{"id":3865,"date":"2010-06-25T13:52:44","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T21:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=3865"},"modified":"2018-10-01T10:25:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T18:25:36","slug":"thunia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/25\/thunia\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunia"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you saw a Thunia without flowers, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a cornstalk. When it’s in bloom, however, there’s no doubt that it’s an orchid. Thunia flowers look like Cattleyas<\/a> that haven’t opened completely. The 5 inch (13 cm) wide blooms hang in clusters, pulling down the tops of their 4 ft. (1.2 m) tall stalks.<\/p>\n

\"Thunia<\/a>\"Thunia<\/a>\"Thunia<\/a><\/p>\n

Possibly the fastest growing orchid, this terrestrial replaces these tall stalks each year. New leaves emerge from the base of the previous year’s stalk (actually a pseudobulb<\/a>,) and the new growth shoots up in just a few months. This species is native to the slopes of the Himalayas, and has a wide range from India east to Vietnam and north to China.<\/p>\n

\"Thunia<\/a>\"Thunia<\/a>\"Thunia<\/a><\/p>\n

When new spring growth emerges after winter dormancy<\/a>, Thunias need light watering<\/a> and full sun<\/a>. Too much water can rot new growth. Within a few weeks, the new stalks grow 6 inches (15 cm,) and should be moved into shadier conditions. By late spring, Thunias need heavy water and fertilizer<\/a> to mimic the Indian Ocean monsoon<\/a> in their native homes. After blooms that last a couple weeks, leaves turn yellow in the early autumn. At this point, watering and fertilizing should be reduced to a minimum. I keep this specimen cool and dry in winter, watering as seldom as once a month to keep the stalks from shriveling too much. If these varying seasonal care needs seem too daunting, just imagine the reward of seeing these gorgeous flowers hanging off a cornstalk.<\/p>\n

\"Thunia<\/a>\"Thunia<\/a>\"Thick<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you saw a Thunia without flowers, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a cornstalk. When it’s in bloom, however, there’s no doubt that it’s an orchid. Thunia flowers look like Cattleyas that haven’t opened completely. The 5 inch (13 cm) wide blooms hang in clusters, pulling down the tops of their 4 ft. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12,3,18,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dormancy","category-fragrant-orchids","category-growing","category-intermediate-growers","category-photos","category-watering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3865"}],"version-history":[{"count":61,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30965,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865\/revisions\/30965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}