Masdevallia 'Wild Child' - Disappointing

[Salixx]

I've been eagerly awaiting this flower for what feels like forever... and it's finally "open" but makes me sad. The colors are beautiful and the markings are great, but the flower seems to be deformed. It won't open all the way and the 'tendrils' on the tips of the petals are already withering .



I am hoping that this might be a pest problem and not a genetic problem. In the same terrarium, my Masd. minuta has been having deformed leaves, nearly all of them. Also, over night, my Restrepia and Haraella had buds that blasted. Currently, both have new buds that are okay.

I looked closer and saw these nearly microscopic white things moving around on the leaves. They are so small that I cannot get a picture and can't really see them well enough to describe. They however, cannot jump. I thought they might be thrips or crawlers from scale, so I sprayed with Bayer Rose and Flower, but they are still around. I often find them on this flower. I will say, I have seen thrips since then, and am pretty sure these aren't them. They are far, far smaller than thrips- about the size of a grain of sand.

I should also note that I originally received this plant with a bud, and that bloom never opened properly either.

What do you guys think?

Pests? Genetics? Is the plant just young? I bought it as a blooming size seedling in May.

Thanks for any advice.

[WhiteRabbit]

[My Green Pets]

First flowers are always less than spectacular. Also, humidity could be low. Give it a couple more bloomings?

[Salixx]

Thanks for the bump, WhiteRabbit

This is its second flower, but I hope you're right- it's other wise very nice. It's still a young plant and is otherwise healthy - it is always throwing off new growths.

Could too much humidity do this? I actually struggle to lower the humidity in this terrarium - my hygrometer often reads 99%... I have to leave the door of the terrarium open most the time to get it down into the mid 70s to 80s. I do have a fan in the tank though, so there is air circulation.

Also, I was thinking after I posted... What about dissolved solids in my water? I have been using regular tap - it's not terribly hard or anything, maybe around 107ppm for kH and gH (sorry, no TDS meter) and pH of 7.2ish, but there are some hard water stains building up on the leaves and glass. My RO filter just came in, so I will be switching to RO very soon.

I know this is a long shot without pictures, but does anybody know what these nearly microscopic 'bugs' might be? It could be my imagination, but I am pretty sure that I can make out at least one segment for the head then the abdomen so I don't think they are mites. How bad is my addiction that I am thinking about buying a layman's microscope to identify things that are too small for my eye?

[PaphMadMan]

In your very moist environment, if the "bugs" are slow moving they could be tardigrades. Fascinating little creatures, and generally harmless. And of course you want a magnifier to see them. There are some very inexpensive hand held ones for hobby use, and digital ones that are as easy to use as webcams.

Too much humidity is unlikely, unless you have a rampant fungal problem. Are you sure your hygrometer is accurate? What is the temperature, day and night?

I doubt water quality is the problem, but a switch to RO for these plants is a good move.

[u bada]

A few things:

-with masdies, high high humidity is not a problem. Good to somewhat high air flow is better for them. however it's better for general health, not necessarily for a flower blooming out well. how strong is the current?

-With high tds and pleuros, generally leaves will be yellowish, leathery wilty, some yellowing and black spots... which can be loosely said to be similar to looking dehydrated (which makes sense as mineral deposits are clogging roots.) High tds can be remedied with thorough flushings of pot with distilled or R/O water, although you may not see improvements til next flush of leaves, but old leaves can plump up.

-re bugs. the bugs could be any number of things. The issue with growing in tanks/ terrariums/vivariums is that these are perfect environments for a multitude of insects, especially those that are microscopic, some feed on plants, and others feed on other insects, rotting debris, etc. so many aren't really harmfull. it is possible what your seeing are nymph stage of mealies and/or scale, which are really bad, but you'd see the adults adhered to the leaves. Treating with bayer or anything with imalcripid (spl?) has proven successful with repeated dosage over a course of time, sometimes months, according to directions, but i would dilute for pleuros, at least 1/2 strength.

-to me, the flowers look like flowers on a plant that isn't getting enough water... but being in a case that's probably not the tank/case, so I'm thinking you may have root rot or root die back, which is possible in tanks/cases.

-also cause is it may be too warm, or not getting cool off nights. While it's considered a warmth tolerant hybrid, all the parents point towards cold growing...

Hope that helps. if overall, the plant itself looks good, i'd say flush the pot, check the roots, and if roots are ok, just give it time to adjust. may be all it needs.

[Salixx]

I can't be sure the hygrometer is completely accurate, but it reads within 5% of my household one. Right now, I have both in the tank, the one that stays in there says 79% and the household one says 77%. As for the air flow, when the fan is on, the plant sways slightly in the breeze. Currently, it is set at timed intervals (maybe on ten/ off five). I've been considering just having it on all the time though. Also, when the tank door is open, the bedroom ceiling fan also provides visible movement to the plants inside.

I keep the terrarium in the bedroom, which has an AC. Night time temp is 60F, daytime 75F. In the tank, usually night time temps read 62-65F and daytime is 78-80F, sometimes up to 84F but that is uncommon. I try to keep it as cool at night as my boyfriend will allow! I know these aren't 'optimal' temperatures for cooler masdies, but I had hoped that the humidity would help offset that.

I did not mention this before, but I have the plant mounted on a cork slab that rests/is nested in live sphagnum. The roots look good to me, a few are questionable but this may be older ones dying back - it came to me in a net pot. There are other, healthy looking new roots. There is almost always a thin layer of moisture on them and the slab is always moist.

I have treated 2X, one week apart with the Bayer Rose and Flower pre-mixed spray with imidacloprid. The first was while the plant was still in bud... maybe this isn't a 'plant issue' but a 'silly owner who saw little bugs on her orchids and freaked a little' issue.. i.e. I screwed up the bud myself with using full strength pesticide on my delicate plant.

I've attached pictures of the plant for your references in case that helps.

For the bugs, I guess I will keep an eye on them and get a hobbyist scope or something soon. My Restrepia bud looks close to opening and the Haraella hasn't dropped its bud, so maybe they were all just adjusting to the new environment. If the Restrepia is screwed up to... well, maybe we will have another clue?

Thank you all for your insight. I appreciate it immensely.

[u bada]

Well, looks good to me!

Probably just needs to adjust...

Biggest problems bug wise are mealies, scales, spider mites... which don't sound like what you saw...

All the small leaves around the big leaves could mean it's a plant trying to establish from a division still, which also means it's still establishing...

[Tindomul]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to know how the plant made out. From what I am seeing, the plant may be suffering from low humidity. I see that you say you keep the tank open at times. Why? You are causing the humidity to crash and it does take some time to build up again. These plants don't like such variable conditions in humidity. I would suggest getting a stronger fan and keep it going all the time, keep the tank lid closed all the time.

[Salixx]

I have adjusted things a bit. I no longer open the terrarium an the fan is on all the time. At the time I was opening it, I did it for increased circulation from the ceiling fan - the room itself also had high humidity (70%+). I only did it because I was nervous about the high humidity, etc... now, not so much. I put a Masd. tuerckheimii in there that was struggling (it was from omi on eBay to give an idea) and that exploded in what seemed like less than a week. Five flower buds, three new growths and new roots after months of doing nothing. My H. retrocalla seems happier too with a new flower spike as well as a bud just opening on the older one.

The Wild Child itself, has done quite a bit of growing. I actually hadn't noticed how much until I looked at these old pictures. It has not bloomed since - either out of season or just not ready. Either way, I'm okay with it as I would rather it put energy into getting bigger for a little longer, which it has. It's always got new growths =D.

Here it is as of today, for comparison.