Aerides crassifolia orchid is native to pennisular Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and northeastern Thailand in semi-deciduous and deciduous dry lowland forests at elevations of sealevel to 1300 meters. The plant is a small to medium sized, cool to hot growing, monopodial epiphyte with a erect stem carrying 8, oblong-ligulate, rigid, thick, olive green leaves that are bilobed apically that blooms in spring and summer. Its broad leaves are fat, almost succulent, and might be a stage in evolution towards reduced surface and increased volume.
Aerides crassifolia orchid, also called as The Thick-Leafed Aerides, is a species of the genus Aerides. This species has a synonyms such as "Aerides expansa Rchb.f 1882". It was first described by C.S.P.Parish ex Burb. in 1873.
IDENTIFY AERIDES CRASSIFOLIA ORCHID
Aerides crassifolia orchid is native to pennisular Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and northeastern Thailand in semi-deciduous and deciduous dry lowland forests at elevations of sealevel to 1300 meters.
The plant is a small to medium sized, cool to hot growing, monopodial epiphyte with a erect stem carrying 8, oblong-ligulate, rigid, thick, olive green leaves that are bilobed apically that blooms in spring and summer. Its broad leaves are fat, almost succulent, and might be a stage in evolution towards reduced surface and increased volume.
Flower with up to 50 fragrant, long-lived flowers on an arching to pendant, 5 to 12" (12.5 to 30 cm) long raceme. The flower of Aerides crassifolia looks like a pink eagle. Its beauty makes it a vulnerable target for orchid thieves who steal them from the national parks and sell them along roadsides.
GROW AND CARE AERIES CRASSIFOLIA ORCHID
Aerides crassifolia orchid is restricted to the drier parts of Southeast Asia where it inhabits deciduous savannah-like forests.
Cultivate, growing medium:
Plants should be grown in media that is well drained such as tree fern fibers (for small plants), several pieces of coarse fir bark, or sphagnum moss. Always detach the orchid from the pot/net/wood and tie it using at least two natural fiber strings to the tree. When removing the roots from the original substrate, gently push them sideways, do not grab the root tip and pull it as if the aerial root was made of tape. By transferring orchids to the trees in your garden in the early rainy season you will give the orchid the possibility to firmly attach itself with its own roots. Always map your orchids in case tags disappear and in case branches or orchids fall down, and frequently monitor them.
Light, temperature and humidity:
Plants requires 50 - 60% light, with medium moisture and warm temperatures. If higher light, the plant can not grow well and its leaves look like burn.
Watering:
Aerides crassifolia orchid like water, so you can spray 1-2 times per day depending on your garden climate. This species bloom in spring and summer, so if you want more flower, you should stop watering the plant in winter. When the plant have new buds, irrigate again and frequently to help the leaves more stretches, the flowers will last longer.
Fertilizer:
Use 20-20-20 fertilizer, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of fertilizer in 4 liters of water, spray drenched leaves, roots every 15 days in the morning.
Just note that the growing season of this species is after flowering 1 month forward, if you use high NPK fertilizer (eg 30-10-10 + TE), the plant will grow faster, more leaves, but if the plant can not avoid the rain several times, it will be very easy to rot and dead. So, it would be a little slower to be safe, you should still use 20-20-20 + TE is better.
Pest control:
Aerides crassifolia orchid is a species of wild orchid, so it has strong resistance, but still vulnerable to some fungus diseases such as drop leaf, rotten tops (especially the lack of open air in rainy season), red spider ... So we should spray anti-fungus such as carbendazim, alliet ... and red-spider-killer once a month.
Flowering:
This species usually flowers at the beginning of the rainy season after a long period of drought, so to plant flowers, we should choose the big plants, strong enough to flower, when the rainy season ends, we use 6-30-30 fertilizer 4 times at intervals of one week, reducing irrigation water from once a day to once every 2 days, then longer and stop irrigation, hung in a cool, little sun light to stimulates bud. Keep hang the plant until the early rains, when the plant have new shoots, water and spray root-simulant, use 20-20-20 fertilizer 3 times, each time a week to get more beautiful flowers.
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