Octomeria

[avian]

Are Octomerias difficult to grow?
Does anyone grow Octomeria praestens or gracilis?

[estación seca]

It depends on your conditions. Look up their temperature and light requirements at orchidspecies.com. Remember they prefer high humidity. Can you provide the proper conditions?

[Roberta]

I grow Octomeria praestans on my patio. Bright shade, watering every couple of days (or more when it's hot) like everything else. It grows well, and blooms regularly. (Growths produce flowers several times during the year, eventually poop out but then there are new growths.) I have talked a lot about my conditions, so you can figure out how yours are similar or different.

[avian]

Thanks. Humidity not high here but I've been making sure to mist or water the majority of my outdoor mounted plants daily right now. It's been very hot. Sometimes I have to even mist twice a day. They are doing OK. I experimented with two others (a mounted Cattleya and a mounted D. moniliforme) and they were not happy outdoors even with frequent watering and placed in semi-shaded areas so I brought them back indoors. Doing better now.
The temp range for the two Octomerias I listed are workable here and I can place them in shaded or semi shaded areas although I think the praestans might be more adaptable to this environment.

[claypot]

I grow Octomeria grandiflora successfully in my UK greenhouse. Loves plenty of water all year and min 13c.

[Roberta]

Based on elevation data (1200 m in southern Brazil) Oma gracilis should be quite cold tolerant, and handle warmth with enough water. I don't have that one so the advice is just an educated guess. I have nearly 4 years' worth of evidence for Oma praestans. Winter nights at my house get down to mid-30's F (1-2 deg C)

Rather than just misting the outdoor mounted plants (mist evaporates very fast) a good bath morning and evening in hot weather will probably be a lot more effective. When you water, soak them.

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[avian]

Am planning on giving them a nice soak this evening. Trying not to overwater but with the heat and low humidity I probably should be more generous with watering them.

Originally Posted by claypot

I grow Octomeria grandiflora successfully in my UK greenhouse. Loves plenty of water all year and min 13c.

No greenhouse here. Would love to have one some day.

[Roberta]

It is impossible to overwater a mounted plant. Water well and often. For potted plants depends on the medium, but if you are using the larger sizes of bark and they were recently repotted, it's hard to overwater those too, especially if outside. It is summer...

[avian]

Originally Posted by Roberta

It is impossible to overwater a mounted plant. Water well and often. For potted plants depends on the medium, but if you are using the larger sizes of bark and they were recently repotted, it's hard to overwater those too, especially if outside. It is summer...

Didn't think about that. I guess, though, if you water too often and don't let the media dry at all then maybe a mounted orchid could be overwatered?? However, right now the media is drying out fairly fast here.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by avian

Didn't think about that. I guess, though, if you water too often and don't let the media dry at all then maybe a mounted orchid could be overwatered?? However, right now the media is drying out fairly fast here.

First, orchids don't get root problems from too much water, but rather from not enough air. (A bit of wisdom from Ray, that is very spot-on). So a mounted orchid gets an infinite amount of air, no matter how damp it is. (In the cloud forest, it may be both damp and cool all the time, but an epiphyte is still getting the air that it needs. And given that we don't live in 100% humidity 24/7 -thankfully- mounted orchids are going to dry out quickly. )

If you haven't yet visited Andy's Orchids, put it on your list the next time he has an Open House. (probably not until fall) Seeing and feeling where orchids thrive is extremely educational whether you go to where they are native, or just to a very successful nursery. Things are wetter than you're ever likely to keep your plants. ( I don't want to know about his water bill) And there are a lot of winter-deciduous plants mixed in with everything else, in ambient-temperature shade houses. They grow and bloom just fine. Most are mounted - they get all the air they need, they get temperature variation with the seasons, and they are clearly very happy. For you, yes gas is expensive... but it is still a lot cheaper than traveling to Ecuador (which I also highly recommend) We, in southern California, have this terrific resource at a very reasonable commuting distance, we are very fortunate.