epidendrum/encyclia culture?

[Mercedes]

Hi all,

I went to Lowe's today for potting mix, and surprise, surprise, came home with a new orchid.

It was one of those "bettergro" plastic bagged orchids, it's labelled as a fragrant epidendrum. I'm having trouble finding solid culture info on this one. The tag reads: epi. mabel kanda 'miyao' x epi. randianum.

One thing that's confusing me is that it looks like some plants that fall under the epidendrum category may actually be encyclias? I'm a bit confused. AOS has nothing on this, but some internet sources said to treat it like a cattleya.

So far, I've unpotted to check roots, which were phenomenally healthy (yay!), then repotted in a medium bark/charcoal/perlite mix. The plant is sprouting lots of new leaves on existing growths, and has one new growth/pseudobulb. When does would this plant normally flower?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[WIB]

Fairly bright, fairly warm, fairly humid. Underpot or mount. Keep moist but with an open medium (medium bark, lava, PrimeAgra or one of those). Nomenclature is shifting. Epidendrum is one of the oldest generic names, and other genera are being peeled out of it. Encyclia and Prosthechea (one of the more charming) have been taken out of Epidendrum.

[arleneg]

Here are a couple websites that show culture of the orchids you just bought.

http://www.orchidspecies.com/encrandii.htm
http://www.clanorchids.com/compendium/page18.htm

[jerrymeola]

Epi. Mabel Kanda is a rather thin leaf orchid. I find they do better if kept out of high heat. (SW Florida goes over 95 for most of the summer) They seem do be doing great once I moved them from the shade house to under an oak tree. The 10 degree drop was enough.

[Mercedes]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

Epi. Mabel Kanda is a rather thin leaf orchid. I find they do better if kept out of high heat. (SW Florida goes over 95 for most of the summer) They seem do be doing great once I moved them from the shade house to under an oak tree. The 10 degree drop was enough.

I've got it indoors 3-4 feet away from a southwest facing window. The temp in the house is between 78-82 degrees during the day. I also have a small fan in the room for air circulation.

I'll keep an eye on it and let it tell me what it wants from this point forward.

Thanks for the info, everyone!

[11Orchid126]

Three or four feet away from the window would be three feet too far away for me. But you're in Alabama, so I don't know how bright your conditions are. If it were my plant, I'd move it closer to the window.