Encyclia Dickinsoniana seedling... tough to grow?

[Gage]

Originally Posted by cythaenopsis

^ Good to know that! So, should I back off on the water a bit more as the plant enters into the winter season, even though it's a seedling?

I would, because it's an Encyclia. If it isn't in active growth, keep it dryer. But once it starts kickin along for spring time, kick up the watering. But still let it get bone dry between waterings. If you keep it dry for too long, it will tell you.

[cythaenopsis]

Well, it didn't matter what I tried... backing off on watering, varying the degree of sunlight and humidity...

It just wouldn't grow and gradually shed its leaves. Once it was down to the last leaf, and the very tiny pseudobulb started showing signs of shriveling, I knew it was over.

I just don't understand what truly went wrong. It looked to be healthy for a good 8 months, but the mid winter seemed to have killed it. I guess the ambient temperature just needed to be higher.

[Bud]

its the warmer months, if you have a chance to get it outdoors under the shade.... it will want brighter light ....plus in our zone; the humidity and heat in our atmosphere this time of year is good for thatgrowing plant....it is time for the growing of roots and leaves too

[WhiteRabbit]

For what it's worth - seedlings can be quite difficult to grow.

Hard to get the watering just right for very small, and quite immature plants, and they don't have much by way of stored resources to help hold them thru periods of problems

[Otis226]

I have one quite a bit smaller than the one you pictured. I decided to mount it on a grape wood branch several months ago, and it has been growing well, since that switch. I soak it every day in this heat, and its putting out good roots and some foliar growth. Of course I got an Epi nocturnum at the same time, same size, and it didn't make it. Seedlings can be iffy at best.
Cheers,
Tony

[cythaenopsis]

Thanks for the moral support.

I figured if the plant stayed healthy for a good 6 months, I'd be able to consider it a success and see it grow into an adult plant. It did grow some, but also shed some leaves along the way. Then, there was this mysterious tipping point when the growth stopped and it gradually shed more leaves. Roots never seemed to be rotten. But, this was the smallest of the seedlings... and I'm a novice with orchids, so I'll just chalk it up to the difficult odds of growing seedlings.