lights e.g. biloba, kotschyana, citrata for example. There is another group of species that like it brighter 600-800 fc e.g. punctata, monantha, stylosa, spiculata.

Isn't it? I think it's so very elegant. Thank you. For two years I was adjusting for day-length to match with what occurs outdoors at my latitude, but now I have day-length matched up with that of Antananarivo. I made a chart that tells me when to add or subtract another 15 min increment from the light timer.

 

That's great you got one, Reyna! I wonder who was selling it? The clone shown here was originally imported from Taiwan.

Yes, do let me know when you have pollen.

Yes, in my vivarium 800fc is even on the bright end of the range the species looks good in.

Do you use a light meter in your greenhouse? Keep in mind, light levels for us tank growers are special because constant artificial light is quite different thing from 3 hours of strong filtered light in a greenhouse. Artificial light is unforgiving and varies greatly from inch to inch, and it is crucial for us to have the right levels. We don't get sunburn, instead we get very slow bleaching that takes 3-9 months to show up which by that point is often too late. Too little light makes the plants weak and vulnerable to pathogens.

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General comment and plea:

There is virtually no reliable information on light levels for tank growers, especially for angraecoids. I have had to teach myself, using my precious rarities as experiments. I wish someone else had done the work ahead of time so I wouldn't have to put my plants through these rigours, but I had to find out these levels for myself. I am still learning about light levels for many species; it takes a lot of time, careful observation and record keeping to figure out what works.

For these plants' survival, I think it's really important to share as much detailed cultural information with each other as possible, the more detail the better! We growers under artificial lights should share light level readings with each other, and greenhouse growers should too. I know many growers pride themselves in being able to tell by eye what appropriate light levels are for their plants, and while that is a skill to be proud of, it can't be quantified and thus can't be shared with others unless it is measured in some way. I hope more of the ang growers on this forum get and use light meters and share their findings.

Orchid growing is an art and a science but I think that newbies and seasoned growers would all mutually benefit more than we can imagine if we increased the scientific aspect of our hobby by taking measurements and notes of things like foot candles, min/max and average humidity levels, min/max and average day-time highs and night-time lows in all four seasons. I would love it if we could include for of this empirical data in our postings.

Since I don't grow orchids for prestige, I have no problem sharing my growing tips with everyone What good is keeping secrets? Life is too short, and orchid's lives are even shorter. Too often some of the best growers die or become senile without passing on their valuable knowledge - and for what? These rarities need our help an co0poration!

The better we can quantify, record, translate and articulate successful cultural data, the more success we'll all have