Species Name: Phalaenopsis bellina f. alba
Care Group: See Phalaenopsis Care, Culture and Tips to Keep Your Orchid Reblooming
My Phalaenopsis bellina f. alba Culture Notes
I have an alba variant of Phalaenopsis bellina. ‘Alba’ means it doesn’t have any pigment in the flower, so the blooms are white and green.
Buds, Blooming, and Flowers
When I bought it in the summer of 2017, it had two flowers that lasted nearly four months. They looked rather raggy toward the end but as the flowers aged they became a much darker green which I liked more than the washed-out white colour of a newly-opened flower. I ended up cutting off the two blooms in September because I was told they were fertilized. I was told that some phalaenopsis can be “autofertile”–I’ll look into this more later if it continues to happen with future flowers; I don’t believe the flowers were fertilized when I got them because (as you can see in the oldest photo), they still had their pollen. The flowers are fragrant and smell like a mix between ‘crushed centipede’ (kind of like green peppers but with an earthier undertone), and fruit loops; I will report back once the blooms have been open longer to assess whether this is just an early fragrance or a complete fragrance.
Growth & General Care
It is slower growing than my other Phalaenopsis, only putting out a few roots and one leaf in the 3 months after I got it; the flowers take about 20 days to mature from initial bud. I do have them on the south side of the window so they may do better (grow faster) if I were to provide more light.
More About Phalaenopsis bellina
- BlueNanta – Phalaenopsis bellina
- Orchid Species – Phalaenopsis bellina
- Orchid Web – Phalaenopsis bellina
- Ran Wild – Phalaenopsis bellina
- Phals.net – Phalaenopsis bellina
Photos of Phalaenopsis bellina
My Culutre: Phalaenopsis bellina f. alba
Photo Timeline (newest to oldest)
