This is my new saga...the main character is called “Laelia vasconcelosiana” (or Hoffmannseggella vasconcelosiana).
Bought this one late March 2019, one year ago. This was a new specie for me, one that i had never heard about. So I decided to buy it not knowing its cultural requirements.
The medium was not in good condition (at least it seemed old) but I decided not to repot it (I usually don’t repot after buying to avoid adding to the stress of repotting the stress of a new environment. So far it has worked for me, except for this one…
Some photos when I got it…
Before placing it in its permanent location I tried to find online its cultural requirements (including in this forum and others) but, as I discovered later, this is a species not well known and more or less rare to find for sale and in colections…and the scares info I could find was contradictory. So, no luck.
So I turned to find some info about its habitat. My intuition told me that, coming from Minas Gerais (Brasil), it would probably follow the same requirements as most of the other rupiculous Laelias and this turned out to be a correct assumption.
As I suspected, in general it shares the same habitat as many of the Brazilian rupiculous. Considering this I put it right next to other two Laelias: a milleri and an anceps.
This was in late spring.
Didn’t put it in full sun because its leaves show that it was not acclimatized to full sun.
Although the picture don’t show it, the place where I put it is really harsh, with temps in summer that rise up to 40ºC (105 F), humidity around 15% or lower, lots of dry winds and, adding to the sun, the balcony floor and walls reflect the light back again. So I used a piece of a semi-transparent curtain to break direct sunlight to around 80%.
Night time is the opposite, with temps dropping into 16ºC (60 F) and humidity rising to the 60%. Just like the habitat.
But, as I wanted to be sure about its requirements, I continued to look for info about it with no avail. So I began asking questions to Brazilian growers and vendors (really helpful people there, passionate orchid growers willing to help) and managed to get the contact of the guy who discovered this species, who is a great guy that helped me giving detailed info. I even sent him photos about my setup and asked him very detailed questions about the habitat, which he “approved”.
So I was confident that this plant would thrive, especially because I found out a new growth.
But as time goes by, I noticed it was not growing as expected…the little new growth didn’t grow anymore (but some roots grew from it) and leaves turned red. Contacted my new friend again, and as I was expecting, he told me it was normal due to high light levels.
Summer finished and the leaves continued to become red and then started get wrinkled and fall one by one.
Didn’t know what to do… (still don’t) Water more? Water less? The medium seemed to never get dry…changed location to reduce light levels, increased humidity, etc, etc.
That’s when I saw mold on top of the medium. Decided to repot it in inorganic medium.
I don’t have photos but the old medium (mostly really old bark and charcoal) was in a bad shape, completely degraded…and the plant…poor plant, almost with no living roots.
I repot it in a plastic pot (it would better if it was clay but there was none), with LECA (should have used bigger LECA but there was none also) mixed with sphagnum (should have used less sphagnum but there was plenty ).
This was one month ago.
I have been watering it very carefully, without any excess, giving priority to
misting the medium (every 4 days or so under my conditions). The smaller LECA retains more water than I would prefer but, as I said before, there was none bigger.
Now I’ve put it in a north window with indirect really bright light so that conditions are not so harsh. And the reason why I decided to write this long post is this: a new growth!
By other hand, some time after I get it, the leaf drop started and has continued until today so I’m not sure if this is some disease (I’ve reading something similar about virused Cattleyas doing this) or if it is just lack of water (looking at the first photos, the symptoms were there already).
Hence the saga…
If you are reading this, it means you are a patient and interested person, which is great.
But remember, the time you took to read this is much less than what I needed to write it.
New posts in case any significant development occurs.
Here’s a photo of my goal: a Laelia vasconcelosiana flower. Wish me (and my plant) luck!!!
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A new saga...Laelia vasconcelosiana
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