Help with bulbophyllum in horrific state!

[H.D]

Hi!
I recently bought my first bulbophyllum, which is a crassipes. When it arrived i was horrified to find a few bulbs mounted on a thin strip of wood!!!!!

The one on the very top is producing a new bulb, while the others dont look happy at all.
what should i do?
should i unmount it, and if yes, how?
should i pot it up?
all help is welcome!!!!!

[Ray]

Bulbo. crassipes is a cool grower, but like most of the genus, like a good bit of water, so you’ll want to wet it down at least daily.

It looks like it is a “climber”, so potting may not be a particularly good idea.

[Roberta]

Losing leaves on the old pseudobulbs is normal. It does look like it needs more water. It needs a MUCH larger mount. One way that I have found to manage Bulbos with this sort of growth habit - a fairly large slab of tree-fern or similar moisture-retentitve material, then a layer of sphaghum moss especially around roots, and then position the mount horizontally (instead of vertically) so that it does a better job of capturing moisture. As new pseudobulbs emerge, you can coax them to stay on the mount (at least until it is established, then it will do what it will do)

[estación seca]

Bulbos need a huge amount of water. They should stay wet for best growth. They have very short roots. Bill Thoms wrote a book on Bulbos and received many awards on his plants. He wrote he could not grow them well mounted, only potted.

You said in another post your area is hot and dry. Unless you have a very humid growing area (over 60% relative humidity most of the time) I would take it off the mount and put it into a pot. I am very impressed by Bill Thoms' photos of his Bulbos in baskets or in pots. Most mounted Bulbos I have seen don't look nearly as good.

The scramblers with long rhizomes between pseudobulbs are hard to fit into normal pots. I use low, rectangular plastic food containers of various sizes from the grocery store, with holes drilled for drainage. I use a potting method Bill Thoms recommends, slightly modified. Here is a Bulbo. macrobulbon.



He suggests putting a mound of foam packing peanuts at the center of the basket or container. Then mound sphagnum moss over this. Plant the Bulbo in the moss. Keep it always wet.

Instead of foam packing peanuts I am using LECA clay balls intended for hydroponics. I don't know whether you can get that. You can see LECA in the blue containers at the lower right corner of the photo.

Foam peanuts work well. You could probably also use small volcanic cinders or pumice instead of the foam, but wash first to make sure there is no salt.

[H.D]

thanks for the advice!
when i unmounted it, most of the roots were dead. i used spaghnum and perlite,[ difficult to get good moss, so i aerate it with perlite].

[estación seca]

Why did you think the roots were dead?

[H.D]

well , when i went to unmount it, i basically did not have to do anything. the wood and the roots had mostly rotted away near the bottom. before repotting, i gently rinsed the whole thing, and lik 70% of the older roots just MELTED away. also the bulb in the bottom had a huge black gash, so i cut it off too. i am NEVER buying orchids from that place again.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by H.D

well , when i went to unmount it, i basically did not have to do anything. the wood and the roots had mostly rotted away near the bottom. before repotting, i gently rinsed the whole thing, and lik 70% of the older roots just MELTED away. also the bulb in the bottom had a huge black gash, so i cut it off too. i am NEVER buying orchids from that place again.

Take pictures and contact the vendor. If he makes it right, then you will have a new plant or your money back. If not, post your experience in the vendor feedback section.

[H.D]

The bulbo was put in a mix of spaghnum moss and perlite, and now it has 3 new fast growing growths!!!!!

[estación seca]

They grow fast when they're happy!