Project 2017: Rupicolous Laelias

[orion141]

Excited to see people posting pics of their new plants!! They all look great!

[estación seca]

I was going to use L. Ipanema Beach for the project. But I decided to switch. Carter & Holmes has Laelia Coronet (L. cinnabarina x harpophylla.) I bought one in mid May. It began another growth since arriving here. It is still listed on their Web site.

[JFeathersmith]

My plants arrived yesterday! Both are potted in a bark mix inside mesh pots, set inside not-mesh pots. I am not sure when (or if) I should repot them with stone or some other inorganic mix like the resources recommend.

I now have them set in a south-facing window that gets a lot of sunlight and assuming they dry out sufficiently each day, plan to water them every day during the summer, since they'd be getting several inches of rain a day during Brazil's summer.

The longipes has one relatively new growth in progress, and another really tiny green growth in another spot that I think may be another pseudobulb rather than a root tip. The endsfeldzii also seems to have another growth coming up, but it's coming up from under some bark that's under a root, so it's hard to get a good look at right now.



Here they are; in the first photo, the endsfeldzii is on the right. It has a smaller cluster of growths than the longipes (last 2 photos).

[Salixx]

They look nice!

As for repotting, it's best done while the plants are actively growing and when they will be putting out new roots soon. So, I would stay that, if you plan on repotting, I would consider doing it soon. Otherwise, they really resent having their roots disturbed, which is one of the primary reasons that inorganic media is recommended.

[orion141]

They look great jfeathersmith! From what I have read they really don't like being repotted. If they are accustomed to the bark and appear happy I might hold off on reporting until they really need it (but that's just me haha).

[estación seca]

I would most definitely water those every day. Plants grown like that need daily watering or very high humidity or the roots die.

I would not repot now. Tiny plants like that might not survive the unavoidable root damage. That pot only holds 4-5 chunks of large bark. Even if that bark becomes old and mushy, there will be plenty of air at the roots. When it's time to repot, just set that tiny pot into a slightly larger new pot with new chunks of medium around the old pot, and let the plant crawl out of the old pot.

The newest roots do most of the work. With a tiny plant it's very important not to damage the newest roots, and to keep them in growth, making new roots.

[JFeathersmith]

I'm a bit confused about the bark comment - the bark currently in those pots is about the size of a fingernail, and there are a lot more than 3 or 4 pieces in each pot.

Yes, my concern with repotting to stone/similar is how traumatic would it be to the plants vs how much better for them would it be to have stone/similar, and since they're already going to have to adjust to my conditions I didn't want to add the extra stress of being moved to different media until they'd had some time here. One of them has quite a number of dead roots on it (also plenty of healthy ones); neither looks like it has any new root tips, though I didn't tip them out of their pots to give a thorough look, and the endsfeldzii has grown several roots right through the mesh, so . . . moving that in and out of a pot is not something I want to do unless it would be a much better idea than leaving it in the bark.

My concern with the bark chunks is whether it might hold too much moisture around them for too long; I've managed to overwater some of my phals in coarser bark than these plants are in, though the phals have been in larger pots, so of course it takes a while for the middle of the pot to dry. OTOH, rocks also hold moisture between them for quite a long time, so maybe in such small pots bark vs stone doesn't make all that much difference since the interior will dry out pretty quickly.

[estación seca]

The pots are so small and the air spaces so large it won't be a problem. The issue isn't roots continually moist; it's roots without access to air. These plants are quite wet most of the summer in habitat, but their roots are exposed to the air.

I really think dropping the old pot into a larger new pot is the way to go. The older parts of the plant don't contribute much to overall plant health. The newer parts of the plant are what is most important, and anything you can do to keep the growth going vigorously helps. Tearing up roots to remove the old pot will set it way back.

[orion141]

Should we get this thread stickied?

[tellmewhy]

Originally Posted by Salixx

Thanks orion!

We've had quite a few scattered showers lately and a few down-pours, so I opted to put it in hydroballs since they dry out better than the kiwi bark and also are better aerated than the kiwi bark.

I also wanted to mention that cschaz has a few plants up on ebay that are BIN with free shipping. Three are $25-35 and there's also a three plant "starter pack" (my words, not his) for $50. I have purchased several plants from this seller and they have all been in great condition. He also has pictures of the actual plant you are buying.

For anyone interested who hasn't gotten a plant yet, it's worth checking out:
cschaz | eBay

All my rupicolous laelias got from cschaz. He is a very nice person.