maxillaria buchtienii question

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I think so, Roberta. I'll scan it tomorrow. I wonder if there's a better medium/pot combo? Ray was right about the distance. I've looked it up and called Andy's, I haven't found either helpful. I'll keep you posted.

I tend to go with whatever Andy is doing with regard to potting, and then tweak to my conditions. If it comes in sphagnum in a basket, it likes to be pretty wet, the basket lets the air in, and he doesn't seem to have rot problems. But at his place, pretty much everything in sphag is sopping wet most of the time. A few Maxillarias come in pots in bark... those stay that way when repotting, because he has found that they're happier that way (default of those not mounted tends to be sphag in baskets, then he adjusts based on experience) Pretty much, he doesn't put things that tend to have rot problems in those wet baskets, THAT category gets mounted.

[Dollythehun]

Last year I did lose some roots, I listened to Ray and backed off my water ever so slightly. That worked. So spaghnum and basket...

[Roberta]

Sounds good... let it get down to "damp" as opposed to "sopping" but never anywhere close to crunchy

[Dollythehun]

That's my method...

[Dollythehun]

Finished product

[DirtyCoconuts]

This fella just found its way to the coconuts compound and I’m going to treat it like a zygo….thoughts? Maybe a little brighter than the zygos but like SH in a
Big bucket with lava rock instead of leca

[Roberta]

Maxillarias tend to hate root disturbance, but have no problem staying pretty wet. I wonder if it will stay wet enough in SH. They tend to have fine roots, unlike Zygos. I know that sphag doesn't last very well in south FL, but I have Maxies in long-fiber sphag that has long ago lost the "fulffy" part, so just lots of fiber. (Like years...) And they're happy as long as they are damp. Native to Bolivia, elevations 800-1400 m. So your biggest challenge will be protecting from too much heat, especially at night. Might need to spend summers indoors.

[DirtyCoconuts]

great info...i have been toying with the idea of adding misters to my lath house to make summers bearable for some plants. this might puh me in that direction.

meantime i will do a big plastic pot with lava at the bottom and then some mix of leca and perlite above and then sink the whole show into a 5" mud tray and fill it with water......like a never ending resevoir