Greetings First timer with some questions

[ucdal]

Hello all,

I have been reading up on orchids and finally decided to get started in the hobby, since I am a avid gardener I felt this would be a natural step. Now to business. My Future wife and her mother were at an orchid show yesturday and decided to purchase a small inexpensive plant for me to get started on, however its not in any of my books. The information given with the plan is as follows:

Name: Stanfieldara
Variety: Orange Stardust
Cross between: Soph. Coccinea & Epi. Red Dancers

Bloom dates: 4 of 2004, 4 of 2005, and 4 2006 (3 healthy blooms still present)

Repot: 10 of 2005

The general state of the plant looks good, the blooms look pretty good only slightly wilted. My only concern is that part of the plant has some light yellowish spots on the leaves (barely visible to the eye) and the person the plant came from said that this section may be ill and need to be removed or separated and replanted in another pot (a bit of an undertaking for a newbie).

Also there are a great deal of exposed roots and even some growing over the edge of the pot.

Please let me know what care special care needs to be taken and what if anything special I need to do with this variety. I already know that the plant needs good indirect sunlight. Please fill this thread with all the knowledge I may possibly ever want.

Look forward to reading your posts

UcDal

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, I found an Epilaelia Red Dancers on the RHS site. Is that one of the parents? Do you have a picture of the plant. Yep, that's it. The Orange Stardust has been registard. OK. This plant is 1/2 Sophronitis Coccinea, 1/4 Laelia milleri, and 1/4 Epidendrum vitellinum, which is more like an encyclia than an epidendrum. So, Soph. coccinea is a lowesh light and cooler requirement plant, Laelia milleri is a bit more like a Catt requirement plant, and the E. vitellinum is a high light but cool grower. I would guess that this guy would need to be kept a little cooler than you Phals, and maybe a little brighter. But, in the end, when you get mixtures like this, it is not always obvious which parent/grand parent the plant will favor. You will have to see if it reblooms in the indirest light. But I do think I would keep this guy on a wet/dry cycle like Cattleyas, not as damp as Phals. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

[ucdal]

Thanks for the reply, that gives me a great start.

[ucdal]

does anyone else have anything to add?