New Leaf Growth on Masdi veitchiana seems strange - is this normal?

[RosieC]

[Edit]Ok, added a pic now[/Edit]

When I bought my Masdi veitchiana in August it had the start of two new leaves. This being my first Masdi I watched their progress every day.

BUT...

As the new leaves grew I noticed that the largest was folding up inside it's sheath. It seemed like it could not break out of the sheath and as it tried to lengthen the growing pressure from the sheath caused folds.

I carefully (very carefully) slit the sheath and freed the leaf, it continued to grow and is now a reasonable size. If you know where to look you can tell where it was kinked but you need to know where to look.

Thinking that it can't be normal to have to do this (no-one in the wild to do it). I left the second new leaf. It seemed to get fatter inside the sheath for a while then stopped. Finally when I decided to slit the sheath I found it had rotted.

So then, quite close together after this 4 more new leaves started. I could see that the largest two were doing exactly the same and folding over. I again decided to slit the sheath and actually found one of them had two sheaths right to the tip. I slit one first and when it still would not break free slit the other. Soon after I slit the one on the 2nd largest leaf.



These two are very kinked, you can see the largest in the center and the other one is on the left. It's been a couple of weeks and they have not really straightend, but they have grown noticablly and are starting to open the two halves. The larger leaf behind the center one is the first one I removed the sheath from. It is open but on a shorter stem than the older leaves.

It seems like the sheath is just too thick for the leaf to break through and I'm puzzled how this is suposed to work

Of the two which started arround the same time one is growing well and appears to not have got caught at the top of the sheath but seems to be extending out of it (this seems more normal to me). That's the one on the right behind the old leaves. On the other the sheath is completly enclosing the tip and I can't decide if this one is growing still or not. That can just be seen at the bottom of the center ones.

I noticed this morning a further 3 growths just starting. These are too small to see how they will develop.

So...

Anyone any ideas why this Masdi seems to need intervention for the leaves to grow?

The enviroment is as follows...

Temp - 11C to 20C for the last 6 weeks, but it was getting up to 28C when I first bought it. The last few weeks it's been closer to 11C to 15C.

Light - Unsure exactly but it's getting the same light as my Phals. It is in an east facing window with no artificial light.

Medium - A very small pot of moss. The moss seems good quality with very long strands. The pot is one of those mesh ones which is more holes than pot. It dries in about a week and I water it when the moss gets just crispy feeling. I check it twice a day to see if it is ready for watering.

Other - it should get some air movement as it is next to a slightly open window, just on the catch so it's still locked. The window is left wider open some evenings and at the weekend. (I'm trying to let the temp get cold in that room for this Masdi).