Mounted Brassavola

[RoutineDisco]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a brassavola cucullata mounted on cork bark. I have been soaking it whenever the sphagnum moss feels completely dry, which is about every two days. It stays near a fish tank and I lightly run a humidifier at night, but the room stays between 75-80F at basically all times. It is also supplied by a grow light.

However, I realized a few days ago that the wall it was hanging on was right by the heater and even though the plant itself didn’t feel warm, the back of the cork did. Today after soaking one of the leaves was broken off. A few leaves have turned lightly yellow and some of the tips are slightly reddish as well. I have had this plant for about two weeks and there is no new growth, is there any cause for concern? I’m just looking for general tips as well if I’m doing anything wrong.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board. I can't see it that well on my phone. Is there another light on this plant that isn't in the photo? If not, it might not be getting enough light.

Cork is an insulator. It probably is thick enough to prevent heat damage, but it would be useful to put a thermometer right on the plant and check the temperature.

[RoutineDisco]

Yep there are usually more lights, I had trouble uploading the file so I just took a new one but that was after one of the lights turned off. I also moved the orchid so it’s against my desk so no more heat radiating really close to it, but do you think that caused some issues? I will attach a better photo once I get home.

[RoutineDisco]

Sorry I was in a rush and the pictures didn’t upload…I got meant to get some close ups, also another leaf broke off. When I bought the plant a few of the pseudobulbs were black and dead looking but the leaf was still mostly green, I’m thinking maybe they’re falling off now as I could see the base of the fallen leaf was yellow?

[estación seca]

I'm wondering how long the plant has been on that mount. It has the look of being very recently mounted. If so it hasn't had time to make new roots, and the old roots might not be taking up enough water after the inevitable damage being mounted. If it is drying quickly, I would suggest watering by soaking for an hour or two as soon as it dries out. It may need to make new roots with new growth to get over the recent mounting if that is what happened.

[RoutineDisco]

I’ve been waiting for it to fully dry and soaking for 15 minutes, should I soak it for longer and still wait for full drying or soak it every day? If I soak every day the moss will still be a bit damp but that’s about it.

[estación seca]

If it dries out that rapidly, yes, I would soak it longer and more often. Perhaps try to increase the humidity - move it in front of the humidifier? But don't let it stay wet days on end.

[RoutineDisco]

I soaked it for longer today and will try to increase humidity, hope it recovers well! Thanks for the help.

[RJSquirrel]

they arent the easiest of the brassavola to grow either.
grow very slow and dont recover fast at any given rate.

when the little canes start to dry up and fall off that means the roots have dried up too. when its dry the last thing is the leaves fall out of the bunch. It could use a sphag n bag treatment with some kelpak till you get new roots showing some signs of life.Maybe?

Sphag n bag with kelpak works on lots of things

[RoutineDisco]

It has lost 3 more leaves 😭 but the plant did come with a bunch of dead bulbs, and the remaining ones look green + at least a few green roots. I’m now concerned because I’m traveling for the weekend, should I bag the orchid so it stays damp? I’ll be gone four days total, will try to get kelpak whenI return. I could also ask a roommate to soak the plant on Sunday which would be watering every two days as I usually do.