Pterostylis curta

[Roberta]

This Pterostylis species grows really well for me. I started with one pot with about 8 tubers, that I got at a society auction in 2008. They tend to double every year. They go dormant after blooming, by April or May the pots look dead and empty. I repot in mid- to late- July. If you don't repot, the tubers tend to work their way to the bottom of the pots and the next fall sprout out of the drainage holes. So with repotting, they get repositioned. I start lightly watering in early August, the new sprouts start to appear in mid-September and then the watering increases. The medium is about 70% inorganic (pumice and a bit of sand), the rest a mix of fast-draining potting soil (like cactus mix) and small bark.

I have tried other Pterostylis species without a lot of success - this one seems to like my conditions.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

The growth form of this one is so alien like! I think I'm goingto give one a try too!
Also is there a net covering around inside the pot that hold the media together?

[Roberta]

I just filled in the lower part of the pot with rocks, so that the medium isn't so deep, The mesh is just to try to hold back some of the tubers, and keep most of the medium in the upper part of the pot. However, I have found that many of the tubers work their way through the mesh anyway (the roots go through it, and the tubers grow on the ends of the roots) so it is somewhat an exercise in futility. A few tubers even get get stuck, in the mesh - some old shade cloth - and I have to push them them through. I should probably just give up and let them go where they will, but I'd end up using a lot more medium.

I go through the old medium VERY carefully, but I don't through out the old stuff, I inevitably miss some. I have found that the very small tubers (size of a B-B) grow just as well as the big ones, which can be as big as a marble or more.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

I see! But that's a neat technique, it might works well with larger bulb or tubers that arent runners. I grow a handlful of South Africans bulbs I think I can learn from this.