mounted tolumnia sylvestris

[WhiteRabbit]

I am in need of watering advice for my new baby - this is my first mounted orchid and my first tolumnia. I believe they like to dry out a bit ? but I don't know how much!


Seems to be dry every day - should I water every day? Mist one day, water the next? Water in a.m., mist later in day? lol

I certainly don't want it to die from lack of water, but it would be nice if I could get it to bloom also

I am in San Jose Ca - generally low-ish to moderate humidity during the day can go up quite a bit at night. Plant is hanging in front of a bright window which receives light all day, but direct light only early morning and late afternoon/early evening. Is hanging above kitchen sink, so may get a bit extra humidity, but not too much.

Thanks for any advice, tips, and suggestions!

[CoolPhrog]

ooooo, I just love these. I recently acquired one as well and I mist mine really REALLY well about every other day. 'Course I also keep mine in an orchidarium as they love really high light but it sounds like yours is in a good location though I would be careful with it getting direct sun. There really isn't must winter rest for these guys but I would still only fertilize weakly every other week through the winter months.

Hope this helps - Keep us posted!

[Brooke]

I grow my Tolumnias in a g/h and if the sun shines, I water it. If it is ugly and grey (like the last four days grrrrrr) I don't water it because of the high humidity.

I grow mine in catt light and spray fertilizer solution on them after a thorough spraying with the hose nozzle.

My Tolumnias have some moss on the mounts but not much. They are bone dry by the next day.

Brooke

[quiltergal]

I'm growing mine in a net pot with charcoal chunks for medium. It gets soaked every other day in distilled, once a week in distilled and MSU. Tolus can take a lot of light. Mine is growing in a south facing window as close to the pane as I can get it and also directly under a T5 light. It has put out a new growth and that is tinged slightly with red. I'm hoping it will rebloom in the spring. They don't like to stay wet so make sure however you set them up that they are dry in a few minutes. Mine appears to be very drought tolerant. HTH

[cb977]

Mine is out in the orchid room where the temps are usually around 85 and the humidity is around 80%...and I mist it every other day now that we're in our "cool" months. Once summer comes, it'll be an every day misting in the morning and possibly one in the afternoon

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[whygreenberg]

I have two Tolumnia hybrids, both mounted and bare root. I mist them every morning. They get a lot of direct air movement from my fan and are quite close to my 100 watt CFL (probably 12in or less). They are usually dry by the afternoon. They seem to be loving it all, getting a bit purple, and growing tons and tons of roots.

[WhiteRabbit]

wow! thanks for all the advice everyone!
so I guess I should let it get dry for a bit - but not too long? water when bone dry? mist in between perhaps?

to clarify the window light situation - window faces north but in actuallity faces the next door two story house so window gets lots of indirect light with the only direct light at sunrise and sunset and that is at an angle.

other plants that are doing well in that window are african violets, odtna, and a den-phal.

should I perhaps move to stronger light?

[Brooke]

Stronger light - yes.

Brooke

[Ross]

I agree with more light. The plant looks leggy to me. I grow mine directly in south-facing window with supplement CF t5's. When sun shines they get nearly 4000 foot candles. The leaves are on the maroon side, compact and fans are very compact, not spread out. They can bloom any time of year if conditions are right. I water/fertilize mine daily throughout the year. I have 3 in spike or about to break into flower. Two that about to flower are bare root in small clay pots. One that is starting to spike is in coarse charcoal in a net pot. Hope this helps.

[Brooke]

I just looked at the picture again and are those keikis?

Brooke