Lepanthes Jubata care?

[3rdMaestro]

Hello all,
My most recent orchid is something new to me, a Lepanthes Jubata. I have it in a makeshift vivarium all by itself. I've never grown a lepanthes before. Its quite small. Any care suggestions? Also, where should I watch for new growth? I've only had it 2 weeks, but so far it looks exactly the same as when I bought it. I'm guessing it's a slow grower?

[Roberta]

I looked it up - cute little guy. It's a cool grower from high elevation. So keeping it cool enough in the summer may be a challenge. If it is mounted, you can put the mount into a suitably-sized clay pot and add a little very loosely packed sphagnum. With good air circulation (like a fan... your summers are humid) you can achieve evaporative cooling that can help it get through the summer. (I have had good luck using that approach on Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, and Sophronitis coccinnea, both of which hate heat) RO/DI water for sure - most of these little cloud forest plants really need pure water. (Learned from hard experience) If it was bare root, a clay pot with a bit of sphagnum may be fine.

2 weeks is nothing in the life of an orchid. A few months minimum to see much changing if it isn't the time of year for active growth, a year/full cycle is more like it to evaluate what you are doing.

[3rdMaestro]

I probably should have mentioned that I grow everything I own indoors. I have a light over it but not directly overhead and a fan nearby for general air circulation. It came mounted so I drip water over it from time to time when the micro vivarium begins to dry. Good to know about distilled water though!

[Roberta]

Just try to avoid temperatures above 80 deg F. if you can. Indoors you don't have to worry about the low end in winter... At the elevations where these come from, nights in the low 50's are fine (down to the high 30's F would be OK too, but your house is probably warmer than that)

[3rdMaestro]

Will do. Definitely wouldn't want to put it outside, its already reaching 90 here

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by 3rdMaestro

Will do. Definitely wouldn't want to put it outside, its already reaching 90 here

Ick!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

With Lepanthes, generally speaking, you don't want it to get anywhere near 90 F. Preferably the highest it should get in your growing area where the Lepanthes is would be between 75 F - 80 F.

They do like a fair amount of humidity (60% - 85%).

They grow under moderately bright indirect light.

These guys don't like to dry out much. The longest you'd probably get away with not watering them would be 1 day at most to be safe. They need to be consistently moist.

This should be one of the easier species of Lepanthes to grow provided it doesn't get above 80 F. Lepanthes are generally recommended for advanced growers because of how sensitive they can be.

RO/DI water is a must. This is not a negotiable thing for Lepanthes spp. If you use tap water, it could cause problems to where you could be struggling hard to help them recover from the damage they received from improper care.

You may find that you might have to be watering this orchid everyday when grown mounted.

I don't recommend growing many Lepanthes potted. I've found that potting them up tends to be fairly problematic. I recommend growing them mounted.

This particular species may grow moderately fast.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'm sure you may have seen how this thing grows by now...new growths come from the base. Occasionally, the plant may keiki from the leaf axil.

It will usually take anywhere between 2 weeks to 1 month for Lepanthes to recover from shipping stresses, or before you see any kind of growth.

[3rdMaestro]

So an update:
I've switched to watering with distilled water and set him at the very edge of my plant stand (farthest from the light the stand will allow, a little over 1 foot away but at an angle). Upon close inspection two days ago, I noticed 6 new growths poking up through the moss. I will post pictures as they become bigger.
I've been misting some very diluted fertilizer only every once in a while. Not sure how often to feed this one

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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1/4 strength the recommended dosage on the fertilizer container once or twice a week is fine.