Masdevallia amabilis - anyone got care tips?

[RosieC]

Ok, so I should probably have asked this before buying it... but it looked so pretty on the website and I just had to try one.

My amabilis has arrived today and I'm wondering what conditions it needs.

I have a Masdevallia veitchianna and my care for that is causing it to grow well even if it's not flowering.

Does amabilis need warmer or colder then veitchianna or about the same?

What about light and water compared to veitchianna?

If anyone has tips for getting either veitchianna or amabilis to flower that would also be really useful too.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help here. Without advice to the contrary I will try keeping it pretty similar to the veitchianna and see what happens but I think my main concern is whether it's meant to be as cold growing as that or whether it should be warmer.

[Tindomul]

Hey Rosie,

I've never kept this species before for fear of loosing it but I just happened to look it up yesterday and found this info:
M. amabilis which is terrestrial and lithophytic on exposed, rocky habitats high in the mountains of peru (cold grower here) which are also semi-arid. These plants probably get most of their water from fog, humidity rather than rain. They grow in the same general region as M. veitchiana so same general conditions. Can you confirm for me the shape of the leaves. Are they narrow, short? I would assume narrow at least to deal with cold dryish stresses.

[RosieC]

Thanks Tindo.

The leaves are almost exactly the same as on my veitchiana. They are pretty narrow and quite long. I will get a pic posted when I get home, they (this and a couple of other chids) were delivered to me here at work and I can't get a pic till I get home later.

Good to know it's from the same general region as veitchiana. That seems to like growing for me at least, so hopefully I can keep them both alive long enough to work out how to get them to flower.

I had been planning to wait until I had had veitchiana at least a year before getting a second masdi, but it was just sooo tempting and I needed a TC for the project plant I was buying... OK I got two TC but I just couldn't resist.

[Tindomul]

Good luck with them both. What is your growing setup like? Conditions? Thanks, sorry for being nosy, hehe.

[RosieC]

Well I currently have the veitchiana in my greenhouse which I intend to keep as cool as possible, especially over the winter when it will be heated but only a little bit.

Over the winter this year (I only built the greenhouse in the last few months) I had it in a spare room which we kept unheated and with the window slightly open. Temps over the winter ranged from 3C to 10C (more on the day we forgot and left the door to the rest of the house open ).

Our humidity ranges wildly here, from 30% to 80% or even higher. England tends to be quite a humid country though so it's generally at least 50% in my greenhouse.

When it was in the house it was getting east window light, direct in the morning then getting darker through the day. Now it's in the green house it gets direct light until about 2pm then it's in shadow but still quite bright. I put 'direct' in italics because it is filtered by the greenhouse which is a perspex one which has quite a high light diffusion. I am still expecting to need a shade cloth as the sun gets stronger towards summer though.

[Tindomul]

I always thought it was easy to keep humidity high in a green house. Do you keep the green house open via windows/doors? Thanks. Im sure in a greenhouse your Masdies will soon feel comfy enough to think about reproducing.

[RosieC]

I do have a window open and the door open a crack, I don't want it to get too warm. I think the humidity is a bit higher than outside but not by much. I'm currently looking at auto-openers for the window as it's a pain having to remember to open it in the morning and close it at night (still worried about light frosts).

To be honest the green house was bought with my one little veitchiana in mind. It was so difficult to keep it cool in the house that I decided I needed a space that would easily get cool but could keep it protected from frosts. I'm now looking for other plants to keep in it... after all a 6' x 6' greenhouse is a bit overkill for one small masdi

[Tindomul]

You should put some mini phals, and some other Pleuros too. The possibilities are endless!!!!

[RosieC]

Actually looking again I think the leaves might be a bit thinner than veitchiana, but maybe that's how it's been grown, because I think the wider leaves on my veitchiana are all the new ones and it had thinner ones originally.

Anyway I decided to repot it when I got home as the medium (moss) looked due for a change. I'm a little disapointed that there were quite a few dead roots, but there are also some new actively growing roots so I'm hoping it will be OK

I've repotted in fresh moss as my veitchiana does well in that and I'm going to put it out in the green house later on. In the last pic you can see a tiny new growth.

[Tindomul]

Cool, I've had them come with mostly dead roots and a few new good ones, and they have survived without any damage or loss. Im optimistic about yours.