Cycnoches peruvianum is native to Ecuador and Peru. They grow in damp tropical and mountain forests on the eastern slopes of the Andes. In Ecuador, they are found in the provinces of Napo and Zamora-Chinchipe at heights of 450-800 m...
Cycnoches peruvianum also called as The Peruvian Cycnoches, is a species of the genus Cycnoches. This species was described by Robert Allen Rolfe in 1891.
IDENTIFY CYNOCHES PERUVIANUM
Cycnoches peruvianum is native to Ecuador and Peru. They grow in damp tropical and mountain forests on the eastern slopes of the Andes. In Ecuador, they are found in the provinces of Napo and Zamora-Chinchipe at heights of 450-800 m. In Peru, they are found in the Hunuco department near the Leoncio Prado in Cordillera Azul, at an altitude of 1450 m.
It is a small sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte, which reaching up to a height of 15 cm, with elongate, cylindric, composed of several noded, 8-11 cm long pseudobulb that is enveloped completely by several, scarious, foliaceous sheaths and carrying thin, plicate, distichous, deciduous, up to 17 cm long and 2-3 cm wide leaves.
The Peruvian Cycnoches blooms mostly in the fall and winter in situ with an arcuate to pendant, 45 to 75 cm long, many flowered male or few flowered female, racemose inflorescence that arise from the leaf nodes near the apex of the newest, mature, fusiform to conical pseudobulb. The male flowers, in a natural position with folded petals, are about 2 cm across the petals of the inner whorl, but may be over 3 cm in length from the top of the dorsolateral to the tip of the lip. The petals of both whorls are yellowish green with brownish red spots. The lip is white, except for the claw and 4 pairs of club-shaped processes that are green. The long, U-shaped curvature is green and has red spots towards the apex but is brown at two-thirds its length from the base side. The pollen chamber cover is light yellow and has dark pink dots. Both male and female flowers have a lip in the upper position. The petals of both whorls in the case of female flowers are gray-green, the lip is white with a gray-green top, and the prick is bright green. The floral elements are broadly spread, thick and fleshy. The female flowers are about 6 cm in diameter.
CYNOCHES PERUVIANUM CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Cycnoches peruvianum react in different ways to growing at different levels of light. They can be grown at as low as 10000 lux, or at a high level, reaching even 45000 lux. However, the sex of the flowers produced depends on the intensity of light in the crop. At low light, female flowers arise, and at high level, male flowers. Sometimes there are both male and female flowers on one inflorescence, but generally on each inflorescence there are flowers of only one sex.
Temperature:
It is a thermophilic plant. Similar throughout the year - average temperatures of 25-27 ° C, average night temperatures 13-14 ° C, with an amplitude of daily variations of 11-14 ° C.
Humidity:
The Peruvian Cycnoches needs the humidity of about 80% for most of the year, falls to about 75% over a period of several winter months.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Cycnoches peruvianum can be grown in containers with good drainage or on cork or tree fern rootstock with sufficiently high humidity in the summer. These plants can also be grown in clay or plastic pots filled with a substrate with excellent drainage and ensuring good aeration around the roots. When the plants are dormant, it is usually better to remove them from the pots, cut the roots with a sterile tool and place the pseudobulb group in the empty pot until the end of winter.
When new growths appear in the spring, the plants should be repotted to slightly larger pots, so as to maintain a group of pseudobulbs and that there would only be room for annual new increments, and the substrate used should be loose, but to keep some of the moisture. You can use a medium-sized fir bark or chopped tree-fern fiber with pearlite, which helps keep the substrate cool, but also retains some of the moisture. The addition of charcoal also improves the permeability of the substrate, and also protects against acidification. These plants seem to grow better and have fewer rot problems if they are repotted each year.
Watering:
For most of the year, rainfall is very abundant, but in the winter their amount is slightly smaller. During active growth it is difficult to pour plants, provided that the substrate is not spread and the roots are able to quickly dry out after watering. Fleshy pseudobulbs are prone to putrefaction, if the plant is overly watered and the substrate is dense and impermeable. When the growth reaches maturity at the end of autumn, the amount of water should be reduced. These plants generally lose their leaves for the winter.
Fertilizer:
During the active growth, the plants should be fertilized every week 1/4-1/2 of the recommended dose of fertilizer for orchids. You can use sustainable fertilizer throughout the year. You can also use high-nitrogen fertilizer from spring to mid-summer, then switching to high-phosphorus in late summer and autumn.
Rest period:
In winter dry sleep is required and Cycnoches peruvianum are very sensitive to excess water during this period. If we take the plant out of the pot during the rest period, after removing the old roots, we can place a group of pseudobulbs in an empty clay or plastic pot until new growths appear in the spring. Both plants mounted on rootstocks, as well as those placed in empty pots, be misted or lightly watered once a week. No substrate around the roots facilitates faster drying and protects against rotting. When new growths appear in spring, the plants should be planted in a fresh substrate, but the amount of water when watering can be increased only when new roots begin to grow. Fertilization should be completely eliminated until more intense watering starts in the spring.
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