{"id":13146,"date":"2013-10-08T21:10:51","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T02:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/?p=13146"},"modified":"2014-07-31T15:14:32","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T20:14:32","slug":"the-bat-orchid-that-is-not-an-orchid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/the-bat-orchid-that-is-not-an-orchid\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Bat Orchid”, that is NOT an orchid"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s commonly called\u00a0Bat<\/strong><\/em> Orchid<\/strong>, but it doesn’t belong to the orchid family. \u00a0It has some other popular nicknames like\u00a0Devil’s Tongue<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em> or\u00a0Cat’s Whiskers.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Tacca<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 belongs to the Taccaceae family, that has 10 species very similar between them, including the\u00a0Tacca\u00a0chantrieri\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>species.\u00a0 They are native to Bangladesh, India, Burma, South China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.<\/p>\n

This is a tropical and perennial plant, that grows from a cylindrical thick rhizome. \u00a0It grows big, reaching 40″ in height and it’s big leaves will display in a very open fashion, covering a very large diametrical space.<\/p>\n

It produces one very short stalk from where the leaves and long flower spikes will grow. Leaves can be as long as 16″, very flamboyant. \u00a0They are solid green in the surface with a paler green on the underside.<\/p>\n

\"Taccas\"<\/p>\n

The flowers superficially resemble a bat in flight with long whiskers, and can grow up to 10 inches long. Taccas can be picky about their environmental conditions; however they grow fast and flower a lot when the conditions are just right. The Bat Plant should be planted in partial shade and in a humid and warm environment.\u00a0If the leaves start to brown on the edges, it’s an indicator of lack of water and relative humidity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Soil should remain consistently moist and have good ventilation; this means, it should\u00a0pack lightly. \u00a0You can always add sand LECA or perlite to the soil to provide ventilation to the roots. \u00a0Avoid\u00a0allowing the plant to dry out between waterings. They are heavy feeders, so the soil should be rich in minerals and it should be regularly fertilized.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In winter months, when temperatures drop to 40F or lower, the Bat Plant should be moved indoors, or into a greenhouse to protect it from cold damage, and the waterings should be spaced to only once a month. \u00a0 They have a rest period during this time that makes them look as if they were dying. \u00a0Be patient, after the cold months it will start to grow new leaves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want orchid tips and tricks? \u00a0Go to our Magazine<\/a> and see all the articles we have; we’re sure you’ll find what you’re looking for!!<\/p>\n

check out our store!!\"Logo<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

(click on the image)<\/p>\n

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

It’s commonly called\u00a0Bat Orchid, but it doesn’t belong to the orchid family. \u00a0It has some other popular nicknames like\u00a0Devil’s Tongue\u00a0 or\u00a0Cat’s Whiskers. The\u00a0Tacca\u00a0 belongs to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[295],"tags":[318,311,312,391,307,315,323,309,392,394,342,320,321,316,343,322,314,313,341,393,310,308,319,317],"class_list":["post-13146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eccentricities","tag-bark","tag-grow-orchid","tag-growing-orchids","tag-how-to-care-for-orchids","tag-orchid","tag-orchid-advice","tag-orchid-ants","tag-orchid-care","tag-orchid-care-instructions","tag-orchid-care-videos","tag-orchid-crown","tag-orchid-disease","tag-orchid-fungus","tag-orchid-growing-media","tag-orchid-leaves","tag-orchid-pests","tag-orchid-photos","tag-orchid-pictures","tag-orchid-roots","tag-orchid-supplies","tag-orchid-tips","tag-orchids","tag-sick-orchid","tag-sphagnum-moss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13146"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13175,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13146\/revisions\/13175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}