Wrinkly tolumnia

[mrphilips]

ok, so here's a re-wrap...
i dont have a little clay pot and like the look of mounts a bit more, so i have tried to mount it.
just a wee few threads of sphrag and some finishing line.

you can see the roots in the 2nd picture - there were quite a few thin white ones, so i think we may be abel to save it! not too rotted down there and i have only laced a bit of sphag on top and a bit between it and the stick.

also, now that the blooming phase is done, and it did bloom twice off the same inflorescence, should i cut that thing back now?

[silken]

That looks much better. Yes, I would cut the bloom spike. It is likely finished and it needs to grow some roots now. You could use some seaweed in your fertilizer to help stimulate some root growth. I think it will be OK. Mine might be happier with more water, but they only get wet once a day in a hot sunny greenhouse (summer conditions). And they do quite well and bloom reliably for me.

[mrphilips]

awesome, thanks

[DeaC]

Originally Posted by mtorchid

Here's a beauty I saw on a porch in St Lucia (Caribbean) last December, nothing in the pot except what looked like some chunks of charcoal, with most of the roots exposed to the air.

A lovely plant but looks vandaceous and not tolumnia...seems to love its residence!

[mrphilips]

i've remounted this guy, and moved so he's hanging somewhere different now.
he seems to be doing.... maybe better? the leaves seem less purple (less direct light?) and may have started to rejuvenate.

but now, i have discovered something else - he's infected with scale insects.
i have seen them on the leaves. i killed a few with my finger nail, but there' smore now that i give it a good inspection.

perhaps these fellas were assisting with the shriveled appearance!

open to suggestions. i have read lots on line and will now check out the pest section here

[silken]

I have read that Tolumnia's are scale magnets although my 2 haven't had it (touch wood). It will be helping to make this plant struggle for sure. Make sure you isolate it and check any plants that were near by as they spread and are terrible to get rid of in my experience. If you see any white fuzzy or powdery spots that look like white mold, those are the immature ones so don't be fooled by their appearance. I would suggest using an insecticide as it seems difficult to get rid of them without. Malathion is a good contact insecticide and one with imidicloprid is a systemic that works. In Canada I find it difficult to find any systemics but I use Merit which has it. Bayer 3 in 1 in the U.S. has imidicloprid but I have never found that here in Canada. Good luck and hope you get them all! You need to treat and inspect it weekly for many weeks. I have gone months thinking it is gone, only to see a few more turn up.

[mrphilips]

oh, darnit.
yeah, i checked the area... i don't see anything but now i'm worried.
i'll get some insecticide and wash it every two weeks.
i will also give it's neighbors a obligatory dose, just to be sure, but honestly i odn't see anything... yet.

[silken]

Was the Tolumnia a newer plant? It may have come in on that and not spread. But I have had it just show up on plants that have never ever had it and they must have got it from a neighbour that came in with it months earlier. I don't often get scale and I am very leery of some new purchases. But it is very difficult to get rid of as they get into every small nook and cranny and even into the roots and pot if its a potted one. I just hate it.

[mrphilips]

yeah, he's new... i got him and and a catt. in february at the annual royal botanical gardens orchid show.
he never maintained his vigor, and i have gone through several stages of trying to reposition him and more recently remount him.

then today i was inspecting him because he actually seemed to be looking better (haha, weird) and lo, there was this barnicle-looking thing.

i have squished it and about 9 more i found on him with my finger nail, scraped them off, washed him with dish soap and water, and hung him in a room by himself for the remainder of the summer.

i checked his neighbors and the catt., but i see nothing yet.

i will wash him again in two weeks and for the remainder of the summer, as well as keep an eye out on his comrades.

sound like a plan?
or do you think i need to go hard chemicals right away?

[silken]

You can start with a less harsh approach, but keep a good eye on it. You can't always see them and then they get out of control. Maybe it just had a few hitch hikers rather than a bad infestation. The round ones are the mature females and they lay eggs under that hard scale cover.