R. glauca bound to rot?

[CisTransGlauca]

Hello! I have a Rhyncholaelia glauca that I have had for approx. two years now. I have always had the impression that the "middle" of the plant has been planted too low in the pot, causing the rhizome to lie exposed to the water soaked fir bark too long. That middle part is also quite twisted and holds onto media years old. As shown in the pictures, some parts of the plant is blotched with black markings, although be it that these blotches has never caused the plant any worries for as long as I have had it. Some of the black spots have not changed in size at all.

Should I be concerned? I have thought about dividing it around the middle of the plant and repotting it. Please let me know what your thoughts are.

All the best,
Georg

[SouthPark]

If you've had this Rl. glauca for two years, and it's still doing ok, then the chances are that it will keep doing well.

The bulb sitting too low is not a problem if air-movement through the media is adequate. So gentle air-movement around the room or growing area will benefit the plant - provided that the media and the size/number of drainage holes of the pot are adequate (for the air to be able to move in through and among the media, roots, and stem-base).

It is true that some orchids are reported to still grow well (and for a relatively long time) without some of these beneficial conditions - but we also do get reports about things like 'why a plant abruptly takes a bad turn'. It's likely because 1 or more of the beneficial conditions (good temperature, good air-movement around the whole plant - including roots, adequate aeration of water around roots, good lighting level and lighting duration, adequate supplement intake etc) for preventing issues wasn't applied - or overlooked.

In your case - everything looks ok. But if you do get spots or blotches on relatively new bulbs or suspect some fungal activity, then maybe consider air-movement.

Your photos don't appear to show any part of the orchid being too low in the bark.

[Leafmite]

It might need a little extra calcium.

I prefer the rhizome to be on top of the medium but, if this was my orchid, I would wait until a new growth (with root nubs) to re-pot. In the meantime, I would probably find a way to give the orchid a little extra Calcium.

[ArronOB]

I agree with SouthPark. The rhizome does not look exceptionally low and the media is in great shape. If those black spots are not spreading then I wouldn’t overthink them.

If the media below the surface looks like the pieces on the top then I wouldn’t be repotting for a year or two.

There is one thing I’m curious about though. It appears that you rigorously strip away the dry brown husks. I also notice a couple of ‘eyes’ that appear to have gone brown and non-functional. I have often felt that exposing the eyes too early in their development (eg by stripping away their natural covering) leads to a high number of them suspending growth. I’ve never been able to prove this though. Just something to think about.

[CisTransGlauca]

Thanks for the replies.

Southpark: I do believe that the aeration of the pot is adequate. There´s drilled holes up the sides in the plastic pot, and some of the bark is substituted with large pieces from a broken terracotta pot and some washed charcoal bits. The air movement might be insufficient. There´s only a small draft - although be it cold draft - coming from the quite high windows I have in my bedroom. The temperature does not stray below 16 *C in the windowsill and in periods of cold weather I am careful when watering to not overwater. I have thought about installing a computer fan soldered to a variable power supply as to move air around gently.
I will hereby abbrevieate the genus name as Rl.! (Duly noted).

Leafmite: I have recently moved and the water at my new residency is quite hard. I don´t know if that will suffice, but I am constantly battling calcium salt residues in the bathroom w. acetic acid!

ArronOB: During the previous summer I kept this plant outside in a quite bright location. Previous to that I stripped the protective husk from recently developed pseudobulbs and during that time is when I got those aborted new growth. So you might just be right about your suspicion!

Thanks yet again. I will probably let it be as it is. If I change my mind I will probably split the plant in two and mount one part of it on a plank of teak/basket or on a cork slab.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by CisTransGlauca

Leafmite: I have recently moved and the water at my new residency is quite hard. I don´t know if that will suffice, but I am constantly battling calcium salt residues in the bathroom w. acetic acid!

CTG --- also look into magnesium supplements. Every once in a while, eg. once a month application into the media - if it turns out that the regular water doesn't have a adequate level of magnesium.

I'm sure that whatever supplement I put into my media will still have some traces of whatever I put in. So whenever regular water is applied to my media (when I'm not adding supplements), I predict that at least some stuff hanging around in the media is still going to be available to some roots.

It doesn't look like your plant is in bad shape, so it looks like you can pretty much continue to do what you're doing. Definitely some gentle air-flow (anything but relatively still air) will be beneficial for the long haul.