Maxillaria tenuifolia (Project 11 - Summer 2010)

[tmoney]

i really like maxillarias! that is one awesome plant....

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by tmoney

i really like maxillarias! that is one awesome plant....

I'm fairly certain that this is one of the few orchids which can be successfully grown from cuttings. Give me a shout if you want a piece in your future package.

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I'm fairly certain that this is one of the few orchids which can be successfully grown from cuttings. Give me a shout if you want a piece in your future package.

for sure, we would absolutely love some cuttings of it! the habit reminds me of the variablis...and the flowers look quite nice. thanks for offering!

[WaterWitchin]

What does "successfully grow from cuttings" mean? I've not heard that phrase regarding orchids.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

What does "successfully grow from cuttings" mean? I've not heard that phrase regarding orchids.

Meaning that you can never just cut a growth off, say, a Catt or Onc and plunk it in a new pot and then expect it to root. Because the Max has roots all down the stems under the sheaths, a cut branch can be stuck in a pot (don't recall if it was vertically or horizontally) and then actually root and grow. I'm not sure what the success rate is, but I pretty sure I have read about some people having done it.

[Roberta]

I have a piece that I just tied to a slab of tree fern and it rooted and is thriving. So it should be possible to just put the cut end into medium in a pot, perhaps support the plant on something like tree fern that can retains some water (since there are roots all along the length of the rhizome) and it will, in fact, establish. The fact that it can be happy in a tiny pot shows that it isn't dependent on just the roots in the pot, but rather the roots the whole length of that rhizome with its multiple pseudobulbs are contribuiting.

Thinking about it some more, I have several other Maxillaria species with similar growth habits, that I have acquired from time to time, that also look like they were just whacked off a larger plant. Max. densa, Max. variabilis (several cultivars), Max. friedrichsthalii, and a monster Max. bradeorum. The Max bradeorum just keeps getting longer (it's mounted) and I never see roots at the bottom, or anyplace else, at all... so it's clearly absorbing water over its whole length which is now up to about 3 feet (1 meter) and only starting to branch a little. (Being vertical, it doesn't take up a lot of space) Max elatior is also like that.

[tmoney]

yes, we can confirm that this works with variabilis, as this was the only maxilaria species we had and this spring (march) we took 2 groups totaling about 12 cuttings and had a 100% success rate. even got flowers from one group of cuttings. for me, propping plants for over 25 years, i have seldom seen such easy veg propagation in any species.

edit to add, we cut them just at the base of the new groths, selecting more or less mature pbulbs with no visible roots, and then placed them in our normal phal mix with the bottom 1/4 to 1/2 of the bulb buried. within about 2 weeks, new growth was evident

2nd edit (arrrgggh, sorry ob) to add that after planting, we watered the cuttings on our normal once a week watering sched. with weak ferts and then kelpmax, increasing watering to 2x a week when it got warmer. now they are both living at different friends' houses so i can't say how they are doing :@

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by camille1585

This project started 12 years ago, but I thought it was worth posting an update!! I'm fairly sure Max tenuifolia is the only project plant I haven't ended up killing (knocking on wood) and the one that was most successful for me once I figured out what it wanted.

It's a monster of a plant, currently in a 14cm pot. It's due for a repot (last one was maybe 7 years ago?) and the pot is literally bulging due to the huge amount of roots. For scale, the plant is roughly 2ft/70cm high (including pot) and close to 4ft/130cm wide (leaf tip to leaf tip).

This year I counted around 50 blooms; less than usual and mostly on one side for some reason.






I recently found the photos I took back when I got the plant. This is how small it was when it arrived!

OMG Camille, that’s a humongous specimen! I found this thread after digging up some info about the tenuifolia. I bought a big plant at C in NL. but they sent me 2 tiny plants in 1 pot. Currently each one is in a 7 cm pot. So far the big plant I paid for.

After having seen yours, I’m hopeful mine will grow steadily into something as beautiful as yours.