Maxillaria Tenuiflora x Variabilis should I repot or leave it?

[Orchid-Obsessed]

I received this Maxillaria Tenuiflora x Variabilis, yellow coconut scented orchid, in the mail yesterday. It arrived in a 3” pot, in sphagnum moss. There was what looked to be date on the pot “0319”.

Should I repot? Should I leave it as is- but put in a same size pot because the pot it came in only has the bottom drainage hole, clear plastic and very soft, flimsy.

Should I pot it up in a size bigger or no? That means leaving it in moss, right? Can I leave the all the moss intact since it’s root bound anyways and fill around the sides with bark, charcoal, lava rocks? Or do I need to fill the sides with moss?

Why do I wish to repot? I’m afraid that if I don’t repot to a bark mix, I’ll over water. I’ll kill it. I read ‘just wet or moist, but not soggy’. How do I water without making the moss “just wet, not soggy”?

Why are the pseudobulbs wrinkled? Bad roots in the middle, dehydrated? Can I get them to plump up again? How? I also read to leave the bottom of pot in a saucer of water in the summer, is this when it’s potted in bark mix only or is this applicable also if potted in moss?

If I repot, do I remove the moss (seems impossible because root bound, I tried but afraid it’ll severely damage the root) ? is it possible to repot without causing too much damage to the roots because it’s root bound? How do I do that, pull each plant apart in groups of 2 or 3 keeping the root intact as much as possible? It I repot, should I use bark, lava rocks, charcoal and moss.

Growing in a portable greenhouse under COB LED grow light-1200w, humidity range 55-65, summer temp range 28c to 30c daytime, night time 18-22c.

Please provide me with advise, I’m really stomped on what to do, I’ve waited 6 months to get a yellow scented orchid-I only started orchid growing hobby. I’ve watched lots of YouTube videos, read forums here which I wish I could bookmark to read again, but still unsure as to how to proceed..thank you very much.

[Ray]

If overwatering a plant in sphagnum is a concern, by all means repot it.

Wrinkled pseudobulbs can be due to underwatering or having a (poor) root system that is incapable of taking water up.

I see no green root tips, so my guess (and that's all it is) is that the latter is more likely, so I would:

1) Immerse the root system in the pot in tepid water containing 4 ml/L KelpMax (C&C Orchids in Hamilton ON sells it in Canada on Facebook) for about 30 minutes.

2) Remove the pot.

3) Using your fingers, and starting from the bottom center, pluck out the moss. Yes, you're going to do some root damage, but they don't look that good anyway, and they don't regrow, they are replaced. The KelpMax will stimulate root growth better than anything.

4) Pot it up in your preferred mix and water it in with that KelpMax solution.

Treat it normally after that, and it'll recover fine.

Your hybrid, by the way, is Maxillaria Memoria Ben Berliner.

[Orchid-Obsessed]

Hello Ray, good morning. Thanks for chiming in and I’m so glad that you did. I searched your website to find the inococur that are mentioned quite a number of times here on OB along with Kelpmax but I couldn’t find Inococur (spelling?) could it be called something else? I will definitely check out C&C orchids for the kelpmax.

I’ll follow your instructions and I’ll repot in the bark mix.

[Ray]

Inocucor Technologies (Montreal) got a lot of big investors and acquired a fertilizer company, ATP Nutrition (Winnipeg). The investors took change and decided the fertilizer made them more money, so they shut Inocucor down last January.

I now recommend a product called Quantum-Total, but I have no idea if that's available in Canada, and it cannot be shipped in.

[Orchid-Obsessed]

Originally Posted by Ray

Inocucor Technologies (Montreal) got a lot of big investors and acquired a fertilizer company, ATP Nutrition (Winnipeg). The investors took change and decided the fertilizer made them more money, so they shut Inocucor down last January.

I now recommend a product called Quantum-Total, but I have no idea if that's available in Canada, and it cannot be shipped in.

