Dracula mopsus with problems

[fenix_phoenix]

Hi everyone.

I bought a Dracula mopsus from an orchid fair back in the early spring. I potted it in a plastic basket pot with shagnum and it had been doing great. My orchid greenhouse has a mister and the plants are set where they need to be set for light requirements.

I did a lot of research when i bought it and it even grew new leaves. However, over the past week or so the leaves have been falling off at an alarming rate. Something has upset it and i'm not sure what to do to salvage the plant, if it can even be saved at this point.

The only think i can think is that the water quality has been disrupted. We had tornadoes hit our area in May and ever since then my RO system has been giving me grief, the water quality is not as good as it should be. I have been trying to get water from other sources for drinking and the plants but sometimes i mess up, i'm only human. None of my other orchids have been affected by it but maybe the dracula is just super sensitive?

I don't have any photos, as i am posting from work. But if they are needed i can add them when i get home.

[SaraJean]

I could be the water. I don’t have this one but I do have a Dracula lotax and a few other Pleuro types. All are ultra sensitive about their water quality. I accidentally hit my Stelis with the tap water from the hose that I use on all of my other orchids and all 5 spikes immediately died as well as about half of the leaf tips. My tap water is chlorinated. Another time, I ran out of RO water and used spring water (what I use for drinking water) for several weeks on my D. lotax and Restrepia, the leaves started shedding like crazy and didn’t stop till most of them were gone. Lesson learned.

It could be other factors like temperatures. Have you had any sort of heat wave recently? I seem to remember this being one of the lower elevation, warmer growing Dracula’s but I don’t know what sort of night temps, or diurnal range, it prefers

[fenix_phoenix]

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

I think it's probably definitely the water; everything else has been consistent. The greenhouse in inside and my house is temp controlled so a heat spike outside wouldn't affect the temp of the plants.

I still have 2 leaves on it and have switched back to RO water and flushed the pot. Do you think, considering you have experienced leaf drop, that it can be saved? I don't want to disturb it with unpotting if i don't have to. It was doing well before the accidental crappy water.