Tolumnia Genting Volcano is sick

[cirillonb]

I purchased this Tolumnia Genting Volcano 2 months ago at the grower after it finished blooming for a bargain. At his recommendation I place it in an outer pot with fine bark to provide stability as it was in a tiny pot and wanted to fall over. I also placed some fine bark at the top to stabilize it. At his suggestion I have been watering almost daily by spritzing the surface. Three or 4 spritzes and water is draining out the bottom. The leavea are at least 50% larger than when purchased. However, in the past few days soft brown tips are occurring on a couple.
It was not repotted at the recommendation of the grower.
I feed weekly with DynaGrow and some SuperThrive. I was so proud of it now very worried.
Nick Cirillo

[Ross]

No, no, no! These guys like to totally dry out between waterings. Those leaves are extremely drought tolerant. Mine are planted in large chunk Ag charcoal in baskets (I think they are called net pots) designed for sphagnum. In other words totally dry within an hour or so of watering. I have a couple in larger pots (the net pots sit in large clay pots to keep them from tipping over). Yours is being kept way to wet for this genera, in my opinion, and your in danger of losing it. Here's my recommendation:

1) Get it out of bark mix. Totally. Tease all the bark chunks away from the roots.
2) Soak it for a half hour in KLN mixed for transplanting Product Listing - Dyna-Gro K-L-N Root Growth Stimulant - 8 ounce Bottle
3) Get some large chunk agricultural grade charcoal (not the stuff for charcoal grills!) and a pot or basket not much bigger than the original pot.
4) repot the plant with this medium. Proper repotting means you'd be tapping the pot as you add the charcoal, to settle the chunks.
5) Don't water more often than every-other day.
6) Slowly acclimate it to nearly full sunlight. The leaves on the sun side should be slightly purple - not bright red. Purple edges to the leaves is OK.

By the way, in nature, these guys grow at the tops of trees attached to twigs in full sun on Carribean Islands. That's pretty bright light.

[Mahon]

That one is getting too much water. Tolumnia are, for the most part, drier growing species. You could grow them without a medium, if desired...

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Mahon

That one is getting too much water. Tolumnia are, for the most part, drier growing species. You could grow them without a medium, if desired...

Yep! My point exactly. These guys really like to dry dry out more than about any I have ever grown.

[cirillonb]

thanks Ross and confirmation from Mahon. I thought as much. I have a 2 inch net pot but no charcoal that large(only have fine for another project.) I do have medium cocconut bark chips and some pea gravel. I will stop watering and try to get the mentioned material ASAP. Meanwhile, it sits on a table 6 inches from an east facing window. Good air circulation. Temp range 72-85. Will leave these parameters the same unless told otherwise.
Thanks again, Nick

[Ross]

Originally Posted by cirillonb

Will leave these parameters the same unless told otherwise.
Thanks again, Nick

For now do one thing at a time. If you can get ahold of coarse (like 3/4") charcoal, do it! Otherwise get the coarsest stuff you can. Reason for charcoal, is it "sweetens your water" and holds next to nothing of moisture but better than lava rock or fir bark. Light isn't that much an issue, but one day you will have to start acclimating it to high light if you want blossoms.

[isurus79]

In addition to what Mahon and Ross said, I also wonder if youre over fertilizing. You said it gets fert every week, which if at full strength, is way too often and can cause burnt leaf tips. Just a thought.

[cirillonb]

Steve,
Thanks for the input. I thought that the specific Orchid fertilizers were already of lower concentration. The DynaGrow that I use is 7-7-7, much weaker than, say, MiracleGrow. Both fertilizers that I use state that they can be used as directed with no further dilution.
I'm new and willing to be corrected. Thanks, Nick

[Orchidaholic]

I have quite a few Tolu's & RDCM's and have done much experimenting to see what works best for me with these lil guys. They are very drought tolerant and like watering every day, but they want to be bone dry by night and avoid water in the leaves. I plant in a variety of media and all have taken quite well. My best grown ones(Tolu. Popoki Red & Jarak Rainbow are going in for AOS judging this sunday) are planted in a tree fern pot and held in place with large pea gravel. Others are in baskets with large charcoal or lava rock. Some are mounted on tree fern plaques, Grape vine or lava rock chunks & others still in their thimble pots or upto 2 1/2inch pots. You could up the pot size for yours by plucking it out of the smaller pot and planting it in the pot it's sitting in. Pluck it out of the little pot and shake off the fine mix, place it in the larger pot and put no more than one inch of media in(just enough to hold it in place). Your culture parameters sound good. These can take quite a bit of light and could go into a south window if you have one. With higher amounts of light they will get purple freckles or purple tips on the leaves and if they get this you can expect loads of blooms! Also when it blooms again, don't cut the flower spike because they will continue to bloom from the spike for many months! Hope this helps a little!

[quiltergal]

I bought this same plant about 3 weeks ago. It's in a thumb pot, and is currently flowering. I've been wondering about the pot, and if I should remove it. It looks like it's been in it for quite awhile. It's so tiny I really can't tell if needs watering or not. It has roots hanging out of the bottom drain hole and I mist those every now and then. I also mist inside the pot occasionaly. It's in a south window under T5s on the top shelf of my rack. I noticed today that some of the newer blooms have withered. These guys are somewhat of a mystery to me, but I'm trying to expand my knowledge base by growing things I haven't tried before. I guess it's the age old question....when is it dry enough to water?