Getting my favorite Zygopetalum to grow again.

[BrassavolaStars]

Hello all,

The Zygopetalum saga continues.

As I had mentioned before, one of my favorite plants had a rot problem and I had to remove a bulb. This left the plant with only one bulb.

Fortunately, after a very heavy dose of fungicides, the rot seems to have been vanquished* (knocking on wood).

More good news is that it has many viable roots. The bad news it does not have any visible leads on this bulb (it had one at some point but it did not last) nor can I tell where a lead would even start.

This bulb was a central back bulb. Are these plants like cattleyas and need “eyes” to grow from or will they just find a way to grow somehow?

How likely is it that it will ever start growing again? Would it be a miracle if it does so or will it start growing again if it gets perfect care. Is it now impossible because it does not have anymore “eyes” or something?

Is there something I can do to get it to grow a new lead?

[KingKong]

I've not had one in as bad a shape as yours - I have had one with just one bulb with a leaf. A year later a new bulb formed out of the base of the existing bulb.
That took a year to grow and by next year hopefully I will have another bulb and the plant will be in half way good shape.
Wish I could have sped it up a bit, zygo's are just really slow growers even when in good condition though.

[rbarata]

Is the medium only sphagnum?
And what is beelow the pbulb, inside the medium? It seems to be planted too high.

[BrassavolaStars]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Is the medium only sphagnum?
And what is beelow the pbulb, inside the medium? It seems to be planted too high.

It is a bit above the medium because it has many places where it was cut and I wanted to make sure it doesn’t get any rots again. I always heard that if a plant is planted slightly above the medium it keeps it safer from rots.

All of the roots are covered by the medium. It is in moss (with the bottom third of the pot packing peanuts to amend drainage and circulation) because I’ve had them do well in that before.

[Keysguy]

Have you tried rooting hormone?? Sometimes when I have a plant I feel like I'm losing the battle with I'll give it a good shot of Dip n Grow. I think it's saved a few for me.

[BrassavolaStars]

Originally Posted by Keysguy

Have you tried rooting hormone?? Sometimes when I have a plant I feel like I'm losing the battle with I'll give it a good shot of Dip n Grow. I think it's saved a few for me.

Thank you. I will try that. Do I just add it to the water the next time I water? How much do I use also?

---------- Post added at 10:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 PM ----------

Also, is there a product that is particularly good. Kelpmax? KLN? Keiki paste? Superthrive?

[fishmom]

Kelpmax, which contains the rooting hormones that turn on the growth process, similarly to rooting powders. Ray will probably chime in with the specifics.

[Oyarzabal]

Poor thing looks bad.

[BrassavolaStars]

I just purchased some kelpmax. Hopefully that will help. I really don’t want to lose this one.

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by BrassavolaStars

I just purchased some kelpmax. Hopefully that will help. I really don’t want to lose this one.

It's perfectly recoverable. Don't water. Mist lightly the top layer every day (depending on your humidity, but never let it dry).
As I said before, it's too high above the medium.