Tolumnia Leaves Drying Out

[Vanda lover]

I think it depends on your tap water. Ours is fine. I agree with Silken. It needs good air circulation around the roots. A fan can help.

[cbuchman]

I use tap water successfully. So it must depend on what's in your tap water. The key to success for me is the rapid dry-out. I've got one mounted, 1 in a clay pot with large bark and 1 in a clay pot with charcoal. Eventually, I plan to mount theam all.

[KristenJ]

Thanks everyone. I am going to repot it today. Silken do you think a dry rooting powder would work? All I have is Bontone Rooting Powder. I've used it for succulent cuttings, but never with my orchids before. Or I can just go buy one of your other recommendations if you think those will work better.

[silken]

I agree, it depends on whats in the tap water. I just generalize because often they have too many minerals. Ours is a pH of 8.5 to 9 which is too high for some of my orchids.

KristenJ, I'm not sure if the dry powder will be good. I've read somewhere on this board that caution should be used with most of the rooting powders as they are often too strong and do more damage than good on orchids. Maybe you could mix a wee bit into some water and give it a soak that way. Otherwise, I really like kelp (seaweed) which is usually found at hydroponics stores if you have one nearby.

[KristenJ]

Thanks Silken. I think I will have better luck finding seaweed here than the others. Is there any special way you make your seaweed water?

[silken]

Not really. I just add a bit to the water. Just follow what directions say for that particular brand. It really seems to help roots grow for many of my orchids.

[KristenJ]

All right. Thank you. And thanks to everyone else who helped

[BettyE]

I don't know "how" everyone grows these, but I grow mine in very small clay pots which have slits on the side. The "media" I use is very small ( 1/4 inch ) chunks of lava rocks. I have them in very bright light, growing in my greenhouse. I only soak them once a week. The humidity is about 65 % in the greenhouse. They seem to like this culture, as they are doing fine..... BettyE

[Pilot]

I'm going to muddy the water here: I am successfully growing two tolumnias in sh. Now with that said, these plants were growing new roots and grew them into the sh water, so they adapted. With that said, though, they don't grow as robustly as other orchids do when finally in sh. I grow phals in moss and they do fine, but they thrive in sh. I grow Tolumnia in the traditional clay pots and then these two in sh and they both do just as well... Meaning there is no real benefit to sh over traditional growing in my experience.

With that all said, I have failed several times to grow Tolumnia successfully in my own environment. I live in a very arid environment and have inflicted these poor plants to moss and all sorts of attempts to keep them from drying out so fast because watering every day was not always on option.

I now have Tolumnia getting ready to bloom for me. How did I do it? I grow them in clay pots, except for those I'm the sh, with some grow stones. I mist heavily every day and ill be gone for as much as a week and they still do just fine. They're tough plants but if given the choice I'd choose too dry over too wet.

[KristenJ]

I just wanted to post a quick thanks to everyone for their help. I ended up repotting in a small net pot that I had on hand and using KLN. So far I have not had any further leaf loss and the shriveling has stopped. Thanks again everyone!