Eria aporodes

[susiep]

I bought an Eria aporodes from Mac at Mac's Orchids at the Redlands show. It is a cute little thing and I need to know more about it. Does anyone happen to have a culture sheet? I can't find anything on the internet to help me out.

Any suggestions as to how it should be potted or mounted? I got it bare root and have neglected this baby too long. Luckily it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of distress yet.

Is Eria aporodes the same thing as Aporodes fragrans or Dendrobium aporoides? I am confused.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Erias are related to Dendrobiums.

Grow this one mounted in intermediate to warm conditions. It likes it humid (60% to 70%). Lighting should be medium bright. Keep evenly moist. There is no dormant period.

Watch the roots if there are any on them (most Erias upon purchase seem to have a badly damaged root system). Living roots are red or reddish brown with yellow tips and hairy. All Erias have hairy roots to some degree or another. Damaged roots means the plant will be severely impaired (especially in growth).

All Erias are moderately slow growing which makes them somewhat difficult to grow.

Another part of the difficulty in growing Erias is the extensive root damage.

[susiep]

Thanks, King. I am soaking the roots right now to see if any of them are good. They all look brown and crispy to me. I think I will mount it on a tree fern slab with a little moss underneath (where the roots should be) for padding. It is very hot here, about 90-95 every day with 90-100% humidity. Rains daily. I will put it in the shade house, but lower down, away from the top. Think it can handle being outside in these conditions?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I think it'll do fine. I've read that they bloom after a rain storm.

I've not grown this long enough to know how they bloom.

All I know is that it was not an easy Eria for me to grow. I have an Eria tormentosiflora (?, maybe it's tormentosa), an Eria maingayi, and Eria carinata, these have not proved to be as frustrating for me as the Eria aporoides.

I no longer have Eria aporoides. But I still own the others.

Erias in general grow in similar enough conditions to generalize in such a way.

The only difference between species is that the larger ones like Eria hyacinthoides and Eria carinata I'd pot. They're too large to mount and still provide enough moisture.

They can tolerate a short dry out period. Watch the fertilization though, I believe they're a bit sensitive to too much of it.

[Shirley]

Hi Susan, I have two Erias, a javanica and a lyonii. They are both in pots in a very loose mix of medium bark, perlite and charcoal and since I've stepped up the watering a bit they look to be doing very well though they haven't bloomed for me yet. We're having very hot weather here often getting close to 90 deg. in my sun room and the humidity sits around 40 or 50. I'm watering every four or five days and live in hope!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Hi, Shirley, I think you'll do fine with the Eria javanica. It shouldn't be overly difficult to grow.

As for the "Eria lyonii", I believe you actually own Epigeneium lyonii. If your plant is Epigeneium lyonii, a word of warning is that Epigeneiums are generally very slow growing.

Eria aporoides is one of the "odd men out" in the world of Erias. Whereas species like Eria javanica, Eria carinata, and Eria hyacinthoides have pseudobulbs and a single leaf. Eria aporoides has no pseudobulbs and have leaves that are arranged in a saw blade. Imagine them as vegetatively resembling an overgrown Dendrobium leonis.

[Shirley]

Thanks for that info about the aporoides, King. Very interesting. Is Epigeneium a synonym for Eria? This plant was in an order from the Philippines, labelled Eria. Sorry to learn it's slow-growing!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Eria is not a synonym for Epigeneium and vice versa.