Beallara Tahoma Glacier 'Sweet Sugar' Culture Question

[sumognat]

Hi,

I am a relative orchid newb and am unfamiliar with Onc. culture, especially outdoors in my location. I made the mistake of perusing the Lowes clearance rack this evening on my way home from work and found a Beallara Tahoma Glacier 'Sweet Sugar.' I really vascillated on the decision to take it home, since I am not sure if it's going to grow well in my environment (outdoors, South Florida).

I understand that it cannot take direct sun and very high temps. I have the following light availability options (all eastern exposure): 1) direct morning sun until 11am then total shade thereafter, 2) 2 hours of direct morning sun then total shade thereafter, and 3) mostly all day sun under a 50% shadecloth. Which do you think would work best?

I also am a bit confused about potting media. Before I decided to buy it, I checked the condition of the roots and found that the entire plant was in tightly packed sphagnum moss--yet the roots seem to be just fine. In fact, I would say it was overpotted and could easily fit into a 4.5" pot, rather than its current 6" tera cotta pot. Usually, the combo of the above leads to sure death in South Florida and a Lowes garden center, but for some reason the plant was ok. The PBs are very shriveled, the leaves are sulking, and the leaves are bit of a yellowish-green, so I am guessing that it was both underwatered and placed in too much light.

This is my only thin-leaved Onc. and having read that they prefer to be on the moist side, I am thinking of leaving it in the sphag and terra cotta pot (watering 7-10 days), though I am not sure if I should switch to a smaller pot--in my net research, people say it is a quick grower (it has 3 Pbs). I don't think the sphag will be a problem if I leave the plant under a covered area that is protected from rain. If putting it out in all day light under the 50% shadecloth is the best light option, I will definitely have to repot it in another type of medium because our rainy season will keep it too wet. It isn't growing any new roots at the moment, so I'd rather not switch the type of medium, unless absolutely necessary. What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

[WhiteRabbit]

I have a few Onc inter-generics, most take a few hours of morning sun without any problem. Not sure which of your options may be best - I haven't used shade cloth myself.

I have mine in either small chc or small bark chips, but in plastic pots.

From your description of the plant - I would be concerned about the roots ...

[nutgirl]

I've had a Tahoma Glacier for several years.
From trial and error I've found that mine likes light but not heat.

In my climate that means mornings are OK but it gets too hot once noon comes. No direct sun from then on. Mine gets bright conditions most of the day.

It grows fine in shadier conditions but doesn't bloom as well. You may find you have to experiment.

I started out with mine in bark and it was OK but I changed to using LECA and it really took off. (it is a ceramic hydroponic material)
I currently use the Semi Hydroponic technique which it really likes.

Welcome to the board.

Maureen

[sumognat]

Thanks for the replies, Maureen & WR!

It looks like I will have to experiment with light--it would be nice if I could at least give it direct morning light, but the sun is pretty intense even in the late morning hours.

I would love to put it in LECA and s/h--I'm just starting to transition a bunch of small catts and dens to hydroton from bark, but I'm not using it for an s/h setup.

The outer roots look pretty healthy in its current sphag wad. I am tempted to remove the wad, as it is packed pretty tight and repot in looser sphag (or shpag mixture) until new roots grow. Will unpacking the roots cause much trauma to the plant? I would certainly feel better if it were in a more airy sphag mixture.

Thanks, again!

[nutgirl]

I think unwrapping it would be a good idea. It won't harm the plant to repot. You may find a fair amount of root rot in the middle of the ball of moss, they can get pretty soggy in there.
Just cut off the bad ones. If you have to go down a size in your pot, do it.

Maureen