Unsure about my masdevallia ?

[mikethebike]

hi orchid lovers..
I have a masdevallia palveana query i need help with please..ive tried and failed to find good images online of a growing plant so am unsure whats normal .is it supposed to grow above the medium as mine is ?? ,it clearly started off under the surface of the medium but all the new branches and roots are above the medium now,,is this normal ?? im also wondering if its normal for one to hang over the edge of the pot & grow like a trailing plant ?? does anyone out there in orchid world happen to know if its ok to let it carry on growing like this trailing over the edge of the pot or is it time to cut the branches off and re-pot underground again i new pots ??
any advice from fellow masdevallia fans mooocho appreciated.
Regards to all.
Michael.

[Optimist]

This Masdevallia is an epiphyte, so despite whether you get it as a young plant, all neat in a pot, this plant will want to ramble up and down a branch or tree like a cattleya. In the wild, epiphytes have no "padding of sphagnum moss. It has its own roots and whatever leaf litter and dead roots happen to land on the branch and get caught in the roots. A Masdevallia is also a sympodial orchid which means it "rambles" like grass on a rhizome. It is common for sympodial plants to raise up on their own roots. They crawl up their cages of pottery. So, this is all natural, and it looks like you have a very healthy plant.

[DeaC]

Masd. paivaeana? Check your spelling and see Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia. Hope this helps. BTW,beautiful flower.

[No-Pro-mwa]

I don't know this kind but, I know when I read about some they will say that some of them ramble. I would say yours is a rambler.

[mikethebike]

Brilliant,thats all very reassuring.many thanks to all who contributed.
Cheers.
Mike.