Newbie worried about the dormancy of Zeuxine gracilis

[Plantdesign]

Hello all,

I am a newbie to this forum, to be frank this is my very first post on this forum. I have a problem here in that I have just got a Zeuxine gracilis plant, and has read of them turning dormant after flowering, after which needing a period of extreme cold to "wake up" again. As I live in Singapore, a tropical country, I am worried I might not have the suitable conditions for it to wake up from dormancy, so would like ask if anyone here has any experience with this orchid as to kindly guide me to keep this plant going.

Thanks.

[Rowangreen]

How cold is cold? If it's around 5 C then I think you might be able to use a fridge.

[WhiteRabbit]

hmm ... I can't find much info about this, but http://www.orchidspecies.com/zeugracilis.htm lists these as warm to hot growers

I found some reference to a dormancy after flowering, but nothing regarding temps. Being a warm to hot grower, I wonder about the need for 'extreme' cold ?

Hope someone can help
good luck!

[Plantdesign]

Thanks so much for the help guys...guess I'll wait for it to die down after flowering and put the whole pot in a refrigerator for a day before taking it out and see what happens after that...

[Rowangreen]

I wouldn't do that without making sure it needs such low temperatures. If you do it when it doesn't it could well kill it.

[Plantdesign]

hmmm....seems like it'll be better to just keep it slightly damp after its done flowering...and hope something sprouts out from it soon...

[WhiteRabbit]

good luck! Let us know how it goes, please

[Plantdesign]

Sure, but that seems like something of the distant future, but thanks lots for the help anyway.

Thanks