Lepanthes calodictyon

[nikkik]

This plant and I have a history. I tried to grow this as a beginner, I started out with a plant that was inferior, it had two leaves and no roots, in my inexperienced care it didn't stand a chance and met a quick demise. Normally, this would put a plant on my "I can't grow this list", but my love for this plant made me create a new category on my list, the "I'll gain more experience and try again" category.

I always knew I would buy this plant again, but this was not a plant I was willing to have shipped. We went to a show about a month and a half ago and I knew that there was going to be a vendor that sold this plant. I didn't preorder because I figured that if it was my time then my plant would be there and it was. I had every intention of setting up a small tank, but for the time being I set the plant in a shot glass (keeping it classy ) with water at the bottom, to my surprise the plant took off! It shot out 2 spikes and 4 new growths within the first two weeks in my care. I decided to leave it be, it likes the shot glass!

For those without a high tech setup this is what is working for me (so far). I keep the plant moist, it sits in a window that gets southern exposure with its mount facing the sun and the leaves facing the kitchen, I give it tap water, and room temps vary down to 69 degrees (probably several degrees less in the windowsill). I realize most people grow this plant much more high tech then this, if the plant starts to decline I will go back to setting up a tank. I will update how the plant is doing in this setup in a few months time.

[cbuchman]

I love it when the simple solutions work! Ingenuity at its best. Of course I prefer my shot glass fill with something else

[MattWoelfsen]

I think the KISS principle works a lot for a person who grows orchids in their home, and not a greenhouse. Thank you for the nice story and pretty plant. I might try this one too, based on your experience.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Awesome Nikkik, and thanks for your tip, I got mine from the same vendor and love it! Great set up, I would actually love to see the picture of the whole set up in the shot glass:-)) BTW, since I love it for the foliage, I did check, do you know Lepanthes saltatrix? I did add this one to my list for the next year;-)))

[nikkik]

Originally Posted by cbuchman

I love it when the simple solutions work! Ingenuity at its best. Of course I prefer my shot glass fill with something else

Thank you for the laugh and visit!

---------- Post added at 11:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 AM ----------

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

I think the KISS principle works a lot for a person who grows orchids in their home, and not a greenhouse. Thank you for the nice story and pretty plant. I might try this one too, based on your experience.

Matt, I completely agree with you about the KISS principle, I think sometimes we complicate things when we don't have to. Also thank you for your kind words about my story and plant. If you decide to give this one a try, I hope you'll keep us posted on it. IMHO, this one is worth the effort.

[Paul]

Lovely! This one has been on my wishlist for several years.

[nikkik]

Originally Posted by TOMMYMIAMI

Awesome Nikkik, and thanks for your tip, I got mine from the same vendor and love it! Great set up, I would actually love to see the picture of the whole set up in the shot glass:-)) BTW, since I love it for the foliage, I did check, do you know Lepanthes saltatrix? I did add this one to my list for the next year;-)))

Thanks for the encouragement, Tommy! I will get a picture this evening of the entire plant in its glass. I agree that the saltatrix has beautiful foliage too. It was on my maybe list, but I wanted to see how I did with my most recent Lepanthes plants before buying more. So far, so good. I, like you, also got a telipogonifora that had one leaf (hadn't intended on getting it, but it looked so sad) and it's also doing well considering.

---------- Post added at 11:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:33 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Paul

Lovely! This one has been on my wishlist for several years.

Thank you, Paul! I'm going to be an enabler here and tell you that I think you should go for it! If the vendor has good ones when I go to Redlands, maybe this can be one I pick up for you.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

That is awesome Nikkik, my telipogoniflora is doing great, and actually, the "replacement" one they brought me has only 2 leaves anyway, so the one I got with one tiny leaf originally is doing now better, that replacement! It seems like Lepanthopsis astrophora, Lepanthes calodictyon and telipogoniflora would be very happy in the glass orb set up, so I am planing to get more and set up one glass orb I vwith astrophora with the other 2, it will look great, I think:-)

[nikkik]

Originally Posted by TOMMYMIAMI

That is awesome Nikkik, my telipogoniflora is doing great, and actually, the "replacement" one they brought me has only 2 leaves anyway, so the one I got with one tiny leaf originally is doing now better, that replacement! It seems like Lepanthopsis astrophora, Lepanthes calodictyon and telipogoniflora would be very happy in the glass orb set up, so I am planing to get more and set up one glass orb I vwith astrophora with the other 2, it will look great, I think:-)

I had my original calodictyon in a glass orb, now I have airplants in it. I did get several minis that needed to be put in an ICU, so I found a decent sized orb on a stand at homegoods (I'm looking for more). It sits perfectly on the windowsill and has room for three mini orchids. I placed stones and water at the bottom, then dried sphagnum moss with the final layer being live moss that I got off of the rocks around my pond. So far, all is doing very well.

[nikkik]

A picture of the entire plant, I tried to take it from an angle where it shows some of the new growths.