Tolumnia

[cday2inflorida]

This an old cross from when they were called equitant. I got it in a bunch of seedlings from Harry Tolen of Chula Vista Orchids. I traded him a box of spanish moss for a box of seedlings about a million years ago. I remember the moss was for hummingbirds.

[WhiteRabbit]

very nice! pretty good trade

[cday2inflorida]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

very nice! pretty good trade

There was a time I passionate for equitants. Harry had more then anyone. This was before email. The trade was made via USPS. I remember the paper catalog he sent out, It had pages of equitant crosses. I pretty much just closed my eye and bought where my finger landed.
I think I have about 6 or 7 left. A few are monster specimens. A few have been to the brink and and back.
I recently looked for him and found him living in Oregon.

[lycaonpictus]

I'm still passionate for my equitants! And, yes, Harry always had a fabulous selection. That's a lovely plant you've got there!

[miowntime]

The plant is beautiful! I just picked up three of these at my local Lowes store. They're potted in 2 inch terra cotta pots w a few pieces of charcoal in them. My Understanding Orchids book says that this is good, to let them dry out, but I'm up in the air as to watering. It says to let them dry out but I'm unsure about what that really means. I mean, the pots hold onto a teeny bit of water...at least for the day...so should I spritz them everyday so they dry by nightfall? If I doused them and let them soak once a week they'd still be dry in a few days with the way they're potted.

I could really use some direction here if anyone has a minute. Thanks!!!

Beth

[IncredibleOrchids]

Hi Beth! We water our Tolumnias every morning with enough water for them to stay moist in the morning, but dry out at the end of the day. We hear a lot of stories about Tolumnias rotting because they were watered too heavily and couldn't dry out every night. Good luck!

[cday2inflorida]

The bigger the plant the more likely I will have problems . I've rotted more then my fair share for the simple fact that they don't seem to be able to dry out in the center of a say a cedar basket. I've mounted the few I have left over the past couple of years.

[miowntime]

Thanks Incredible and Thumper!

The plants are pretty small; I'll try mounting one (my first attempt at mounting

Whoops! Just found a dead roach in the bottom of one of the pots Lucky me. The plant just kinda fell out and there it was.

After going over them all with a fine toothed comb and a flashlight I found three round little yellow eggs at the base of a set of leaves. I'm thinkin about tossing out these guys and picking up new ones at a reputable dealer. Although I have gotten pests from reputable dealers in the area. I'm an unhappy girl. Sigh.

Maybe I'll just keep them in quarantine for a few weeks and see.

Wish me luck!

Beth

[lycaonpictus]

Beth,

I definitely suggest quarantine! I've been growing tolumnia for a while now, and lost a lot of plants to not-good quarantine a few years back. I'm really strict about it now.

Re: Care -- The drying out and airflow issues are the most important. I have all mine in a wardian case, and the fans blow 24/7. In addition to an ultrasonic mister that fogs up the case a couple times a day, I water the plants daily or every-other-day. When in doubt, go a day. They tolerate a day without better than too much water.

I shoot for having my plants dry out within an hour or so (so water every a.m., never later in the day). I try to keep the humidity in the case around 50%, although it obviously goes higher during the fogs.

All of my tolumnia are either potted in straight LECA, straight EcoWeb, or mounted. Even though I know there are growers who use tree fern fiber or large bark, I can't make them work that way.

I'm going to start another post with some suggestions for how to take care of your babies (since this post was getting long!).

[lycaonpictus]

Re: your little babies == I have purchased tolumnia from Lowe's (ours has them VERY rarely), with mixed success. Some never thrived, others are blooming beautifully for me right now. If I were you, I'd take them out of their current pots, clean off any media sticking to them, snip out any dead roots (if they are dark greyish or brown, they are dead).

Since there's a chance of bugs, I'd also take a very soft toothbrush and give them a thorough going-over with a mixture of isopropyl alcohol w/ a drop of dish soap. Rinse very thoroughly.

What you do next is going to depend on what's left as far as roots, and your growing environment.

NO or FEW ROOTS: Take the tiniest clay pot you have. Drop the cleaned plant into it. If you put any medium in with it (to keep it from flopping around), make it a big chunk of something inorganic like lava rock or (my favorite) EcoWeb. Place the pot where it will get good but not strong light, run water through it every a.m., and try to keep local humidity up. You should see roots starting to grow within a few weeks.

LOTS OF ROOTS: Go ahead and pot it up into a new pot, with the media you're expecting to use. If it's an open, fast-draining media, you can run water through everyday. If you aren't sure, or if it's out in house temperatures (more like 70 or so degrees in winter), water only every-other-day, at most.

For the first few weeks, give it slightly lower light (phalaenopsis-level), gradually moving it into its final bright light over a couple of weeks. Bear in mind that it isn't going to start taking off and putting out roots unless it's in a growth phase, with a new fan starting. Just be patient with it, and give it a chance to adjust.

I'm not suggesting mounting because that's often not a good choice for stressed plants coming straight from Lowe's. Unless you have a warm, humid environment to start and keep them in, they will take a long time to adjust and take off. If you new plants do well with minimal potting, I'd suggest maybe trying a mount later in the year.

Don't forget to attach fresh labels! You never want to forget who lives with you.

Hope that helps!