Dracula woolwardii - Page 2 - Orchid Board

smweaver · #11 03-21-2023, 10:03 AM

I'm getting a little inspiration from this post. I have been under the (maybe mistaken) impression that none of the draculas would tolerate anything over, say, the low 70s during the day, and would also require evenings in the low 50s throughout the year. I also thought that the draculas were, compared to masdevallias, prima donnas. Perhaps I need to reassess what I might get away with growing.

Your blooms are (well, were) fantastic, Roberta. And I appreciate the climatic data you shared regarding what the plants were able to tolerate last summer.

Steve

Roberta · #12 03-21-2023, 11:53 AM

Thanks! Hope that you're inspired to try these!

I was surprised, too, to see my Dracs in general, and this one in particular, do so well with warm days. I suspect that relatively cool nights help. And RO water helps a lot - until I started using it, my batting average for these, and a lot of other Pleurothallids, was pretty close to zero.

smweaver · #13 03-21-2023, 11:59 AM

Good to know regarding the RO. I use it on everything already, so that should help me with this genus. Andy has a lot of these on his site. So I may attempt to experiment with a couple of the plants over the summer. Thanks again for the additional information.

DirtyCoconuts · #14 03-21-2023, 12:01 PM

awesome!!! makes me want to try too

Roberta · #15 03-21-2023, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smweaver

Good to know regarding the RO. I use it on everything already, so that should help me with this genus. Andy has a lot of these on his site. So I may attempt to experiment with a couple of the plants over the summer. Thanks again for the additional information.

Another note... Andy does grow these in a shade house that pretty much has ambient temperatures (not in a cooled greenhouse). So the ones he has have survived summer warmth. (Encinitas is cool relative to more inland areas since it's close to the coast, but still can get some summer heat. Very close to my "reported" conditions) We have had some heat waves... he doesn't win them all either, a few years ago he lost all of his Masd. veitchianas in one of them. But clearly lots of things do survive the less-than-ideal climate range.