Pleione praecox

Also known as: The Early Blooming Pleione or Pleione praecox var. candida Pleione praecox f. candida Pleione praecox var. alba Pleione wallichiana Pleione praecox var. reichenbachiana Pleione wallichii Pleione praecox var. birmanica Coelogyne concolor Pleione reichenbachiana Pleione birmanica Pleione praecox var. wallichiana Pleione concolor Coelogyne praecox var. Wallichiana Coelogyne reichenbachiana Coelogyne wallichiana Coelogyne praecox var. tenera Coelogyne birmanica Coelogyne praecox var. sanguinea Pleione praecox h.f. alba in the subfamily: Epidendroideae

Native to: Thailand

General Information

The Early Blooming Pleione is a small cool to warm growing epiphytic or lithophytic orchid belonging to the sub family Epidendroideae native to Thailand.

Plant Description

Each new growth has numerous elliptic leaves that grow to 15-25cm long. Pseudobulbs grow to 1.5-3cm

Flowers

Numerous fragrant blossoms appear during Autumn

Fragrance

The orchid is fragrant. The fragrance can be described as spicy

Blooming Season

• Autumn

Substrate(s)

• Coarse

Care Notes

These orchids like to be kept on the dry side, but may need to be watered daily during warm weather, and prefer a well draining mix or also do well mounted, provided they can be watered regularly.

These are quite a forgiving orchid, there are no special requirements to get this orchid to flower, just good care and consistent conditions. Larger plants may be more fussy and can react poorly to change; a poorly timed repotting, a pest infection or an unusually hot day can set them back for a couple of years. However, even plants that have been treated poorly can thrive, and if they are set back they often recover much stronger then they would otherwise be.

Fragrant:

• IsFragrant

Climate

These orchids thrive in hot, steamy locations, living in low altitude jungle areas where they often receive heavy sporadic rainfall, warm humid winds, and sunlight filtered year round by the surrounding growth. 

They can survive, but will often struggle if the humid, warm conditions are not met - roots will die back and leaves will thin out, spikes and buds can be aborted if conditions change too frequently during flowering. They can tolerate cooler or drier conditions temporarily, but extended exposure will seriously affect them.

They will grow best in the tropics, especially coastal areas where they receive ocean breezes, but can do well in a greenhouse, supplied that the humidity is kept high, temperature is not allowed to skyrocket and extra shade is provided during hot weather.

 

Grows at low to high elevations. Rainfall ranges from 15mm to 536mm per day, heaviest in July and lightest in December. Humidity ranges from 72% to 88%, highest in August and lowest in March. Temperature ranges from 1C to 21C, highest in June (15C to 21C) and lowest in January (1C to 12C).

Fertiliser

Apply liquid based fertiliser per recommended directions. They can benefit from a high phosphate fertiliser leading up to flowering season, followed by a high nitrogen fertiliser when new growth appears, and a balanced fertiliser in other times. These orchids can also tolerate slow release fertiliser applied 1-2 pellets per cup (250ml) of media.

Apply fertiliser regularly at half strength year round. Use a low Nitrogen fertiliser year round.

Potting

These plants are quite forgiving and will do well repotted ever 2-3 years. The mix should be coarse, well draining, and allow space for air to move and for roots to grow. 

Alternatively, these plants will also do well mounted to tree fern or cork slabs, or mounted to trees.

Best time for repotting or mounting the orchids is the end of winter when new growths start to appear. Avoid repotting during hot weather,

Use water retentive media such as moss to prevent roots from drying out quickly