yeah, I just got the Masd. Highland Fling plants yesterday, so far so good - no leaf problems yet, they are in small 2-inch plastic pots and I can see that they have both bloomed previously. I'm keepin' my fingers crossed on these two !

Fortunately, my 2 Dogs don't like the taste of plants!

Here in the Northeast of North America I think we are kidding ourselves if we try Masdies outside of an enclosed enviroment. Like you I tried several times and failed each time. Unless you can provide 70% RH or better along with a nice breeze they will struggle. Put them under a 5# pretzel container( the UTZ works well) if you don't want to put them in a tank. If you try to keep your room at 70% RH, you'll be scraping moss and mildew off the walls.
I grow mine now to some moderate sucess in the basement in an enclosed shelving unit.

Bill

Actually Bill, where I have them, I can provide 80+% RH with a really REALLY nice breeze .......it's called using a humidifier and a fan !

Hey NeoNJ, I'm here in Jersey as well, not that far from you. I currently have 7 masdevallia that are doing well for me here on a rack with a fluorescent light on them for 8 hours of the day. I have them potted in 2.5" clay pots with straight sphagnum. My bedroom (where I grow all my orchids) is constantly between 60-70% humidity (second hobby is fishkeeping, thus the cause of high humidity) and I let the plants dry slightly before each watering. Temps hang around 65F.

I haven't seen any blooms but the plants (both species and hybrids), but they do put out new growth well.

I've gone through about 15 masdes and experimented with conditions such as light/ watering/ fertilizer/ etc. If I were you I'd start with some potted plants. Repot them upon arrival into small clay pots with straight sphagnum moss. Masde's hate foul medium and mine seem to appreciate a good repot once the medium begins to degrade. Set your plants somewhere away from drafts (such as on an end table or counter directly under a light source) and let the plants dry slightly before watering. I give mine a shot of Gro-More 20-20-20 Orchid fert every other watering. I feel the key is never letting the plants get "wet" or bone dry and to also keep the humidity up. I keep mine moist and water once a week when the medium just begins to feel dry midway down the pot.

Best of luck!

There are some small flowered Masdevallia hybrids too...

Really?

I just checked Andy's site, and he does currently carry Masd ayacabana...

Are you really into Masd ayacabana, or would you pass it up for some other Masdevallia? :evil:

Recommendations for Masd hybrids:

All Masd Sunset Jaguar lines.

All Masd Copper Angel lines.

Masd Dean Haas

I just spoke with ANDY on the telephone - he seems to think the problem was a "cold" blast in his GH prior to shipment. I don't know.....

I'm sure there are smaller flowered Hybrids, but I am looking for the LARGE flowered Hybrids .... can you recommend any ????

Yes - I would definitely like to own the ayacabana, but unfortunatley Andy only has this Mounted, and not potted...

All the hybrids I put on the list are decent sized flowers you can see easily.

Cold blast doing them in...?

2,500 m in the Andes is pretty cold, man

---------- Post added at 03:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------

Wait a second...

I've been to Andy's...

He grows Masd decumana in a shade house that isn't enclosed. It's just wooden beams, benches, and some shade cloth.

---------- Post added at 03:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 PM ----------

I think it's just that it's mounted. You need to find one that's potted.

Ok, so how is it he said it got to "cold" for them ?
Huh?
to cold for them in CALIFORNIA ????

Now I'm really confused ...

I already have the Masd. Sunset Jaquar coming along with a Masd. Angel-something-or-other .......

He's close to the coastline. That's how he can get away with growing some of the cooler growers without a refrigeration unit in SoCal. The cool ocean breezes keeps things reasonably cooler than if he were further inland.

If it means anything, Encinitas is in San Diego County. So if you've ever been to San Diego, the climate is somewhat similar.

He's growing stuff that comes from around 3,000 m (i.e. Masd davisii) in that same shade house.

But I doubt it got too cold for them. Like I said, Masd decumana is reported to come from elevations as high as 2,500 m (according to the IOSPE).

At 2,500 m in the Andes they can have occasional, light hail storms even in the tropics in countries such as Colombia!

Bogotá - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bogota, Colombia is a city in the high Andes at a little over 2,600 meters.

The Wikipedia page on Bogota, Colombia shows some of the temperatures throughout the year. As you will see, some of the lowest temperatures of the year are somewhere in the 20's F to 30's F.

On the flip side, at 1,000 m, it can get quite warm. I'd say the warmest it'd get at around 1,000 m is around 90 F (maybe even warmer than this).

Assuming the IOSPE page on Masd decumana and the recorded elevation range on the page is correct, Masd decumana is very temperature tolerant!

If the recorded elevation range posted on the IOSPE is correct, then if there are any problems with this plant, it'd have to be a cultural issue that has nothing to do with temperature.

Here's my conclusion to what I have to say in regards to your Masd decumana based on what I know so far:

1.) Perhaps there's too much moss on the mount...

2.) Perhaps it's the fact that mounted Masdevallias in general will never do well for your growing environment...

3.) Maybe it just needs to be debugged...

4.) It could be that Masd decumana are sensitive plants as someone already pointed out, idk.

5.) Could also be a combination of the 4...

You may also want to cross reference another source for the known recorded locations and elevations for Masd decumana just to be sure they really are found at an elevation range of 1,000 m - 2,500 m.

Sorry for jumping in so late.

I grow a lot of masdevallias. Around 120 species and a lot of hybrids.

Leaf spotting is temperature related.

I encourage you to try species which are suited to your conditions. I also recommend growing in pots. Mounted in low humidity is very difficult and will take over your life. You can pot a mounted plant and it will grow off the mount. Just pot it mount and all, keeping the growing point level with the surface.

Clay pots are bet for you situation. They will trick the roots into thinking it is cooler then it actually is. You can double pot them. Get two pots, one small and the other one size up. Pot the plant in the smaller pot, the slip that one in the bigger clay pot. The pot with the plant should not touch the bottom. Now sit both in a dish of water. The outer pot will wick water and cool by evaporative cooling, but the water in the dish will not touch the pot with the plant, so the media won't be sopping wet.

Tovarensis is warm tolerant.
Warm growers include Rex, datura, livingstoniana, infracta, princeps, Regina, ayabacana, floribunda. There are others, but these should be easy to find.
Hybrids will be more tolerant, but avoid ones with a lot of cold growing species in the back ground. Spotted leopard will be challenging. Do you like orange? Lots of orange hybrid will be easier for you to grow. Highland fling was an excellent choice.