Angraecum Sesquipedale - Cultivation

Cultivation

Angraceum sesquipedale was first brought to the United Kingdom in 1855 to be grown outside of its natural environment by William Ellis. Subsequently, Ellis achieved the first flowering of the plant in cultivation in 1857. Angraecum sesquipedale has been attributed as having a nicer appearance when grown in cultivation than when found in the wild, since wild specimens appear as a long stem surrounded by a few struggling leaves. Additionally, A. sesquipedale is seldom grown in private collections, despite its enormous importance to Darwin's concept of co-evolution and subsequently the fields of botany and evolutionary biology.

It's often recommended that A. sesquipedale be grown under warm to intermediate conditions and given as much light as possible without burning the leaves. The choice of growing the plant in intermediate or warm housing conditions can affect the timing of the flowering. In order to stimulate heavy flower production its important that the light intensity be greatest between September and November. The number of flower spikes present during flowering is dependent on the number of new leaf-pairs formed during the preceding spring and summer, since each newly formed leaf-pair produce one spike and rarely two. Angraecum sesquipedale is commonly found to have a slow growth habit, but the orchid can be expected to produce flowers even before it has reached an adult size. Angraecum sesquipedale is notorious for having sensitive roots. The roots of mature plants are best left undisturbed as much as possible and as a result its prudent to be especially careful during repotting. Young plants however are less susceptible to such root problems. Disturbing the roots can cause the plant to sulk for 2 to 4 years or even to cause it to die. When a mature plant is disturbed it frequently loses many of its lower leaves and reverts to only producing one or two flowers at a time. To avoid these problems its commonly advised that the orchid be planted in a coarse medium such as fir bark, crock, or charcoal to minimize disturbances to the roots. Also planting it in a basket or large pot is best since this allows the orchid to grow for many years before having to have its roots disturbed.