Koellensteinia graminea care

[neophyte]

I was really expecting this one to be the easiest to care for out of the new plants I received, but it's been going downhill fast – lots of yellow/brown leaves. I have been keeping it in deep shade and in very moist conditions; maybe that's not the right thing to do... thoughts?

[Roberta]

What temperature range? The light level also maybe could be a bit higher.
I saw this one growing on my trip to the Rio Negro in Brazil... low temperature never below 72 deg. F, days close to 90 deg F, growing on the sides of trees - filtered light but not extremely deep shade. I expect that in drier seasons the plants would experience even brighter light - when I was there they were pretty much at eye level because the river had about 30 ft. of floodwater. When the river is lower, they'd be up in the canopy.

[neophyte]

Whoops. It's definitely on the cooler end right now. Back to the warm room it goes...

In terms of water, would you expect it to be constantly moist or would it like to dry out more?

---------- Post added at 11:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 PM ----------

Lovely blooms, by the way! I just checked out the SoCal growers' March 2021 blooms page. I would love to get my hands on some terrestrials, but I fear I would kill them all...

[Roberta]

If the habitat that I visited is any indication, it wants relatively wet. It was very humid, with drenching rain every day. (I really appreciated that air-conditioned boat...)

Actually, those terrestrials shouldn't be that hard for you to grow, depending on what part of the Bay Area you're in. San Francisco itself maybe not - too much overcast and chill. But if you're even a little bit inland the conditions should be OK - the Mediterranean climate is characterized by cool, damp winters ("rain" can come from a hose), and warm, dry summers. They are dormant in summer. No water from about May until some time in October (whenever the nights cool off). So they're fine with what passes for "cold" in coastal California... I have had more success with the European terrestrials (which are also a lot easier to find... there's a gal from Greece who sells them on eBay, Tarzane Group occasionally has a few also) than the Australian ones, though I have had enough success with the Aussies to keep growing them. they're so neat and unusual. But the secret to success is to pay attention to the fact that their growing season is completely opposite to all the rest of your orchids. The time for obtaining them is late May into June... shipped as dormant tubers.

[neophyte]

Thanks for the advice!!

Originally Posted by Roberta

But the secret to success is to pay attention to the fact that their growing season is completely opposite to all the rest of your orchids. The time for obtaining them is late May into June... shipped as dormant tubers.

This is for both the Australian terrestrials and the Mediterranean ones, yes?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by neophyte

Thanks for the advice!!



This is for both the Australian terrestrials and the Mediterranean ones, yes?

Yes. The Australian terrestrials I get from a vendor in Germany, so they are on a northern hemisphere schedule. All follow the pattern of a Mediterranean climate - cool wet winters and hot dry summers. (The Mediterranean climates of the world, beyond the Miditerranean, are the Cape area of South Africa, the coastal region of California from about San Francisco south, the coast of central Chile, and western and southeastern Australia. ) Pretty much, the other areas where orchids originate follow a monsoonal pattern with drier winters and wet summers, so they grow mostly in summer and if there is a dry period, it's in winter.

[neophyte]

Thanks! Maybe I'll have to look into purchasing some...

By the way, I was looking through the March 2021 page again and noticed that the Caladenia hybrid (which is amazing) has Caladenia Harlequin (C. flava x C. latifolia) as one of its parents. I was just wondering how the naming conventions work, since that hybrid does exist naturally and is known as C. x spectabilis.

[Roberta]

Good point! Generally , when a natural hybrid exists it is designated with the "x" and lower case name. When the cross is human-made, it may (often does) get a hybrid name. For instance, the natural hybrid of Den. speciosum x Den. kingianum is Den x-delicatum, but the human-made cross is correctly Den. Specio-kingianum (though you'll often see it as Den. Delicatum) Where there isn't a separate hybrid name, you'll see the natural hybrid with the "x-" and name in lower case, and the human-made version simply has the same name but upper-case indicating hybrid. Growers - both professional and hobbyist - don't necessarily follow the convention making the distinction, however.

I thought that Caladenia was really neat - and most unusual, too. Normally I try to only put species on the site, or the occasional primary hybrid, this is more complex, though the natural hybrid sort of fudges the distinction. But I'm the editor... I make the rules, so I can break them And this was too cool to not show just because it didn't fit the rules.

[neophyte]

Ah, thanks for the explanation!

I can see why you bent the rules a little; it's quite a marvel!