Help repotting Bulbo. lobbii

[ryfrazier]

Hello all. I've had a nice sized Bulbo. lobbii division for about 4 months. It arrived on a large piece of cork, and for the first month and a half it did fine. Then, out of nowhere, the pbulbs started shrinking up & the exposed roots dried up. Recently I re-mounted this plant, hoping I'd see some new growth.

Nothing yet.

So I've been considering taking it off the mount & potting it. I'd say it's a series of 6-7 pbulbs, about a foot or so long rhizome. How exactly would I pot this, since it's basically a straight line?

If necessary, I can take some pics, but this should all be self-explanatory. Any help whatsoever would be much appreciated. I don't wanna see this wonderful orchid die!

Thanks in advance, y'all.

-Ryan.

[gnathaniel]

Ryan, I would put it in a basket (teak, net pot, wire w/ coco liner, etc.) with LFS and maybe some treefern fiber or chunks, styrofoam packing peanuts, charcoal, LECA, or other such long-decay media. Any bits that don't fit will probably be happy to grow on the outside of the basket as long as there's some moisture there. For a rootless or non-actively-growing plant I usually tie it in place in or on the basket with some wire.

You could also try remounting on treefern with a good sphag pad to cover the roots, but if it didn't do well mounted the first time it might not be well-suited for it in culture.

What do you think could have caused the decline of your plant? Did you experience a humidity drop in the cold weather that's gradually depleted your plant of moisture? I've never grown lobbii, but I've noticed that some bulbo species are much more tolerant of low humidity than others, even within the same section.

I had a similar thing happen with a medusae division I got from my dad; even in the summer I couldn't keep it moist enough on a mount. The last lone pseudobulb got potted with live sphagnum and tented and has now finally sent out a new growth.

Good luck!

--Nat

[BikerDoc5968]

I would agree with Nat. The bottom line is to keep up the mositure... anyway, that's what I've learned growing Cirr Elizabeth Ann. Since I added some sphag to the top and keep it moist the darn thing has taken off and I have 4 or 5 new pseudobulbs and what look like very early spikes. I've now changed over all my Bulbos and they seem to be doing much better. So for your specific growing situation pot it up in whatever manner will be easiest for you to keep it moist.... moist, don't drown the darn thing!