Problem with new promnea sunlight

[mkallen81]

Hi Orchid Bro and Ray. could you please tell me where you found the information on the plant because I have looked on google but I never find anything really good and specific about it. I would LOVE to be able to read more on it and also have a place to look up other plants. I like to know where they come from, if they're hybridized etc.

As to the brown stems, when i brought the plant home all those stems looked to me like buds not yet open. to me it seemed that they blasted. I've had a look today and I have a new bloom opening, the first of the buds since I brought it home. So i am certain that it was buds and that it blasted the entire stem.

as to the roots, i don't know anything because i didn't want to disturb it while it is blooming. I plan on repotting it in a better pot and replacing the media after it is done blooming. The plant SEEMS prolific. It has tons of new growths all over, some of which are pushing up buds and stems. The bottom of the pot has air vents and i can see one or two roots there that look green and firm.

I think it definitely needs watering now as the foliage seems to be turning silver and a bit crisp. Should I water from above or from the bottom? I can see it is potted in sphagnum moss through the air vents.

thanks so much!!! I truly appreciate it and if you have some good links where i can go to look up orchid names and get good info, please share as I am not finding anything really good. The plant wasn't even in my orchid encyclopedia so i don't even know what family it belongs too

melannie

[Ray]

To what temperatures is it exposed?

How is your water quality?

What formula and concentration of fertilizer do you use, and how often do you apply it? Granted, beginning a couple of weeks after acquisition suggests that has nothing to do with it, unless it has been extreme, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Any ripening fruit or gas flames nearby in your home?

[mkallen81]

Hi Thanks so much for your reply! I brought it home on 17 January. It was really wet when I bought it because they had just watered so I did not water it upon arrival at my apartment. So it has only been watered one time in my care, with tap water. I have not fertilized it yet. I can't say what growers nor the garden center may have used. Honestly, I doubt the garden center would even fertilize it as it is just a big box center, not a specialized place.

The temperature ranges in our apartment are going to be somewhere around 19 degrees Celsius probably more like 20 at night and 23 during the day. We don't actually have the heat on but we live in the Mediterranean on the 5th floor so the heat rises and we don't actually need to have it on.

We have no gas appliances and the plant is not in the kitchen and is even quite a long ways from it.

It is in a well lit area but NO direct light, though on cloudy days I do sometimes move it in front of the Window as its corner gets a bit dark when it is cloudy out.

Thanks so much for the input!

[Ray]

I just looked the plant up. It is not a "pure" promenea, but is a hybrid between Promenea xanthina and Warczewiczella (formerly cochleanthes) marginata - Promenzella Sunlight.

The latter is more of a warm-growing plant, so it ought to be more flexible about temperatures than I originally assumed. Both are low-light plants, so your bright, indirect light is probably ideal without moving it.

The defects on the leaves are of little concern; the failing of the flower spikes is a different story.

So...if temperature and light are not an issue, my mind takes me to humidity and to the condition of the root system. Can you fill us in about those?

[Ray]

Melannie, I looked that up via Orchid Wiz, but you can also look up parental and offspring via the RHS website.

For info on the species, orchidspecies.com is a decent starting place.

[OrchidBro]

I didn't look up any information on this orchid until just now actually. I was just going base on the photos provided. Those crispy dead flower spikes, some of which look extra crispy, look like they have been dead a while. This lead to my question of are you sure they aren't just old spikes with already bloomed and expired flowers. Lets take photo 3 for example. I see 4, active, living, growing flower spikes with at least 2 flowers open. Then I see 2 extra crispy, thin, brown, dead spikes. Are you saying those extra crispy spikes arrived as green active spikes?
If those were actively growing spikes when you received them and then blasted my guess would be it was from the stress of transport/new growing environment.

In regards to finding information on it, you might want to check the spelling (promenaea sunlight - not promnea). Looks like this is a cross between Promenaea limelight and Promenaea xanthina.

[mkallen81]

Hi,
There were no brown spikes on the plant when I bought it. They were all lovely buds waiting to open and when i brought them home they started developing brown spots that slowly took over the entire stem until they died. Even though brown, they remained soft and not crispy until the last couple of days.

thanks so much for your advice and efforts!

[mkallen81]

Well I just went to orchid species.com and the Promenaea are not listed there so i will try the others you mentioned.

Today the plant is opening another flower, so maybe it is like you said, just a shock from the change of environment.

[OrchidBro]

Originally Posted by mkallen81

Well I just went to orchid species.com and the Promenaea are not listed there so i will try the others you mentioned.

Maybe you were looking in the wrong place? I just found them rather quickly.

Jay's Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia - Pl - Pz

IOSPE PHOTOS

Well I am glad another flower opened up! Overall, your orchid looks really healthy so I would not be concerned with anything at this point. Losing spikes and buds sucks but it happens. Hopefully as the plant gets acclimated to your environment and receives the proper care it will flourish and provide you with more flowers.

[Ray]

The promenea parent gets rain all year, with a very high level during the summer. The warczewiczella parent's territory has a similar profile, but with late winter being a dry period. Merge the two and even moisture seems to be called for.

The fact that the advice you get is so scattered and conflicting is because the growers' cultural conditions determine "what works" more than does the plant itself, and they are failing to say "{This} works under my growing conditions".

The trick is to select a medium that works under YOUR growing conditions to supply even moisture (not soppy) while allowing lots of air flow to the root system. Nobody can tell you exactly what that might be.