Masdevallia infracta - spikes going south!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

There is one way...

Grow more Pleuros! Put them around each other and the humidity will take care of themselves.

Nice starters would be:

Pleurothallis hemirrhoda
Plth restrepioides
Plth ruscifolia

Plths decipiens if you like minis.

Or if you're into Masdevallias:

Masd princeps
Masd wendlandiana

Maybe some Restrepias:

Restrepia brachypus
Restrepia muscifera

I've grown all these plants before except Masd wendlandiana.

If these are not to your liking, I can recommend others. I grew tons of Pleurothallids a short while back. Still got a few survivors.

Oh yeah...these are my favorites when they're in bloom:

Physothallis cylindrica!

AKA "Little Pink Ballerina Slippers"

[AboutOrchids]

Improve humidity for sure, and also make sure you have good air movement.

[Country Gramma]

So King,

If I understand correctly, get more orchids, specifically the ones you list and group them and I'll have higher humidity.

That's an orchidholic's dream. I really like your train of thought. How many more? Maybe really croud them on the shelf???? I think I could manage that!!!!

You've made my day!!! Thanks, Karen

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Try growing 4 or 5 more.

You can also grow live moss.

They're not that hard to grow.

Moss are non-vascular plants. Everything is done by diffusion, so there's no need to worry about roots rotting (they don't have true roots, they've got something called rhizoids which are used only to anchor them onto something, not for getting water), etc, etc...

They look dry, no problem just water. They'll perk right back up in no time.

You can keep these around the growing area too!

Some species grow epiphytically. Some are lithophytes. Others are terrestrials.

Identification is hard. I'm aware of what some species are. Don't know where to get many of them.

All I know is that Ray carries one particular species of moss. I believe it's a terrestrial moss.

[greenbean]

I agree that humidity should be raised, and King's suggestion on getting more orchids is great. Plants transpire (release water through their leaves) so the more plants you have grouped together, the more they can benefit from each other's transpiration. (To King: Thanks on my part for the list of suggested Pleurothallids to begin with. I've been wanting to try some too! )

But, as Becca suggested, I think that the change in conditions is a big factor too. I got a Masd. infracta in September and its leaves started yellowing and dropping. Of course my room got up to 90 degrees for a couple weeks and didn't cool down much (no AC in my dorm), so that was definitely a factor. But even after it cooled down it kept pouting. I adjusted my fan to give it more air circulation and I turn on a cool humidifier next to it every day. The infracta is bathed in the vapor just as wild ones are bathed in clouds and mist. It has stabilized and has 4 new growths, though they are growing very slowly. I do need to get a bottle of distilled water for it, but it has lasted this long on tap water (actually seemed to improve after I stopped filtering my water through a Brita pitcher. Who knows what those things might add to the water). For about a week and a half now, the humidity has been dropping as low as 20%, usually between 35% and 40% and up to 55% at night, so I've been running the humidifier for several hours a day. I'm hoping the swelling new growths will finally take off when I take it home to humid western WA state.

So take the suggestions that have been given, but be patient. It can take some time for orchids to adjust to new homes, especially more sensitive ones like Pleurothallids.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Hey, Evan, no problem!

Pleuros tend to be sturdier than Masdies. Don't know why yet.

If you want to start, try Pleurothallis first. Even Restrepias are stronger. Funny, cause these two groups of orchids look daintier than Masdevallias.

Here're a couple more to try out first:

Plths breviscapa
Plths ornata (scheidei) - this one's fun

[Country Gramma]

All right, I've ordered more moss from Ray, I'm looking into some more orchids from the list you gave King. I'll keep you posted. If this is not enough I'll look into a cool mist humidifier, too. Not so sure about that though. I live in an A-frame and the humidifier might not make a difference.

"If these are not to your liking, I can recommend others. I grew tons of Pleurothallids a short while back. Still got a few survivors."

King you mentioned you only have a few survivors and you got them a short while back. Can you say what happened to the others? I don't want to buy some just to have them croak.

Thanks everyone for your help, Karen

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Depression, neglect. (Yeah, stupid, I know - got over it...learned an expensive lesson, not worth it...)

The ones I grew weren't hard to grow. I flowered all of the ones I mentioned except for Masdevallia princeps and Pleurothallis ruscifolia. Masdevallia princeps didn't have enough growths on it to flower. Pleurothallis ruscifolia was just stubborn, but they're ridiculously easy to grow.

They weren't specialized plants or anything.

Like I said, I know much more Pleuros that bloom much more easily and are just as easy to grow or not that much harder to grow than the ones in the list.

I must warn you about one species of Masdevallia in particular, maybe a few others, but this one takes the cake (and yes, I've stubbornly attempted to grow these before)...

Masdevallia selenites is a no-no unless you plan to grow in a special cold Wardian Case or a modified refrigeration unit. They're from a unique very high elevation cloud forest (roughly 3,000 m). In fact they're endemic to this one special locality and found nowhere else. Unless your area stays a consistent 45 F to 75 F throughout most of the year, this plant's not for you.

A few others are Masd. solomonii, Masd davisii, Masd cyclotega.

[Country Gramma]

fgvh

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Just to give you an idea, and I think there are a few people here who can verify this...

Plths restrepioides is a total weed. It's so strong that watering with tap water doesn't really phase it (not recommended, I don't want to be responsible for anyone's plant getting damaged or dying). You can force this plant to kheiki if you grow it cooler. And kheiki they will. At one point I had, 6 kheikis. I had this for 5 yrs.

Restrepia brachypus is the same thing. All you gotta do is keep this cooler and it'll kheiki to high heaven. It grows intermediate, they'll stop throwing out kheikis if they're grown warmer. My first try was a hit, had it for 3 or 4 yrs.

Restrepia muscifera blooms reliably throughout most of the year. Had it for about 5 yrs.

Plths ruscifolia is a total weed and so is Plths hemirrhoda.

Plths hemirrhoda I've flowered multiple times. They like intermediate condtions better than cooler conditions and will flower more in intermediate climates.

Masd princeps is cake, had it for two years.

Physothallis cylindrica is my longest lived. I got it with massive root damage. It kept going though. I finally figured how to perfect their cultivation. Had this one for 5 or 6 yrs.

As you can see, they're very easy to grow and very long lived.