Thanks. I’ll do a search on Quantum-Total and make sure it’s the same that’s on your website. Knowing the proper name for Maxillaria Tenuiflora x Variabilis is Maxillaria Ben Berliner, I can now have better success when I do searches.

[Orchid-Obsessed]

Hi 👋
Are these stems good or bad? They look bad to me because of the black on the sheaths.

Please confirm if bad or not. I’ll remove before I put in the pot.

Please let me know.

[fishmom]

Don't remove anything. They are fine. The bulbs are a little wrinkled but they still contain moisture and nutrients. There are roots hiding behind those sheathes, so don't tear them off. Do what Ray said and the new growth will be nice and plump.

[Orchid-Obsessed]

Good evening fish mom

Thanks, please look at the bottom of the stems where It meets the roots. Theyre black, are those bacterial rot? They’re not soft nor are they mushy, they’re hard.

Update: Repotting is done! I followed exactly what Ray and Fishmom said (except I used another brand of seaweed, not KelpMax. The C&C orchid’s shipment of KelpMax is delayed).

Yeah, it was sooo tempting to clean off the sheaths, but I didn’t.

Thanks to you both for the advice....

[estación seca]

There is a lot of information on Orchid Board about all kinds of orchids. You can use the Search feature and look up "variabilis" and "tenuiflora." Because Max. tenuiflora is also called the coconut orchid, you can look up that, too.

You will find a lot about how people grow them. I do this on Orchid Board with every plant new to me. In this case, you will find these are extremely thirsty orchids. Many people use sphagnum because they have trouble watering them enough in bark. Many people wind up standing them in dishes of water. Some years ago Carter & Holmes sold tiny seedlings of the yellow form of Max. Ben Berliner. I killed two before finding out they should not ever approach dryness.

[Orchid-Obsessed]

Originally Posted by estación seca

There is a lot of information on Orchid Board about all kinds of orchids. You can use the Search feature and look up "variabilis" and "tenuiflora." Because Max. tenuiflora is also called the coconut orchid, you can look up that, too.

You will find a lot about how people grow them. I do this on Orchid Board with every plant new to me. In this case, you will find these are extremely thirsty orchids. Many people use sphagnum because they have trouble watering them enough in bark. Many people wind up standing them in dishes of water. Some years ago Carter & Holmes sold tiny seedlings of the yellow form of Max. Ben Berliner. I killed two before finding out they should not ever approach dryness.

Dear estación seca, good evening.

Thanks so much for chiming. Thanks for sharing your experience with.your seedlings-I can’t imagine how you must have felt.

Yes, after I ordered this orchid, I searched for those two words here plus Variabilis, yellow orchid, and YouTube, google, AOS, st. Augustine, etc., I also went and scanned the topics under ‘Maxillaria’, potting, where I found your post which referred A link to the Carter & Holmes website which unfortunately does not exist anymore as you’ve mentioned, maybe taken down if they’ve sold out. I also found and read a number of Camille’s post on this OB about Max. Ten. and totally got envious when I saw the pictures, posted actually in several of the topics. I even went and checked her orchid pics in Flickr, today Friday. I even searched spaghnum moss in the hopes that I’d discover how to water them properly, which I did using a bamboo skewer.

I would like to share that I do my due diligence by researching lots and lots before I post here for help and advice. The questions I post with potential solutions seem logical to me, like surrounding the original moss with bark mix however, I value and trust everyone’s experience and expertise so much more.

Also, I do a ton of research online before I order an orchid, that is the basis of my decision to buy it or not. Unfortunately, they arrive in far less ideal conditions.

I read about root damage, don’t clean sheath-roots live there, placing this orchid in a saucer of water in the summer, but damage roots stuck in my head the most, that’s why I sought advice of OB-so I can fully assess the risk whether to repot or not. Ray’s guidance put my fear to rest and gave me confidence to get some of the roots damaged anyway, to repot and alleviate my fear of overwatering if I don’t repot.

Once again, thanks so much for chiming in, specially this late in the evening...