Masdevallia with 2 leaves left

[Paul Mc]

I'm new to masdie's, and one of the new ones I had suffered worse than the others. It now only has 2 leaves left, and one of those is turning yellow. The root mass looks healthy and large but there are no new growths. The roots are solid white, should they be? I gave it a good dose of rooting hormone, and water with distilled water and just a pinch of fertilizer. Any thoughts? The orchid lover in me is unwilling to just pitch it, lol...

[Daethen]

I want the answer to this one as well.

[glengary54]

Which Masdevallia is it, what conditions are you growing it under, what medium are you using. A bit more info would help, so would a picture of plant, pot and roots.

[Paul Mc]

Ah, another kindred masdie killer in spirit! I don't feel so bad now, though I guess you have to kill some from time to time whole learning, lol...

[Gin]

Getting too hot will cause leaf drop especially if one of the cooler growing types . Mine are still in the house with the a/c ...

[Paul Mc]

Mine are inside as well. Southern window exposure but dappled light due to a huge pin oak tree in the backyard. As a side note, I had it in a medium that it didn't like at first. The other masdie recovered nicely, but this one did not.

[RosieC]

I agree with Gin, if it's one that prefers cooler conditions then it may be a heat problem.

You can grow them in porous clay to help cool them. As long as they are always damp (Masdies are one of the only orchids I grow in Moss) then the clay cools as the water evaporates. My really cool loving masdies seem to love it.

Not sure if anyone said, but the roots should be white so yours sound fine.

[Paul Mc]

Glengary, sorry, I did not see your post when I posted.

It is a hybrid (annette hall x coccinea), the temperature in my house remains at a steady 70 or slightly higher degrees and the humidity has been around 50 to 70 percent inside. It gets about the amount of light I give my phal's, perhaps a bit less depending upon the time of day since I have a huge oak tree that shades that window throughout the day. However, it does get some morning and evening sun (as a side note, the other hybrid which has the coccinea in it is right beside it and it has sprouted many new leaves in the exact same environment). Medium is high grade sphag mixed with perlite. It is being grown in a "cool pot" which is a white pourous clay - I heard them talk about it at one of the society meetings and how great it was to grow cool growing plants in.

To the right of the US flag (right side of this post), you'll see an icon that looks like a list. Click on it and scroll down until you see my Masdie's listed (I included it's parents in the name). That pic makes it look healthy though, which is sad, lol...

I'll try to get pics of the roots today.

Thanks Rosie! That was helpful. I wasn't sure if the roots should be truly white or not. Actually, it was per your suggestion that I switched my failing masdie's to sphag. They were both doing fine until I went on vacation and a neighbor was watching after them. When I came back, all new growths on both of them were dead. However, one of them has a lot more new growth now, and the other is just dying back again.

As per your suggestion Rosie, I wait until the top of the sphag is a bit crunchy feeling and then water to ensure that I'm not overwatering and keeping the sphag below too moist.

[Paul Mc]

LOL... maybe we need a thread titled "The Masdie abuse ends here" as well!

[Kelo]

I killed my one masdie beautifully!