S. wittigiana care?

[Tim P.]

Hi everyone,
I have recently seen wittigiana and have fallen in love with it. I am worried that if I would buy one I would kill it Anyone have experience growing it on a windowsill?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Cultural requirements are very similar to temperature tolerant Cattleyas.

Temp (45 F - 100 F).

You may either mount or grow potted.

Sophronitis wittigiana = Soph. wittigiana

[Tim P.]

Any tips? I've head that they are very hard to grow like s. Coccina

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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I have a hunch the reason people are saying this species, along with Soph coccinea are difficult to grow is because they don't produce a lot of roots. This is probably one of the biggest differences between Sophronitis and Catteyas, (although, I do believe that Sophronitis has just recently been absorbed into the genus Cattleya, not too sure about this).

Cattleyas can produce lots of long rambling roots per pseudobulb.

Sophronitis usually produce anywhere between 1 - 3 roots per pseudobulb.

Sophronitis are also fairly slow growing, btw.

The only tip I have in this case would be - don't rot the roots out.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Just thought of another tip, but this is part of the selection/purchasing process of the hobby, not the growing part of it.

Buy the largest one with the most amount of growths on it out of the bunch, particularly look for as many new growths as possible, if you're very new to growing Sophronitis.

[Tim P.]

Very good tip... Will do. Out of curiosity do you have sophronitis in your collection? If you would do I would love to ask a few questions about cocciena.

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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I had Soph cernua, Sophronitis grow similarly to each other.

Sophronitis also have similar growth habits to Constantia cipoensis which I currently still grow, and I've grown this species for about 5 years. Constantia cipoensis is also a miniature Cattleya relative that comes from Brazil.

From growing both Soph cernua and Constantia cipoensis, that's how I can tell you general guidelines about Soph coccinea and Soph wittigiana.

They really don't produce a ton of roots. No matter which species of Sophronitis you choose, this will always be the case. Each pseudobulb will usually produce 1 - 3 roots, no more than this. Sure, Soph coccinea and Soph wittigiana are larger than Soph cernua, but you'll see that they will not usually produce quite as many roots as a Cattleya does.

Sophronitis like bright indirect light.

They prefer intermediate to warm temperatures, but can tolerate cooler temperatures.

They like to dry out completely between waterings.

They grow very slow. The growth rate is along the lines of 1 - 2, (maybe 3 on a good day, but rarely), new shoots per pseudobulb.

If you're buying the tetraploid versions of these guys, (aka 4N versions), then the story is a bit different. I don't have actual experience with tetraploid plants, so I can't tell you anything about them.

I believe the reason why there are so many tetraploid versions of Sophronitis coccinea and Soph wittigiana is because people were having too difficult of a time with the normal/natural diploid versions, (aka 2N versions).

I'm on the boat of believing that with some understanding of the plant, you can grow the natural 2N versions of them just fine.

[Tim P.]

Very very good information! Thank you so much! I think that I'll give wttigiana a shot and maybe coccinea later on if I can get wttigiana to work out.

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[Pete Potter]

I have no experience of coccinea but instead enough of it – I think – of mantiquairae, which just happens to be one of my top favorite plants to grow.

I grow all my plants on a windowsill and had my dear mantiquairae for about eight–nine years. It actually grew very well – when you have big enough a plant one shoot per pseudobulb multiplies to a LOT of new shoots!

My plant grew happily on a bed of red clay pebbles topped with a cushion of live moss. I have found a species of moss that grows commonly on rocks that tolerates orchid fertilizers and dry air with no difficulty.

Mantiquairae requires a somewhat drier period to initiate blooming but dry does not mean bone dry – I actually kept the plant moist always. It also surprised me several times with buds without any "preparations", the time of blooming being mostly round christmas and new year.

The plant enjoys sharp temperature changes between day & night, but it actually flourished without through the winter months – and bloomed eagerily. I kept my mantiquairae out on the balcony from night frost to night frost – this guy certainly isn't afraid of cold!

Bright light is mandatory for tha plant to bloom, so additional light during winter time is a must.