Restrepia lankesteri. new leaves stop growing and die.

[AdamSeward]

I’ve had a Restrepia lankesteri (now lumped into R. trichoglossa) for the last three years. It’s been fantastic for flowers but struggles to grow new leaves and is barely maintaining itself.

This year has been the worst, with at least ten new leaf buds started, all but one of which stopped growing at no more than 1cm and then gone brown/black and died. This was in succession, so as one was dying, another was already on the way. The one leaf that did make it is absolutely tiny. The plant has grown a few keikis over the last couple of years. I have left the latest one attached in case it helps the main plant.

It grows in an east facing bathroom, near the window, next to a Paphiopedilum delenatii, Platystele consobrina and Sarcochilus hartmannii, all of which are growing very well. Relative humidity ranges from 50 to 70% but with short periods of 100% (shower time). I had wondered if humidity could be the issue, but the leaves it has grown seem well formed. The roots are fine, lots of green ones. I had it in moss with perlite for about a year, then kanuma pumice (always sitting in ~1cm water) as my Pleurothallis restrepioides is thriving in that. I’ve given that a go for a year and a few weeks ago thought maybe it’s not getting enough air to the roots so have repotted in medium bark with some charcoal, perlite and sphagnum, and a few pieces of styrofoam at the bottom. It’s grown more roots, right down to the bottom but it has tried and failed with one or two more leaves and now there’s nothing coming.

Could it be not enough light? It’s getting the same as the Paphiopedilum, but perhaps Restrepia prefer it brighter? I live in the middle of Scotland, so it doesn’t get that hot. That room is normally in the 10-20C range, sometimes up to 25C.

I wondered if anyone has encountered this and what changes helped the plant to grow? Also what the possible causes of stunted leaves and dying leaf buds might be - in a plant that flowers well and can grow keikis.

Attached is a photo of it today.

Thanks, Adam

[estación seca]

I haven't grown this. Different Restrepias may have different temperature requirements. I would look the species up on orchidspecies.com.

The pot looks far too large for the current plant. I would gently unpot and repot into fresh medium. I know many people use sphagnum moss for Restrepias.

[Roberta]

It's a high-elevation species, so the cooler you can keep it, the better. It may need to dry out more. (I grow most Restrepias either in small terracotta pots with sphagnum, which gives some evaporative cooling to the roots) or mounted (with sphagnum under them) so they stay a bit damp but can also dry out. I suspect it's staying too wet. So repot into much smaller pot might help.

[AdamSeward]

Thanks for the advice both of you. I’ll try in a smaller pot again, probably with sphagnum - but letting it dry more before watering. I have one of the keikis in sphagnum in a small clay pot in a different, brighter, growing area. I only made that change within the last couple of weeks (from SM/perlite in small plastic pot) so it’s too early to draw conclusions!

I’ll hopefully add to this thread in time - will see how it goes!

Thanks,

Adam

[Roberta]

Restrepias and other Pleurothallids need to stay damp (not wet) all the time, If you have been drying it out, that might have been the problem.

[AdamSeward]

Thanks, I can see why you’ve said that, but I’ve never let it actually dry out. It’s always still moist at the time of watering, but loses some water in between waterings (weekly).

Clearly something isn’t right for it to keep attempting new leaves only for them to stall and die, always at the same early stage. However, it’s still going after three years so hopefully it will respond to the change! I love the character of the flowers so would like it to do well.

[Roberta]

Also, maybe put it closer to the window as the weather gets cooler. Of its 3 "neighbors", Paph delenatii and Sarco hartmannii are happy a bit warmer. The Platystele comes from a range of elevations, but also can tolerate more warmth than the Resetrepia lankesteri. So that might be a clue as to why the others are thriving.

[AdamSeward]

Thanks Roberta, I’ll try that.

[AdamSeward]

So, I repotted the Restrepia into a smaller plastic pot this evening, with sphagnum, a bit of perlite, a few bits of activated charcoal and a few pieces of leca at the bottom.

In doing so, I found two more new leaves coming, so I’ll know soon if the repot has helped at all (though it would be too early to draw conclusions if they fail).

Will report back…