Gongora trouble!! Gongora cassidae

[fateisinmyhands]

I purchased this Gongora cassidae from Orchids for the People on ebay, the day I received it the whole plant looked very healthy besides one crispy leaf tip, which I assumed was from the dry-out before and during shipment. Two spikes have formed and one is growing noticeably every day, the other one is growing from the sad pseudobulb. The spike has been the same for a couple weeks now and the die back(from the leaf tip) has progressed to the entire leaf. I attempted to message the supplier and didn't receive a very informative response back, after tons of research I am still not confident in what is happening and I am very worried about it.
I am in Richland Hills, Texas growing indoors in a Terrarium, which is located in my growing room (warmest brightest room in the house) I have a humidifier running from around 8am to 10pm daily, our house is especially dry. I give the terrarium a humidity shower daily after the room warms up.
The G. cassidae is in sphag and coconut fiber so it needs water more frequently than some of my other potted plants. I have have attached photos of the orchid in question and pictures of my setup up. As a beginner I really need some help :/

[Subrosa]

How much air movement do you have in your terrarium? I keep a G. galeata hanging in a window all winter and outside as much as possible. It does really well with the low humidity in my house all winter and blooms like crazy. Imo as long as the sphagnum doesn't dry out and I don't give it too much light it's bulletproof.

[fateisinmyhands]

I'd say it's decent since I can see loose bits of coconut fiber and my Sobralia gently moving around inside of the habitat. I moved it around slightly to maximize the lighting on my Vanilla babies which have a few brand new very fast growing aerial roots. I'll attach pictures of the new setup.
The terrarium is about 50% open with a larger opening on one side than the other (its a lightly frosted glass panel for the "lid"
I have ceiling fan running at all times high during the day, low at night, the humidifier produces a good air flow towards the terrarium and a table top fan sitting a few feet away, high setting during the day and low at night.
What media are you using in the hanging pot? The media this one is currently in dries out very quickly, I keep it top moistened daily to every other day with the daily most shower to the whole terrarium. I have shattered ceramic tile lining the entire bottom with a shallow layer of pebbles underneath. Works great with the bottom mounted warming pad and a spray shower to the tiles to build daily humidity. Not entirely sure about the actual humidity percentage though, I just got a temp gauge for the room and the humidity monitor is next
Thank you!!!

[Subrosa]

Mine are in wire baskets with coco fiber liners and just sphagnum as media. In the winter I let it get a bit dry but not crunchy, but right now it's damp and will stay that way.

[fateisinmyhands]

Is there any chance you have a photo of your Gongora where you have it growing? That will help me decide how to deal with mine, I know I would like to put this one in a basket eventually, but that should wait until after it finishes blooming right? Since it's actually in spike now? Here's the picture of the current setup, and it's 4:30 in the afternoon soon so that gives a good idea of the peak natural lighting in the room, I'm supplementing with a T8 aquarium hood light
Also a better picture of the leaf that's damaged. I'll add them to the thread

[estación seca]

Gongora spikes normally grow straight down and emerge from the bottom of the basket. IOSPE says this plant blooms in the fall. Your plant looks somewhat small to bloom, and the only new things I see on it (photo 3/8, ....94216.jpg) look to me like new vegetative growths, not flower spikes.

I suspect your plant is beginning its spring growth cycle. Dropping an old leaf is common when this happens, especially if the plant has just made a journey.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Gongora spikes normally grow straight down and emerge from the bottom of the basket. IOSPE says this plant blooms in the fall. Your plant looks somewhat small to bloom, and the only new things I see on it (photo 3/8, ....94216.jpg) look to me like new vegetative growths, not flower spikes.

I suspect your plant is beginning its spring growth cycle. Dropping an old leaf is common when this happens, especially if the plant has just made a journey.

The 3 species I've bloomed (galeata, fulva, and rufescens)all send out spikes from the base of a pseudobulb which arch up, travel horizontally until they exit the basket, at which time they hang down in a pendant manner. When division time comes again I'm going to experiment with s/h culture. They're definitely prone to dropping leaves, and to my eye spikes and growths are indistinguishable to my eye until they get about .75" long. Apparently cassidea and galeata are closely related. If the growth rates are similar consider that my galeata had 6 or 7 pseudobulbs when I got it in the fall of 2013. It produced a few spikes late the following summer and fall, and about 20 spikes total last season. Here's a current pic. Yup, it's ugly from parrot damage, the black spots that tend to be standard equipment on Gongora and probably a bit too much sun, but no worse than last season. And it's a lot bigger. I suspect I'll be getting quite a show this season!

[SFLguy]

That's what I've seen with my Gongora as well, it goes up and away before growing down

[fateisinmyhands]

I was wondering if it could be new pseudobulbs, they sold it as blooming size so it's probably just my eagerness to see it bloom. I'm OK with new growth too, and hearing that they drop leaves on their own makes me feel a lot better. I suppose I'll just keep an eye on it and keep everyone posted.
thank you for the picture!