Miltonia spectabilis (Project 9 Int. - Summer 2009)

[susiep]

Hello everyone! My plant is doing about the same as all of yours. Still alive, new growths, but no flowers. It is still in the original moss, so I need to change that real soon. It is getting a lot of light and water. I just checked, 6000 footcandles according to my meter, but it is not burning. Not sure what else it needs.

[nenella]

Hi everyone,
My two have not spiked either..

I upped the watering to every 1/2/3 days
depending if sphag moist or dry. (watering when dry or just about) and although I still have (now, old ) crinkled leaves the p/bulbs have kept on getting 'fuller' - I have contemplated mounting the 1/2 part of the 'original' that I kept potted... which is doing 'less well' & not as 'progressed' in growth as her monted other half ..seems to be doing
..What puts me off mounting this second half is that that I will be away for 6 weeks in December/January and don't really want to cause my house sitters even
more work in 'keeping' my orchids - last year I left about 5 to soak daily... there are now a few more to water every day or thereabouts ....
here are my 2 today

[RosieC]

I'm starting to have a problem with the mount on mine falling to pieces. I have to pick it up every day to water it (I dunk it) and it feels so delicate.

It was a cork slab mount and it's now riddled with roots which are pushing it apart.

The orchids is growing well, like yours Nenella it has a lot of new shoots... still no flowers though. I had it either outside, or in the greenhouse most of the summer and it's quite yellow from the sun a bit like the ones some of you guys bought from Andy's. It's now come inside to the sunniest windowledge as it's getting colder outside.

[nenella]

Rosie, I would get another piece of cork and attach to your existing mount...?

[RosieC]

Yeah, they have pieces quite cheap in a local garden/pet store so I think I will take a look there. I was't sure if I should remove the old mountm as while the roots are all through it it might just fall to pieces with a little encouragement :

[nenella]

I wouldn't try to take any of the old bark mount off. Let it disintegrate naturally (you won't damage any roots like this)and they will just carry on growing onto the newer bigger piece of cork.
I did this with my Neo. and it's quite happy and even flowered for me this year.

[RosieC]

Thanks Nenella. I'll do just that

[nenella]

Update ... I split my plant ages ago (when Dave pointed out I needed to water it more) and mounted half on a piece of driftwood. I left half in the original pot with bark.
The mounted one is doing so well compared to the potted that last weekend I decided to mount the other piece too.

here are some pics ;
- the first photo is of half first mounted ,as it looks now, the p/bulbs are a lot plumpier and leaves longer
-the second photo is the other division which I kept in it's original pot & medium- this has stunted p/bulbs and crinkled leaves (which are old- they never changed)in spite of watering more
-third photo :drift wood
-fourth photo - potted piece mounted same way as the first division
Now I need to give it as much sun as possible to get the leaves 'light' and hopefully I will be seeing some flowers this summer.

[Zoi2]

Nenella I love our mounts!
This plant is quickly making the "I don't care if you live or not" list for me I cannot find a happy growing medium and I am thinking of mounting it. Did you use sphag on your mount?
Joann

[RosieC]

Mine is mounted and while it's not flowered for me it seems to grow like crazy and it's going to need a new mount this year.

Mine uses a moss pad arround the roots... except the roots have since outgrown that and are all throughout the cork mount (making it fall to bits) as well as arial ones all over the place.

I've been meaning to take some progress pics all week (just for my own records) so when I get some, hopefully later today, I'll post them.

I water over the winter by dunking the mount every third day and leaving it about half an hour to soak, the day after I spary heavily with fertiliser solution, and on the third day I leave it dry. In the summer I dunk two days out of three and fertilise the third as it needs more water in the summer.

It's currently in my brightest window and in the spring/summer it will go outside. Last year over the summer it went really yellow with the bright light but it's faded back to green over the winter.