Growing Sophronitis coccinea

[DelawareJim]

Hi all;

I have a Soph. coccinea that is currently in a 2.5 inch square plastic pot planted in sphag. It is in an east facing window and watered/fertilized about once a week when the sphag. dries. I threat it basically like my Neos on the same table.

Lately it started putting out 3 new shoots but also seems to be developing some rot at the opposite end. I've lost about 1/2 inch and 3 p-bulbs to rot.

I moved it into a plastic Fukiran/Neofinetia pot like this Fukiran pot this morning to provide more air and hopefully dry out fast and stop the rot. I'm thinking I should trim the bad end, dust with cinnamon and replant in fresh clean sphag.

Anyway, suggestions from you more seasoned growers?
Mount? Clay pot? Something other than sphag?

It's a special plant from the Japan Orchid Grande Prix and I don't want to lose it.

Thanks.

Cheers.
Jim

[Tindomul]

I have a Soph. cernua that I have in small bark chips. Seems to do well in it.
As far as treating it, I would go ahead with what you are planning, chop of the dead stuff and treat the wound with cinnamon.
Good luck.

[DelawareJim]

Thanks man.

I'm surprised no-one else has chimed in with how they grow theirs.

Mounts? Clay pots? Keep it wet? Let it completely dry between waterings?

Cheers.
Jim

[Tindomul]

Again, I know mine is different, but when I had it mounted it did nothing, when I put it in a clay pot it started growing and blooming. Organic substrate, bark and little bits of tree fern roots. I flood it every three to four days (as I remember) and let it stand in water for about an hour at most.

[Tindomul]

P.S. Happy Birthday!

[Aceetobe]

I grow mine outdoors and mounted - watered every day during the summer and shady, and then fairly bright and dry in the winter. It should be kept pretty cool - its really sensitive to the heat. They are found starting at around 2,500 feet up to around 5,000 feet in Brazil.

[Miki]

Your conditions certainly are different compared to mine, however, what works well here is clay pot and new, clean sphagnum moss.

Yes, remove the dead tissue, wash the roots of what's remaining, treat the cut with fungicide, and repot. If using sphagnum, pot moderately tightly.

[s.kallima]

My S coccinea really started to grow this summer, when I put it outside east facing (morning sun until 10), the temp here in Vancouver are very cool (20 degrees Celcius average in July). It grew a lot a new roots also since I removed the old sphagnum moss from the mount (I read somewhere that they are very sensitive to decaying moss)
I spray it a lot every morning and evening, but the bark mount dries out quickly. I think the evening is very beneficial for it if you can give good air flow (outside is ideal)

[RobS]

Although they like it very humid (growing on trees in swamps) I wouldn't grow them on Spagnum.

I grow my wittingiana (rosea) in the living room on bark in a clay pot and water about daily.

[smweaver]

Jim, my two plants are growing in small clay pots with maybe a 2 cm layer of sphagnum moss anchoring them above a 10 cm layer of styrofoam packing peanuts (basically I like to think of them as being mounted, but horizontally in a pot because most of the pots' contents are the peanuts). The roots grow throughout the moss and down the inside of the pots throughout the peanuts. The plants are watered every day during the hot summer months with very clean water from an RO unit (they are hardly ever fertilized, maybe once every couple of weeks with a dilute fertilizer solution), and with day temps anywhere between 87 and 93 F they're kept pretty well shaded (east-facing location on the front porch under an overhanging roof that provides shade except for maybe the first three hours of the morning). Winters they're kept intermediate/cool growing with lots of direct sunlight and watered every few days, which allows them to dry out between waterings. Good luck with your plants. They're a pain to get established, but once they're happy I haven't found them to be particularly difficult to grow and bloom.

Steve