Tolumnia care

[Carpe Diem]

I have 3 Tolumnias. One just finished blooming and is putting out 2 new growth. The 2nd one (previously bloomed) has a new spike. The 3rd one is just recently aquired and not doing anything yet. I keep all 3 bare root in glass candleholders with just enough packing peanuts to keep them from falling over. I water daily in the morning, except when I'm running late for work. So far my Tolumnias have not objected to my treatment.

---------- Post added at 05:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:11 PM ----------

And btw., I'm a windowsill grower without additional lighting or humidity. Actually, it's not the windowsill anymore, ran out of space and had to buy a 4 shelf rack.

[Vanda lover]

At CR orchids, Dino had a beautiful selection of tolumnia. He also has hybrids that I am not familiar with that have abbreviations such as OTZ. PAD. RRM.
Does anyone know what these are? Unfortunately Dino never did finish his website.

[Pilot]

I have found tolumnias to be far more resilient than I think I and many others give credit.

As mentioned above I have moved a Tolumnia into sh and I have been warned it won't work but I'm also an ornery sucker and would like proof. I don't doubt those who say it doesn't work but I'm amazed by what I've managed to grow in sh already. I have succulents and even cacti growing in the stuff! They love it!

My most recent Tolumnia came in a plastic container and was growing in moss that was soaking wet and even in my dry environment it grew in such a way that it stayed pretty wet with zero rot. I left it in the container for a while and still no rot. So in sh it went. Results to come.


For the rest of my tolumnias, of which I have 10 or so, grow in a deep glass dish fill with hyrdoton and it is filled with water and allowed to drain completely....it has a hole on the bottom....and it keeps everyone happy for a day plus and I haven't lost any plants to this. Now, I haven't rebloomed anything yet but I haven't had my plants long either... Less than a growing season so I'm hoping my oldest will spike soon.

I grow under t8 lamps. They will go outside in the summer.

[Vanda lover]

I'll be interested to see the outcome, Ryan. I think that it should be possible and s/h does have some great advantages. I'm hoping to get a tolumnia soon and have been trying to decide how to grow it.

[pedidiva]

My sister has her tolunias in the shower window. They are in their little pots & are thriving. They get enough moisture from the showers that folks take. She doesn't do a thing to them.

[silken]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

At CR orchids, Dino had a beautiful selection of tolumnia. He also has hybrids that I am not familiar with that have abbreviations such as OTZ. PAD. RRM.
Does anyone know what these are? Unfortunately Dino never did finish his website.

C R Orchids is where I got mine from. He was at our society meeting last spring to do a presentation and sell plants. A few people bought them. They were all potted in the CHC and the open net plastic pot. Mine now has 2 spikes that look close to blooming but not sure as its my first one!

[Vanda lover]

I have a South facing shower window. I have often thought that it is a waste that I can't hang my vandas in there, but the tolumnia are small and that just might work! The only thing is, we always shower at night and I'm not sure that would be good for them.

---------- Post added at 06:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:23 PM ----------

Originally Posted by silken

C R Orchids is where I got mine from. He was at our society meeting last spring to do a presentation and sell plants. A few people bought them. They were all potted in the CHC and the open net plastic pot. Mine now has 2 spikes that look close to blooming but not sure as its my first one!

I had a rynchocentrum shipped by him for my birthday. He said that it blooms over and over and it does bloom easily. The only disappointment was that he told me that the blooms are orange -yellow. They are light creamy yellow. Anyway, his tolumnias look fantastic. Maybe next birthday I'll go for 1 or 2 of them.

[silken]

I wish Dino would keep his website up. I know he doesn't have some of the things on there. And likely has others that aren't shown! He seemed a bit disorganized and promised to get back to people with names of some orchids once they bloomed, and I don't think he ever did or he at least took real long to do it. Our pre-order got really messed up too and he hardly brought any of those plants! But the plants all seemed quite nice that he did bring and decent prices. I think he would rather grow and buy the orchids than run the business end of it.

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by silken

I wish Dino would keep his website up. I know he doesn't have some of the things on there. And likely has others that aren't shown! He seemed a bit disorganized and promised to get back to people with names of some orchids once they bloomed, and I don't think he ever did or he at least took real long to do it. Our pre-order got really messed up too and he hardly brought any of those plants! But the plants all seemed quite nice that he did bring and decent prices. I think he would rather grow and buy the orchids than run the business end of it.

I completely agree! There are so few Canadian orchids growers and he could do really well if only he got some help. He has orchids you can't get anywhere else and he told me he gets others all of the time. I think he has too much to handle.

[lily99]

I wonder if growing them in moss helps them survive in less humid environments, like houses, since it keeps more moisture around the roots. I intend to grow it in a terrerium, but the terrerium I ordered hasn't been delivered yet, so I may keep it in the moss for now.