My Max. Tenuifolia Is In A Coma

[AaronM]

I Have had this Maxillaria in this same pot for around seven months. There has been no sign of any new growth of any kind during that entire period. The plant was declining but I upped the watering and the decline stopped. However I would love to see this plant do SOMETHING!
The plant is in a standard HD orchid mix (bark, perlite, and charcoal) inside a six inch orchid pot. The pot sits in the bathroom atop a tray of wet pebbles. I have tried both high phosphorus and high nitrogen fertilizers, Superthrive, and even six weeks of nothing but water. And still COMA .
The light level is good with tons of indirect light all day long.
Please, someone throw me a bone here. This orchid is really frustrating me. I would love to see some of those flower things that I read about somewhere.

Thanks,
AaronM

[cb977]

I would try getting it into some more direct lighting for a few hours each day...mine loves really high lighting and it does well

[Roly0217]

Mine is sitting in my room and it doesn't get direct sunlight but it does get light most of the day. I would move it closer to a window and take it away from the pebbles. I read somewhere that they can be grown just like cattleyas as far as light and watering. Mine is putting out new growths to form new pseudobulbs. Good luck with yours !!!

[philoserenus]

i would suggest that u unpot it and see how does it look underneath. see if there still any live roots below...

and sometimes letting orchids dry out a little more thoroughly helps them get going b/c i kind of get the impression that you water it a lot; increasing light also helps too

[dave b]

As mentioned by philoserenus, definately pull it out and check the roots as. Anytime things aren't going well up top, i pull out the orchid and see whats going on at the roots. Kinda looks over potted to me. Id squeeze it into a smaller pot and let it get better established. Mine is about the same width as yours, but in a 3" plastic pot. The outer pseudobulbs are against the pot edge, but the plant is growing well. Overpotting can cause many orchids to stall or grow slow.

[Don Perusse]

I think it is over potted for one thing. The other could be the light. I have one mounted on tree fern block (no potting media) hanging on So. side of G/H and growing like a weed. I just splash water on it every few days or so and if bulbs start to wrinkle I pump the water to it. Good luck.

[kiki-do]

Mine is in high light and I water it daily and I've had both blooms and new growth. I was told they don't like to be dried out and they love lots of air flow, so mine is in an open wooden hanging basket in a bark mix held together with an onion bag. Good luck!

[AaronM]

I think you folks may be right. I just hate to repot it, since last time I did that it shut down. I have been worried that the pot's size might be restricting air flow.
When I first received this plant it was in pretty rough shape (especially the roots) so I repotted it and took asection off to mount on tree fern (hedging my bets). The tree fern section withered and died after about ten weeks.
I think it's time to repot and move the plant outside and see if a some humidity in the 80-99% range helps matters.

Thanks for the tips all.

AaronM

[AaronM]

O.K., O.K.; so maybe bigger is not always better. I pulled the plant a couple day ago and found maybe half the root mass in pretty rough shape. On the upside, there was a little bit of new root growth.
I repotted into a smaller basket and trimmed off the bad roots. I also moved the poor thing onto the back porch where it has higher temps, much higher humidity and about 15-20% more light.
I also had a talk with it and let it know that if I don't see some new little green footballs forming in the next three months, it's off to the compost pile! Of course, that was just a scare tactic. I think it may have worked though. That orchid looked pretty worried.

Thank-you all for the help.

AaronM

[bellini girl]

Aaron, gee but you're funny. I'm sure with the TLC the max will perk up. Good luck with the "green" foot balls..ROFL

Lecent