psychopsis mariposa help

[GregGrowsOrchids]

Hi all, i was up in New Hampshire last weekend and went to a greenhouse and found a few psychopsis mariposa's. I bought the best looking one.

It was originally potted in a small terra cotta with all spaghnum moss. I took the plant out, found a snail in the roots, did a hydrogen peroxide dip on the roots, and cut dead roots off. There is a new growth on the plant.

I've been doing some research and find conflicting info on these. How often should i water? i noticed that the leaves are starting to curl on one or two...

When i bought it i think it was getting too much light due to very light leaves with little red mottling.

Trying to get this to acclimate because i really love the looks of these flowers!

[WaterWitchin]

They like to never totally dry out, but not overly dry. "Moist," in other words. Cannot tolerate stale medium, don't like to have roots disturbed. Don't use peroxide on its roots, or on any orchid. Using peroxide on roots was an old-school method, and not used as a treatment by most knowledgeable growers now.

The coloration looks okay. The leaves should be stiff, and those look floppy. Does it have a decent root system? Are you not letting it dry out totally?

[GregGrowsOrchids]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

They like to never totally dry out, but not overly dry. "Moist," in other words. Cannot tolerate stale medium, don't like to have roots disturbed. Don't use peroxide on its roots, or on any orchid. Using peroxide on roots was an old-school method, and not used as a treatment by most knowledgeable growers now.

The coloration looks okay. The leaves should be stiff, and those look floppy. Does it have a decent root system? Are you not letting it dry out totally?

Hi WaterWitchin,

Thanks for the response. i purchased it 9/25, repotted it 9/28 and watered it 9/29 and that's it.. i'm thinking i'm going to water it soon. planted in bark, charcoal moss mix.

The leaves are stiff, starting to curl on one. the root system was in kind of bad shape, lost were dark brown dehydrated.. very few adult live roots. some brand new root sprouts starting on the new growth.

Maybe i'll fertilize it tomorrow morning in hopes to give it a little boost.

[Roberta]

If the roots aren't in great shape, fertilizer won't help them. Fertilizer is the least important cultural item in orchid growing. (Even less important for slow-growing plants like Psychopsis) If you want to maybe jump-start new roots, suggest Kelpmax. (Particularly since you probably damaged good ones with the peroxide... As WW pointed out, not a good practice... it tends to destroy the little hairs on the roots)

[GregGrowsOrchids]

Originally Posted by Roberta

If the roots aren't in great shape, fertilizer won't help them. Fertilizer is the least important cultural item in orchid growing. (Even less important for slow-growing plants like Psychopsis) If you want to maybe jump-start new roots, suggest Kelpmax. (Particularly since you probably damaged good ones with the peroxide... As WW pointed out, not a good practice... it tends to destroy the little hairs on the roots)

i hope i didn't damage the roots too much! i saw on youtube that people use 3% h. peroxide... me being a skeptic, i did dilute it 50/50. I guess i'll just have to let it be and hope for the best!

[Roberta]

Alas, there's a lot of bad info on YouTube... even if a "presenter" later changes practice, those videos tend to stay around forever.

[WaterWitchin]

Water it! And what Roberta says. Keep eye on new root growth. Don’t let them dry while they’re getting sunk down into medium.

---------- Post added at 02:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:44 PM ----------

PS What is temp and humidity in your grow area? That would help you figure out how often to water. Is it a hard bark like Orchiata, or? If Orchiata or another similar, did you presoak bark?

I grow mine in semi-hydro (not saying you should or need to). But roots never totally dry out, and have lots of airflow. Those two things are important.

[DirtyCoconuts]

If you are able to, resist the urge to do anything.

Watching and waiting are the keys.

[SouthPark]

Greg. True ------ about what people are saying about hydrogen peroxide on roots. I have noticed roots and plants getting set-back from that substance. And it can really kill roots too.

For my psychopsis - which isn't the same as your one, I just water each morning in the tropics. I grow mine in scoria, and has been doing very well for a couple of years or so.

All I do in the tropics here is just spray a bit of water into spots where the leaves aren't blocking (my pot that is heheh).

I've included a youtube link marked with the time where I water the psychopsis.

watering psychopsis

In the tropics here, sometimes ----- sometimes the media does dry out completely. But it is temporary - not for very long term. And it seems that the psychopsis isn't negatively impacted by temporary dry-outs.

I mention the observations about temporary dry-out ----- only for giving a rough idea about the tolerance range of my particular kind of psychopsis ------ as in ..... if the media does become dry for a little while, then I notice that no disaster or setback occurs.

The same goes with other orchids I've been growing for quite a while now too - including phrags and paphs.

The above is only about ----- knowing roughly what particular orchids can handle is handy.

[Leafmite]

The mottling isn't anything to worry about. The pattern looks like a fainter version of the pattern my Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos' FCC/AOS has.

I cannot give you any growing advice with this as I grow mine in red lava rock/basket pot and so it gets watered often. I fertilize with Osmocote held in a bonsai basket (a slow-release fertilizer that does not burn roots). Kind of a weird way to grow orchids....