Crafts, Stelis on a trellis

[Pattywack]

I’ve had this Stelis morganii for about a year and a half. It grew and flowered for the first several months that I had it. It is growing in moss in a wood basket. Originally it was hanging in a SW kitchen window, shaded by a large birch tree.

I noticed after maybe 6 months the plant had some accordion leaves and also some yellowing leaves, browning and falling off. This plant likes to be kept moist and it had been...so I unpotted it to check the roots.

At the time I had been experiencing a minor fungus gnat issue, occasionally seeing them around plants in my kitchen. When I checked the morganii roots it was teeming with gnat larvae! Crap! The plant was cleaned of all the moss and treated with Bayer 3 in 1 as was the basket. I also put the wood basket into the oven and baked it for a bit. The morganii was potted into fresh moss in the basket and I retreated it one more time. The gnats never returned thankfully. The plant was weakened and I was hoping it would recover.

The plant was moved into my greenhouse shelving unit and after a few months it has recovered nicely, filling in where leaves had been lost. Recently I decided it needed a nice trellis to grow on as the tallest growth was bending from weight. I made this little trellis this weekend from chopsticks, skewers, super glue and artificial sinew. Might be silly but hey, it works for me and the morganii is happy again! Here are a few pictures. I enjoy crafts and if I can incorporate that into orchids, all the better.