Sobralias - Is it worth even trying?

[Clawhammer]

Hello friends. I received an order from Ecuagenera today. 7 of 10 plants were in good shape, but these 3 sobralias (rosea, fimbriata, macrantha) seem to have had a rough go of it. Blackened and falling off leaves that has continued to get worse after unpacking. I think it is temperature damage. Also, there are no new growths or new roots for any of them, seem to be shipped at the wrong time.

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

Is there any hope here? I don't want to waste the media, pots, and energy if the leaves are just going to fall off and the plant is going to die, as I suspect. I have no sobralia experience though, so please weigh in.

Thanks!

PS, this is not an anti-ecuagenera post. This kind of thing happens, and they always have made things right. I will certainly update the thread if that doesn't happen here.

[Roberta]

Sobralias don't take kindly to the bare-rooting that they have to experience to get imported. My batting average with Ecuagenera Sobralias hasn't been great, but there have been a few significant "wins". Andy recommends getting them established in pure sphagnum, and I have found that to be helpful, small bark is OK too. Even if they lose leaves, if the roots revive, new growth will be along presently. They lose leaves after blooming anyway... I usually leave them even if ugly, until they are really crispy-dead all the way down, since even after leaf loss they are usually green - helping to support the plant - for another year before they're really done. So those plants do have a good chance. Spag, don't let them dry out. They're pretty much terrestrial.

[Alexey_G]

Originally Posted by Clawhammer

Hello friends. I received an order from Ecuagenera today. 7 of 10 plants were in good shape, but these 3 sobralias (rosea, fimbriata, macrantha) seem to have had a rough go of it. Blackened and falling off leaves that has continued to get worse after unpacking. I think it is temperature damage. Also, there are no new growths or new roots for any of them, seem to be shipped at the wrong time.

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

Is there any hope here? I don't want to waste the media, pots, and energy if the leaves are just going to fall off and the plant is going to die, as I suspect. I have no sobralia experience though, so please weigh in.

Thanks!

PS, this is not an anti-ecuagenera post. This kind of thing happens, and they always have made things right. I will certainly update the thread if that doesn't happen here.

I have had the same experience with Ecuagenera. The Sobralias they delivered had severe cold damage, I suggest you ask for a refund as soon as possible, they were happy to replace mine.

About the leaves: That's apparently something stressed Sobralias do (at least in my experience). They will drop all of the leaves from the base upwards, leaving only the top two or three.
New shoots will soon emerge from the rhizome; they are very resilient plants. However, they seem to be rather slow growers.

Try to pot all of them up, I used a mixture of medium bark, sphagnum and a little peat.

[estación seca]

I get about half to live. I don't remove the sphagnum in which their roots come wrapped. I use a mix of mostly large perlite, and potting soil. It can take a year before you know whether they'll survive. Don't let them get dry.

[Roberta]

To me, the plants don't look too bad... the genus just doesn't travel well. (But if you get established, potted Sobralias from Andy or Cal Orchid, you'll pay a fortune in shipping if they're willing to ship them at all) Spring is the time when they do start to push new growth, so the timing is as good as it's going to be.

[Clawhammer]

Thanks for all the advice folks!

I potted them up, watered with Kelpak.

Ecuagenera refunded me 50% and told me to keep them posted; they will refund the other 50% if they don't make it.

[SG in CR]

Yeah even when they don't get temp stressed, it's common upon repotting for them to loose a lot of leaves if there is any drying of the roots. My potting medium of choice has been large chunks of wood and coconut husk at the bottom of a plastic pot with small aeration holes drilled into the sides but not so many as to let them dry out too fast. Then nest the roots into 1/2"-1" pieces of the same stuff with maybe some added charcoal. Finish by top coating in finer stuff or adding some dirt and vibrating it down into the pot for species that can grow terrestrially. If the roots are healthy and mostly intact they can recover from loosing all their canes.