Looking straight down showing how many more buds will open.

Nick

Get a load of the size of this plant. took a little arm twisting and crying poverty to get it for $25. No complaints here.

Nick

Has a keiki that desperately wants to be traded. This is a blue plant that does not want to live in a red state. Since mom is going to live in California, baby wants to go to Florida ---hint.

Nick

Beautiful plant, Nick! Pity they don't do well here in the upper, mostly frozen Midwest.
Tucker

Oh, Nick! I'm waving my blue flag!!

Jane

Beautiful Epi .

Strange thing about " self driving cars",
I find mine driving to hothouse nurseries during the winter. :>)

The keiki has a new home. The plant is making another one but in a strange way. It's nearly twice as big as the one I took off but barely has any roots. I guess it's really a branch with minimal roots but looks exactly like a keiki with almost no roots, obviously cannot be removed.

Nick

I don't have that color. Whenever it offers another keiki would you trade for the one in the picture? I also have one mostly orange with a little yellow in the center and I have a red. If the keiki is forming at the end of the stem I'd like it still attached if you could cut a few inches of the stem.

Will do.

Nick

Here is a shot of the orange and yellow...

I prefer the fullness of the orange/yellow similar to the orange I have.

Nick

Hello everyone,

Your epi's are lovely! I purchased a bare root epi with fuchsia flowers for $10.00 a couple days ago.I would like to know what potting media would be best.I've read where some people say bark mix and others potting soil.Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Allymarie

{{!gwi}}

My bare root epi.

Nick, I'll get you one of each....

allymarie, I use lava rock. It does not hold much water but due to my heavy hand with the hose it works fine. It is semi-terestial. I took a large pot with an epi in it and buried at grade level in a spot with lots of humus. I keep adding kiekis with different colors.

These are hard to kill and will take a variety of methods.

SM, I am not heavy with watering.Should I pot my epi in half potting soil and half bark then?

Allymarie

We have them growing all over the Palos Verdes Peninsula in gardens, in the soil. Yours does not look like the type that grows well like that. I'd not take a chance with soil but use bark instead. Even if it would tolerate soil, it will be perfectly happy in bark especially if it only gets watered once a week.

Nick

Thanks guys,bark it is.

Allymarie

Shavedmokey I can liberate one of the old canes with 8 leaves and roots. If you want it, send me your addy. It does not look like a keiki maker even though it had one. Could be quite some time before another one is ready. The one I was alluding to looks like it's going to have buds so I'll leave it alone.

Nick.

It's the one with the green nub which looks like a new growth that never made it.

Nick

This kind of epi is constantly throwing off keiki's. In the picture is the grow point of the rhizome. Do not cut that. It will insult the plant. Wait for a keiki growing like the one for Jane. At least 3 roots. And leave it attached with a few inches of the end of the cane. I have plenty of time, I hope.

The fullness is dependent on the culture.

Ok I'll wait for the next keiki. Took it outside in the front yard and took a picture in full sun, the intensity of the orange is overwhelming.

Had a visit from the 1st VP of a local orchid society an experienced grower, who admired it and confessed that she killed everyone of these CalOrchid Epis she ever tried so she is not growing them anymore. This is not the first time I have heard that, I have also not been too successful with them in the past but did not really coddle them. This one will be treated like a Telipogon.
Nick

Is this an Epi or a Hydrangia? After I brought it home, in bloom, it bloomed again on a keiki looking similar to the original bloom. Now it has bloomed again and this time the color is distinctly different. There is no Photoshopping going on here, same camera, same setting, look at the natural color of myt hand. This time around the flowers are larger and a deep red.[ I would not think of it as being the same plant. It has had 1/2 a year of different culture but what a difference. I wonder if it changes color as the seasons change or if it relates to the ph and other chemicals that are different from what Cal Orchids was feeding it.

Nick

Look at the size of the flowers. My finger touches them so there is no enhancement by different distance. They are just bigger than the ones in March.

By the way it has several keikis that are available for meaningful trades.

Nick

Is it possible that in some cluster of flowers only half of the cross gets displayed? Or some other genetic function or malfunction.

I did plant a purple in my neighbors orange and yellow patch of epi radicans. If it grows it would be the same situation. But I did tell her husband and he liked the idea and said he'd think about it telling her or not.

There is another possibility. The plant is not a clone so it's an awarded seedling. Possibly 2 seedlings were put in the starterpot and are so intertwined that it is not possible to tell today. Look at the third photo and you'll appreciate how tight the base of the plant is. It would not be the first time this was done. Anyway, I think both the red and the orange versions are equal in beauty although I think the red version is a little more equal.

Nick

I would like the right seedlings intentionally mixed with both seedlings and a tag with details. Could make an interesting bloom if they went off together. Or elongate the time the plant is in bloom...

Good point, eventually there will be multiple blooms at the same time, then we'll know.

Nick