Subject: Understanding Coryanthes.
Hello there,
I have some 20 plants and, furthermore, have read the monograph of the genus by Dr. G. Gerlach.
I am trying to contribute to the subject as follows.
---------------- ! Coryanthes plants need warmth (not heat though) ! ----------------
In nature, a Coryanthes plant always grows its many roots into and throughout an ants nest sitting moderately high in
a tree. Such a nest ('carton nest') is made by the relevant ants from a variety of organic materials, and the fast-growing Coryanthes plant is dependent on the nutrients it draws from these organic materials. These ants nests can reach 60 cms in diameter,
and an adult Coryanthes plant can have bulbs 16 cms high, 60 of them, and leaves 50 cms long.
In nature, most Coryanthes species occur along the tropical atlantic and carribean rim and around the Amazon Basin. Coryanthes plants do not seasonally shed their leaves, as for example Catasetum plants do.
In cultivation, you and me should make sure that the compost is moderately acidic (PH4), loose, moist and fertile at all times; hence it is a good idea to use best-quality Sphagnum, mixed with 'Perlite' for looseness.
This compost should not be PRESSED into the pot or basket of a Coryanthes plant -to get in as much as possible as it were- because "looseness" is what the plant requires.
Renew this compost every 1 year (!),
because decomposed Sphagnum is destructive for the roots of any epiphytic orchids, and with its roots in decomposing material, the Coryanthes plant will soon shed its leaves one by one and decline.
Keep the compost moist at all times, not WET, and fertilise thoroughly with 150 ppm every day using mineral fertliser, something equivalent to PETERS 30-10-10 - but no organic fertiliser (BAD). -- If you do sloppy fertilising, then your Coryanthes plant will be doomed ...
I have read on these pages, that people add odd things such as Lemmon Juice, Epsom Salts, Dish Soap, when watering their plants; "PLEASE DO NOT" ...
Light: give as much as the plant can stand, but adapt the plant to higher light levels over several weeks. Target : direct morning sun until 10 a.m. is good for the plant. Fertilise in the afternoon, when the light is dull.
If the cultivator falls short on the requirements outlined above, the plant will shed its leaves one by one and resort to consuming the nutrients stored in its pseudobulbs - until the plant has died after a few months and nothing is left but some ugly dry stuff ...
Leaves going yellow: change compost immediately, give water and fertilise.
Cheers
, MANFRED.
PS: Flowers of Coryanthes, Catasetum, Stanhopea, are wonders of Plant Evolution ...
To admire Coryanthes Flowers, you might go to
[url=http://www.botanik.biologie.uni-muenchen.de/botgart/e/research/gg_species.html]
Understanding Coryanthes
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