Tolumnia with desiccated roots

[Jugyjoy]

Dear all,

I’ve just bought two Tolumnias and they came bare-rooted in those little baskets. I am worried about one of them, a little plant with one fan and two new shoots. The poor thing has some roots but apparently all dried up. I can hardly see any of them turning green (ish) when misted. Perhaps I am mistaken taking it as a sign of desiccation, but then when I compare it to the other one which has quite a few green roots, I start to worry. I keep both of them under grow lights in my grow room where the temps are around 22C (72F) daytime and down by a couple of degrees nighttime. The humidity is around 50%. I am reluctant to mount them as I have never done it. Potting up is an option. If anyone could advise what to do, I’d be grateful.
Many thanks! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[Fairorchids]

Tolumnias are typically grown in near empty pots (tiny clay pots seem to be the norm in the US).

Plants should be watered (not misted) daily in the morning, and allowed to dry out by mid day.

[Jugyjoy]

Many thanks for your reply. ❤️ I don’t know how to water these plants if I’m honest. They sit deep in their pots and if I were to submerge their roots I would have to dunk the whole plant in water. Which is why I misted. The only way these could be watered is sifanding them up in very little water, letting the roots wick moisture. Is this how it’s done?

[estación seca]

Yes, dunk the whole thing in water. Dunk the whole plant.

Have a look at this thread:
Darryl Venables on Tolumnia - DVOS September 2018

[FranningtonBear]

This is how I grow my Tolumnia. She is indoors, on a windowsill but also receives 6 hours full-spectrum LEDs as well. I live in the UK.

I don’t see your location but based on the set up of your new Tolumnia’s pictured, I think I can guess where they came from!!

[Jugyjoy]

Wow, I can see roots poking out of the pot. 😍 😍😍But, pray Frannington, is this small-sized bark that you filled the outer pot with? You left the inner pot (basket) empty and the plant is stabilised when she pushes the roots into the bark?

[FranningtonBear]

Originally Posted by Jugyjoy

is this small-sized bark that you filled the outer pot with? You left the inner pot (basket) empty and the plant is stabilised when she pushes the roots into the bark?

Yes, correct. The inner basket is/was empty, it has a few tiny pieces of bark that have fallen in now but it started off empty. I have used a medium grade bark in the larger pot and roots have grown through the basket.

[Jugyjoy]

Thank you so much. I don’t think I should post thank you replies, but many thanks nonetheless.

[dbarron]

Oh, I think thank you replies are nice to hear.
AND I think I'm gonna do this with my two pots of Tolumnias (which do bloom), I think they will florish with the added humdity this will give them! Great idea!

[pure bliss]

Hello everyone.

I was inspired to try my luck with a tolumnia this year too.

I bought it a couple of months ago.

In this time it has grown a new fan. You can see the new fan forming in the pictures. This new fan has also started to produce a new spike as it is developing.

I wanted to ask if my plant is doing well to form a new fan and spike in 2 months?

I followed the advice posted by some to never let it dry out. As you can see it has formed quite a bit of algae in a relatively short time. Maybe I am keeping it too wet?

I just used an old beer cup I had lying about, filled it up with some perlite and water it a bit when the water level at the bottom drops.

I think it is doing ok. Fingers crossed the spike makes it. I didn't think I'd be seeing my first spike so soon. The plant was tiny when I got it in a small net pot with no media.