Masd. keeping them alive but just

[cirillonb]

With the New Year I am trying to decide what I can grow and not. My Masd. pose a problem. they are alive and continue to put up new growth but these ultimately fade. I have not seen a flower and would not recognize a "spike." I have noticed how fussy they are to getting gentle breezes all the time. They are all repotted into a primary chopped sphagnum plus tree fern fibers and some charcoal. I have not looked at the roots since repotting. They are under light being 3 T5 2 ft bulbs about 20 inches above. They sit on an humidity tray and the apartment is pretty successfully at 35-40% humidity with a central humidifier.
I'll try these a while longer (actually the challenge will keep them with me longer than that.)
Oh, they are watered when crispy on the surface with either distilled water or the same with an orchid fertilizer (currently Dynagro Bloom until the first of the year thereafter straight DynaGro for Orchids until I can get MSU for distilled water.)
Any comments more than appreciated. Thanks all and a Happy New Year.
Nick

[CoolPhrog]

Hi Nick. Sorry you're having problems with your masdies. Are your plants warm tolerant? Do you know the names of them? That could really help in getting the right information to you and your plants.

[Becca]

Hi Nick! Well I only have one NOID hybrid Masd. So I only have the experience with the one but this is how things work for me with it. I have it in an east facing window...it doesn't get the gentle breeze you speak of them wanting because I keep the blinds down so that cat's won't climb in the window. It is in a 3 inch plastic slotted pot in a mix of chopped sphagnum, small bark, and small perlite (the imperial multipurpose mix from repotme.com). I water it about every three or 4 days...I was told they like to stay moist...so moist it stays....it bloomed for me for about two months in a row...and it is growing in pretty low humidity. But keep in mind this is a hybrid so perhaps it is different with growing species. Hopefully the more experienced will be chiming in soon! Oh...and I don't really fertilize mine much since I also read that they don't really need much so I just use RO water when watering.

[kiki-do]

I too have trouble growing Masdies. I've had two for a couple years now and have moved them, repotted them, and cussed them out many times. Well, I now have a bloom on one and a potential bloom on the other. Here are the latest things I did that may or may not have caused a bloom. I repotted into a slotted plastic container with some husk chips, perlite, charcoal on the bottom and moss on top...kept moist and airy (somewhat similar to Becca). And I moved mine to the coldest room in the house and placed in a sunny window. My humidity is low also, and I know they want as much as you can give them, but, hey, I live in Maine...fat chance without a greenhouse. And mine are warm tolerant, but I'm not sure they would bloom ever if not moved to a cooler area of the house. They always produced new leaves, but never blooms until now.
So that is my trial and error story.

[cirillonb]

Originally Posted by CoolPhrog

Hi Nick. Sorry you're having problems with your masdies. Are your plants warm tolerant? Do you know the names of them? That could really help in getting the right information to you and your plants.

Sorry, I should know better than to ask advise without specifics regarding the actual plants.
I am working with:
(lynchniphora x floribunda)
Roofus (White Swallow x Minaret)
Celtic Frost
Herraduae
Snow Cone
Estera Hanson (Brachyura x Xanthina)

The Herruduae is the newest and is the healthiest. It is in chopped sphagnum only.
Nick

[Ross]

I have several and so far only have a pleating problem with two that I got from Parkside. They are/were in pure sphagnum. I transplanted one to Paph mix and it's no better. The ones I got from Ivan in Hawaii are doing fantastic (as is one small potbound Masd. striatella that I got from Parkside.) I grow in a south-facing box-bay window with night temps down to 60 degreesF and day temps up to 70 or so. I had them last summer and they did well at 20 degrees higher. Light is south-facing supplemented with high output T5 CF bulbs. A fan runs 24/7 pointed directly at them (it blows the foliage around). I water with MSU blend mixed to 125ppm Nitrogen with every watering (which right now is every other day.) The plants are potbound in small (2") pots. I am working with:

M. Highland Monarch (one of the problem plants)
M. Maui Prince
M. Ken Dole (one of which is the second problem plant)
M. Angel Tang
M. princeps
M. striatella (the third one from Parkside, the one doing very well)

Hope this helps somehow. Humidity may be your nemisis, but probably not. I suspect planting mix and pot size (they appear to like being potbound and under-potted.)

[quiltergal]

I had some bad leaf pleating in my 4, but I let them get too dry a couple of times. I have been very good the last couple of weeks monitoring their moistness, and watering with distilled as needed. It seems to have fixed the pleating problem. One has 3 bloom spikes on it and I'm crossing my fingers that they actually do bloom. I'm working with hybrids:

Angel Tang
Angel Tears
Copper Angel
Ken Dole

The Copper Angel seems to be the most persnickety, though I think I can see the beginnings of some spike activity. The Angel Tears is the one in spike. The Ken Dole and Angel Tang are smaller plants than the other 2, but seem to be doing OK. I don't have constant air movement, and my RH is around 60%. They are in a cool room under T5s in a south window.

HTH

[Tom_in_PA]

I would like to make a few recommendations to your culture which should hopefully help you:

1) They like higher humidity than 30-40%. I grow all mine in the basement under lights and the humidity is never lower than 60% generally higher around 70+%.
2) Masdies like to stay moist at all times, not wet but moist. Letting them get "crisp" is a little to dry for most masdies
3) I keep the lights no further than 12" from the plants.

I hope these couple of suggestions help with your Masdies as they are one of my favorite genus

[cirillonb]

thanks for all the recommendations. To clarify, the house humidity is in the range mentioned. The plants are on humidity trays and the humidistat I have reads about 45 to 60 depending on the temp. This time of the year the temp ranges 68 to 75 deg F. I think I may repot into pure sphagnum as the one that is in that medium is doing best. Will start to keep more moist.
Nick

[utah]

I have all of my masds on humidity trays, with constant air movement, in a south-facing window, and under lights. I mist them one day then water the next. Fertilize weekly (weakly) and they are thriving. The humidity never drops below 70%.

The one and only time the humidity dropped and they weren't watered on this schedule was when I spent 5 days in the hospital (thanks 17-year old who was supposed to take care of the 'chids ) and I lost two plants and three others dropped most of their leaves.

Putting them back on the schedule and adding a little keiki-pro to the water at their roots brought the three dying ones back and has made a huge improvement in the rest.

Try increasing the water and humidity and adding a fan.

BTW - yeah, I didn't kill my teenager but he sure got a major guilt trip!