Wrinkly tolumnia

[mrphilips]

so i got this little tolumnia jarak rainbow at the end of winter. at the time, it was wrinkly and purplish, but it had a number of flowers on it. the seller told me wrinkles and purple colour aren't uncommon with the breed.

i hung it off a hanging plant very close to a window where it would get some direct light throughout the day, and lots of indirect light.
i dunk it in gently fertilized rain water once a week, and twice more a week in plain rain water.
after the initial blooms died (bud blast i believe, from taking it from warm to cold to warm to cold to warm again), it immediately grew three more blooms, so it seemed to be doing ok.
however, this winter was extremely cold and in addition to the light it got, it also would have been exposed to some significant cold temps at night time.

anyway, now i see a few leaves on one of the fans going yellow. this was the largest and most wrinkled fan out of the three.

basically, i can't tell if i am doing anything wrong or right. i feel the moss looks old and it could do with a replacement mounting, and as i am moving in a week, i will be hanging it somewhere new (undecided where) that will likely have much better windows and less exposure to cold, but is there something else i should do?

[Ray]

Tolumnia species are native to shrubs on the windward side of Caribbean islands. There, they get lots of sun, frequent rain, but are "blown dry" almost immediately by tropical breezes.

With that mass of moss around the roots, the drying process is likely WAY too slow, so I'd bet you have no good roots.

Uncover the roots, and continue with your dunking routine - maybe increasing the frequency - and it'll probably recover and plump right up.

[mrphilips]

really!
well it makes sense, but again - i am new.

so what are you suggesting, lose half the sphagnum? more? less?

[silken]

Lots of people grow these in small terra cotta pots with a bit of charcoal. I grew mine in a net pot with some bark until I mounted them. I just have a bit of sphagnum underneath to hold a bit of moisture, but most of the roots are exposed. It needs daily watering if mounted and the roots need to dry before night time.

[mrphilips]

ok. well, i'll give it a remount and will take a picture and we'll see if it looks like i've done it right... according to what you and ray have done

[fudJy23]

I also have less sphag and more moss around mine, mostly because I used to have more sphag around it and it kept falling off so I gave up trying to keep it tied around.

I dunk my two Tolumnias every morning as I prepare my breakfast and they seem to be pretty happy that way.

[mtorchid]

I think it's fairly common for Tolumnia to be grown/marketed in small clay pots with a little bit of moss so as to thoroughly dry out between watering. I saturate it once every morning and that's it.

Mine has doubled in size over the past two years in a 2" pot and is climbing out of the pot. Someone on OB suggested not to repot but let it go wild so I did- the leaves are plump and it's a loyal bloomer. Here's a pic of it when it was a "baby". Imagine the same pot but the plant now twice that size.

I noticed in the Caribbean people commonly just have their various orchids in clay pots without medium, but as Ray mentioned, frequent showers and warm winds make that possible.

[fudJy23]

That looks like mine! I've had mine since last October, so less than a year. In that time, it's been flowering and sending up new spikes. When does it enter its growing period? It's something I've been wondering for a while.

[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.

[mtorchid]

Originally Posted by fudJy23

When does it enter its growing period? It's something I've been wondering for a while.

Mine enters its growth period in early Spring, around early April, usually blooms late winter.