Please help...lepanthes almost dead

[vraev]

Hi guys,

Just recieved some plants from ecuagenera today. I can't blame them at all...they sent nice plants, but shipping delays seem to have taken the toll and two of the four plants I got seem to be close to death. I have never had experience nursing orchids. (I grow carnivorous plants)

Here they are:

L. telipogoniflora



L. amphioxa



Both were bone dry. I also got two other lepanthes...but they look healthy...inspite of being dry.

Btw... I know the teli isn't hard to grow. I bought this new one to see if I can get a different clone...but I already have a teli from 3 years ago. Just bringing this up to show that I can indeed grow lepanthes. Here is a latest pic.



Please...any advice is appreciated. Believe it or not, I am a orchid noob. I just love lepanthes and telipogoniflora is my favourite. I never let mine dry out. I only had two lepanthes species dry out before...(because of improper care)...went away for a week and L. micropeltata and L. melpumune or something... dried out to a husk. THey never recovered and died. I don't want that to happen to my new plants.

thanks,

Varun

[ezil]

Vraev, I love lepanthes, but have only been growing them for about a year now. I too got my plants from Ecuagenera, and their plants are quite robust. Try soaking the dried out plants in rainwater, r.o. water or distilled. They are very salt sensitive, esp. when on the dry side. I carefully peeled mine off the tree fern bark, as theirs tends to grow mold very fast under my growing conditions. I have them potted in net pots, in a mixture of small styrofoam pellets and sphagnum moss. I grow them in a terrarium with day temps from 20C-25C, and humidity over 70%. They can have bright light, but never sun. Ventilation should be good, but they won't tolerate drafts. Don't give up on these plants, even if you lose the few leaves you have now, they still may be making more. Hope this helps.

[vraev]

Hi Ezil,

I actually grow mine in a terrarium. There is almost always a huge fan blowing air on the existing lepanthes mounts. They took a while to adjust, but now they thrive. I still have the calodyctyon on its own tree fern mount.... didn't want to disturb. Infact the calodyction and the telipogoniflora are the smallest plants that ecuagenera sends out. The first one came at this same size too...two leaves.

Btw...yes..I do use pure Shoppers drugmart distilled water for all my CPs and lepanthes. Although, I use a humidifier with tap water that throws a lot of minerals on plant leaves...but they don't seem to mind much.

I took your suggestion and everything is soaking in distilled water. I assume I shouldn't overdo it? How long should I soak it for? the new lepanthes are sitting in a bowl with 2-3" of water.

[ezil]

It's hard to give a precise time for soaking. Trust your own judgement on that. I initially kept my telipogoniflora and calodyction on the tree fern they came on, but it was breaking down too fast during the summer, and I potted them in the net pots. They've quadrupled in size in the time I've had them. The moral of the story seems to be that they need air around the roots, damp but not wet medium. I'm glad you found the Shopper's distilled water - they're a bit cheaper than the grocery stores.

[vraev]

Hmm....good observation. I noticed that my lepanthes telipogoniflora has stalled in size. Initially it came in a small 2" plastic pot. Grew it in there for an year....hardly grew at all...when I mounted it on bark..it took off. I don't know...now...the size isn't growing any more...maybe I need to put it on fresh bark? How do u take off orchids from a mount? lol..they have a vice like grip with their roots on cork. Don't even bother if it was epiweb or tree fern fiber...I guess it is very hard without damaging roots.

so yeah...I left it soaking for 3h ...all 4 plants that I got. Now I put them in my tanks and well...lets see how it goes.

Anyways...thanks for all the advice madam. Do share some pics of your plants if you get the chance. I never tire of seeing lepanthes.

[Bud]

Dude! Those plants are still alive(some roots and leaves are dead but theres some that are still green)...they are just dehydrated... they are not even mechanically damaged...take the advice and soak them and then just continue to misturize and aerate...they will perk up soon...it takes time

[ezil]

You'll have to wait for pictures until I stop the war with my digital camera. I have some, but I'm not happy with the quality. As far as peeling roots loose from tree fern - well, it's quite the job. I had to use tweezers and break individual strands. I left some small pieces, but it is very time consuming and nerve wrecking! I repot at least once a year, so that the plants are never in "sour" medium. Well worth it though.

[ewcia1028]

Hi Vraev,I got my lepanthes telipogoniflora and calodictyon from ecuagenera in March and on my way home I stopped at my friend house and left them in my car for like and hour and this day was very hot so when I got home later those two lost all the leaves from the heat in my car and I was heart brokenI thought I had lost them but I didn't have a heart to throw them away,but I didn't know what to do with it and then I got the idea of putting them in the glass vase and started to water them every day with RO water and after a three weeks I started to see new leaves coming so you can imagine my happinessSo telipogoniflora has 2 leaves right now and calodictyon 5.I keep them on my kitchen window so I can see them and I am so happy!

[vraev]

Aah...good to hear. Thanks for all the encouragement. Yeah..I am giving them a 80% humidity environment with fresh air supply from the outdoors into the tank. I don't think what else I can do better. besides, my other thriving lepanthes are right in the same tank. So I will just wait and see.