Restrepia contorta in flower

[DelawareJim]

Rosie;

I grow mine under lights along with my Masdies and give them the same conditions. They're great little plants and you definitely should get more.

Yours in the photo looks like it got a bit too much light. I can't explain why the flower has it's head thrown back like that.

The guy I got mine from had his in the darkest part of his greenhouse. He set up a series of rain gutters facing north like rungs on a ladder with his higher light plants up top and his Masdies, Restrepias, and other Pleurothalids in the lowest 1/4 to 1/3 of this setup.

Cheers.
Jim

[RosieC]

Thanks Jim,

Yes, I'm pretty sure this one got too much light over the summer and it's leaves are showing the effects. I'm really glad to see that didn't kill it though, just tanned the leaves.

Interesting about that setup for the greenhouse. I had two restretpias and two masdies in my greenhouse over the summer, all in the same spot. The Masdies tripled or quadrupled in leaf count... but all the new leaves are about 2/3 the height of the older leaves. They seem happy in the light levels, but I'm pretty sure the shorter leaves are an indication that it's higher than they were first grown in.

I think in the coming year I will move them to the other side of the greenhouse, where there is more shade from a fence.