Masdevallia wendlandiana - leaves dropped

[DeanneD]

Am I doing something wrong or might it just be that the plant is stressed from shipping?

I just got this lil' beauty early last week from an ebay auction. Yesterday I picked it up and most of the leaves dropped off! There are five leaves left out of over a dozen that it had on arrival. (At least that's what was left this morning.) It startled me because the leaves look healthy. The dropped leaves are still green. Nothing shows any signs of wilting.

It's in a 2-inch pot, planted in spagnum. I watered it once a couple of days after it arrived. It's sitting in a south-facing window, but fully shaded. It's sitting right next to a NOID Masdevallia that seems to be doing fine. The window is in front of a large porch, so there is no direct sun coming in, and it's been cloudy/rainy all week. too. Daytime temp is in the upper 60's (heat is on). Nighttime is set to 62.

Is there any chance of survival? Thanks for any suggestions.

Deanne

[Zoi2]

Have you checked the roots? The moss might be too wet.
Joann

[ronaldhanko]

To my mind good air movement is crucial with Masdevallias and might help in this case.

[Tindomul]

Is it exposed to direct heat from your heating system? But if that were the culprit then you would see more leaf damage. I agree with everyone else, sounds like it might be too wet. let it dry out it as fast as you can and just keep it humid, not wet for a while.

[JDY]

You might want to let it get a little bit cooler at night 55 maybe. If its staying to wet you can put it in a clay pot with Sphagnum. Hope this helps.
Jon

[DeanneD]

Thanks everyone! No more leaves have dropped - whew! I'll pull it out of the pot after work today to check out the roots and let them dry off a bit.

[harrywitmore]

Originally Posted by DeanneD

Thanks everyone! No more leaves have dropped - whew! I'll pull it out of the pot after work today to check out the roots and let them dry off a bit.

My experience is that the first thing you should do is pull the plant and look at the roots. I have had many Masdevallias shipped to me and they immediately shed all their leaves and die. Most all that did this were recent divisions that were not established. Once I figured out what was happening. Any I got I would inspect and if they were not established I would remove all the moss they came in and re-pot them in a fashion that suits my conditions.

[DeanneD]

I think this is the case with the one I have. The ebay listing said it was a division and when I pulled it out of the pot last night, I saw very little by the way of roots. I left just a bit of spagnum moss around what few roots there are and left it out of the pot. I'm going to try putting it in S/H.

Oh well, my non-orchid friends will get a laugh out of it. I have a little orchid hospital ward set up (converted 10-gallon aquarium) and my updates on "the babies" crack them up. They call me octomom now because I bought a flask of paphs and described the "birthing" (deflasking) to them in probably a bit too much detail. We'll see if they still laugh ten years from now when the babies grow up and produce beautiful flowers!

[stefpix]

I would not try a Masdevallia in SH. Probably easier to root in sphagnum. I have 2 and no blooms but grew a lot in sphagnum. one went a bit downhill I may have overwatered, but after a year I just repotted in new sphagnum.

Roots are very fine not sure if Masd would like LECA,