B. nodosa 'Minnie Mouse' culture

[maelstrom mike]

I purchased a little specimen of B. nodosa 'Minnie Mouse' a week ago and have some concerns and questions on culture. I have done research on the species and am not aware of any cultural differences within this cultivar and will follow those guidelines. However, the specimen I received came in a 4" plastic basket filled with sphagnum moss. While the plant is healthy and growing new roots, I am worried that this will not allow for air flow and the roots will rot.

My plants are under fluorescents ranging from ~2k fc directly underneath to 500 fc a foot below. The temperature is a fairly constant 70 F in the room and the RH averages about 55% +or- 5.

I plan on taking it out of the moss, but would like a little guidance on different media uses. I personally prefer bareroot, because it's easy to work with the plant (water, fertilizer, move, etc) and that's how I grow my phal. I am just worried that the humidity is not high enough to do that with this specimen and I would like something that it can eventually completely cover. I've been considering planting in a tree fern basket or just mounting on a square. Any suggestions?

This is a new species and genus for me, so any advice you can give to prevent future incidents is welcome Thank you!

[euplusia]

Brassavola nodosa is quite hardy. You can grow it mounted to cork, or in a Vanda basket. You can also grow it in a plastic pot with medium grade or coarse fir bark, or in Xaxim.
It is also quite temperature tolerant, if you keep a winter rest. But as it originates from semi-desert areas, be careful with overwatering. Better treat it like a cactus, as it grows in nature sometimes on old branched candelaber cacti.
Sphagnum is not my choice of potting medium.

[isurus79]

I agree with Euplusia, spag for this species is very bad! If you have enough humidity to successfully grow a Phal mounted, then you should be able to mount this one without a problem. However, nodosa really likes bright light; quite a bit more than your Phal does. Once its mounted, you can water it as often as you want. The roots will need to dry off before you water it again.

[maelstrom mike]

Thank you for the advice guys.

I pulled Minnie out of the moss this morning. The roots within the moss are showing signs of severe stress; the stele is all that remains at the end of many of them. I will leave it bare root in the basket until I can get a tree fern slab for mounting.

Lesson learned; Don't buy orchids grown in an inappropriate media.

I'm confident it'll make a quick recovery though with all those new roots and some TLC.

Question:
I know that this species displays red spots when it's receiving enough sunlight. I had this plant hanging a couple inches below my HO T5's (~2000fc) for a couple days and the young leaves look considerably more red. Do you think they're getting sunburned? The older leaves are still straight green. For the time being, I'll put it back lower down.

[isurus79]

Red is good, black is bad! If your young leaves are red or purple, that means they're getting the perfect amount of light. These guys thrive on very bright conditions.

[Leafmite]

Red/purple leaves mean the light is bright enough to flower!
They definitely prefer drier conditions. I have one Brassavola nodosa in an empty clay pot, another mounted on a piece of wood and a Brassavola Little Stars mounted on cork. Mine are under T5 lights and I water them about every three days.

[maelstrom mike]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Red is good, black is bad! If your young leaves are red or purple, that means they're getting the perfect amount of light. These guys thrive on very bright conditions.

Thank you! I will keep an eye for blackening leaves.

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Red/purple leaves mean the light is bright enough to flower!
They definitely prefer drier conditions. I have one Brassavola nodosa in an empty clay pot, another mounted on a piece of wood and a Brassavola Little Stars mounted on cork. Mine are under T5 lights and I water them about every three days.

I can't wait until it blooms! I love pretty much everything about this orchid so far. Thanks for sharing your growing conditions! I will start with that as a watering basis and see how it goes.

Back up to the light bulbs, it goes!