Brassavola nodosa growth?

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In August 2015 I got a near blooming size seedling Brassavola nodosa in a small plastic basket. On arrival it had 6 pseudobulbs: five in a row, and one branching off the third bulb back. The secondary breaking pseudobulb was floppy at the base on arrival and soon fell off. The oldest 2 pseudobulbs also got floppy and fell off in the next week.

With all those bulbs softening at the neck and falling off I figured the plant was going to die soon, but it did not. I kept watering and fertilizing it, and began treating with KelpMax monthly. It has grown a lot of new roots. It did not attempt to make another new pseudobulb. The base of the most forward bulb looks OK and I kept expecting a growth bud to swell, but nothing.

Two weeks ago a new growth began forming from the bract scar of the second bulb from the front. The lead bulb is doing nothing.

A second, much smaller seedling, from another vendor, arrived at the same time. It arrived and is still on a sphagnum and cork mount. It has made several new growths over the winter.

Is B. nodosa known for making blind growths? Does it commonly produce growths from the bract scars, rather than the eyes at the base of the pseudobulb? Or is my plant making an effort to grow on when all the normal eyes are dead? Does it normally produce growths continuously if conditions are warm and well-lit?

[katrina]

I've never noticed whether or not it makes growths from "scars"...but I've had 3 different plants and all have made growths year round. And it grows all around, from all directions, rather than "walking" across a pot. It's not at all uncommon for them to produce growths from back areas and, in time, you find you have a nice clump of a plant. I do grow under lights in the winter and outside in the summer so I'm sure the intensity of the lights is what keeps it growing during the winter.

I would guess that those front growths that fell off might have been damaged in the shipping/packing process since they fell off so soon after arrival. As for the back growths...they could've been depleted of their reserves as the plant was using energy to produce the newer growths. It's more noticeable in young plants that don't have a lot of reserves to spare. The older and bigger the plants get you'll find you don't lose the older growths for a few/several years. Unless, of course, the roots get damaged too much.

All of mine have been very robust growers and even after dividing they soon begin making new roots and new growths. I recently divided the only nodosa that I've kept and even the smallest piece is actively making roots and growths now.

Warmth helps ensure continued growth, for sure...my space is warm from the lights during the day and that helps to offset the 58-60 degree nights is lives in for winter lows. But light is also a big key in keeping nodosa happy. If they aren't getting enough light then they do sort of go to sleep and/or slow to such a crawl that it seems like they are doing nothing. Mine is very close to the HO T5s and in the summer it gets a lot of direct sun...even in the early part of the afternoon. I don't know that I would give it full Arizona sun...but it can take a lot of light.

If what you mean by blind growths is that they don't produce a spike...then, yes, sometimes that does happen but if the plant is getting sufficient light you shouldn't see too many blind growths. My plant is rather large at this point and it makes one giant flush of blooms, a secondary, smaller flush in the winter, and then it'll pop onsies and twosies at various times throughout the year. When it was small it only bloomed once a year but as it got larger and larger, the bloom frequency increased because it's now constantly growing.

I hope I hit every point and that it helps.

[No-Pro-mwa]

What a nice detailed reply. I'll try and put in my 2 cents. In May I will have had mine a year it was in a 2 in. pot but I re-potted it as it had allot of roots. I put it in a fruit cup which it is growing out of. It bloomed on 2 of the front growths but also is now blooming on one in the back. Also it started, oh about a month ago growing a new growth on what I would call the back bulb and has just started growing one on the front one.

It will get 60 maybe lower if really cold out at night where mine is. I should really check it but I'm only guessing but of course there are times it is not that cold as well.

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Thanks for the detailed replies. I should have posted a photo, and here it is. You can see the new growth forming from a bract scar on the second pseudobulb. The lead pseudobulb is doing nothing, and the eyes are not swollen. I don't want to pull the sheaths off the eyes and risk damaging them if they're alive.

My growing area is warm enough in winter for Vandas to keep growing well, and some Cattleya hybrids have pushed growths through the winter. I know this grows outside all year in southern California, where it gets temperatures far below 60 F / 15.5C without incident.

This Brassavola has been hanging in the window, where it got 3-4 hours' full morning sun through the glass, until I put up shade cloth a few weeks ago, when other plants' leaves started yellowing.

By blind growth I meant a lead without eyes at the base to form new pseudobulbs. Sometimes Iris do this; the plant flowers from the new growth, and there is nothing to carry on - you lose the plant.

I still wonder why this normally-robust species is growing so poorly, but maybe it was damaged in transit, and it's taking a while to get going. I hope it isn't a genetically weak seedling.

[katrina]

Thanks for the description of the blind growth and, to be honest, I've never really noticed it. It could be normal...I just don't know.

As for your plant...it's still very small so I would give it some time. Like any other small seedling...it can take them some time to really get going. I have seen and heard of some nodosas that aren't very good growers but I'd guess that yours is a little to young to know for sure if it'll be one. I'd give it some more time to see what it does. As bright as you can get it and since you're already very warm during the day and it looks like it's in a basket...feel free to give it more water than you might think it needs. If it has roots...when they are actively growing they do appreciate more water, provided the roots can dry off relatively fast. Mine is in a pot and in the summer it gets watered nearly every day. I've always had it in leca but at the most recent division and repot it went into the super-sized orchiata and I'll likely still water it just about every day when it moves outside.

[Fernando]

Most has been said. I have a primary hybrid (Little Stars) of nodosa, and I can tell from the last three seasons that the leading bulb makes three to four growths in a row, last season only one of them flowered, and this season I got two to three spikes - with a lot more sun and daily watering. I think the water made the difference. The bulbs can grow from anywhere, mostly the basal eyes will grow, but also other back bulbs can activate new growth.

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Thanks to all.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Mine seemed to not show any eyes until they stared to grow. Then I could see purple. I think maybe as Katrina said try more water. Like I said mine is in a little fruit cup with holes I put in it. I have been watering it all winter almost every day, I try never to go more than 2 days it just dries out that fast for me.

I did take some pictures just the other day but I didn't get a close up of the new growths. I'll put them up and see if they show anything. I'm never sure how they will come out until there blown up.

So the first growth is at the bottom of the plant not to easy to see just starting to open the leaf. It's not going to be a big leaf. Then the other one is the dark point at the far right of the plant.

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I've been spraying mine with rain water at least once a day since I got it, most days morning and evening, and often 3-4 times or more per day on weekends. I soak it in water overnight every few weeks. Maybe I'll up the soaks.

[isurus79]

For what its worth, I saw this species covering trees in the dry forest near Pedasi, Panama. They were right next to the ocean with large waves creating salt spray that seemed to relentlessly hit the Brassavolas. This region gets little to no rain for months on end during the "winter," and then tons of rain during the summer monsoon season. I tell you this because you're growing a VERY tough species that thrives on neglect. While I don't have any advice for this particular situation, just remember that its pretty easy to over-water a nodosa that is not actively growing.