Maxillaria tenuifolia medium

[Orchidnut1988]

Hi all, this is my first thread, of many to come im sure. I bought a Maxillaria tenuifolia around a year ago, and although it is yet to flower it had been growing rather well. Anyway its come time for a repot as the pot it came in was tiny and so i did so and the new medium i put it in was coco-husk, now the pseudobulbs seem to have wrinkled up alot and even adding more water doesnt seem to change anything. Since what little ive found on the net seems to have conflicting opinions of how much light, and what medium is best for this from full sun on a mount too full shade in spaghnum so could anyone help me out and let me know what they find easier? Id prefer to keep it in a pot though.

Thanks in advance
Steve

[Merlyn]

I keep mine in a pot in a sphag/leca combo and about an inch of leca at the bottom. I've found it's best to keep it in a catch tray and when I water or fertilize I ALWAYS leave about an inch in the tray. In my environment it disappears in no more than 3 days which is when I fill it again, within a day or two. I use the sink sprayer and am sure to spray all the upper pseudobulbs with water and fertilizer because that's where most of them wind up, above the media ! It's NOT a shade plant, in fact I put mine outside for spring-summer-fall in filtered bright sunlight. In winter it's under six 4 foot T8 lights 12hrs/day. I put the plastic pot in the clay with stones so it doesn't blow over outside.
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[Orchidnut1988]

Thanks mate, but one question... Whats leca? haha.

[keithrs]

I have mine in CHC or coco croutons with charcoal and pumice. Mine wrinkled after I repot it to but after the new bulbs came out and sent new roots into the mix everything plumbed back up.

---------- Post added at 01:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Orchidnut1988

Thanks mate, but one question... Whats leca? haha.

Hydroton and similar clay balls.[COLOR="Silver"]

[camille1585]

They also grow well in straight bark (what I am doing) and I know someone who grows it mounted quite successfully. In bark I water once a week in winter, and 2-3 times a week in summer. If the bulbs are quite badly shriveled they usually never completely smooth out again, even once they have enough water. I go by the new bulbs to judge watering, ie I water when I start to see faint creases in the bulbs. They like a lot of light, but whether you stick them in full sun or partial shade depends on your location and also time of year. Ideally the leaves should be a medium green.

Chryss- esentially you're growing it in a modified version of S/H?

[Orchidnut1988]

Would mixing spagh in with the coco-husk be a better idea perhaps?

---------- Post added at 07:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:21 PM ----------

rather then just straight coco-husk as i have it in now

[camille1585]

CHC holds a lot of water, and holds more and more as it ages. I think that adding sphag to it will make it too wet, unless you live in a very hot and dry climate.
Chryss's mix works well because leca (expanded clay pellets) is an airy medium that does not retain water very much compared to CHC.

[Leafmite]

From all the replies, you will see that this is a very adaptable orchid. I grow mine in lava rock and a plastic net pot. The only time the bulbs shrivelled was when temps were 33'-35'C for a week but they plumped up when it cooled down.
Leafmite

Mine grows very well in green square plastic pot with straight sphagnum moss in the sunny location. I let the moss to go crusty dry before watering.

[Merlyn]

Leca = light expanded clay aggregate. Like Camille said, clay pellets or marbles. I guess you can call my way a modified s/h. I killed one trying the REAL s/h, but I killed EVERYTHING that I tried in the real s/h so I quit trying !