Masdies have me stumped

[wuness]

I've been growing masdies for some time in my greenhouse in Zone 5 (w. Illinois) and I'm familiar with their general culture requirements. I've had spectacular success with Copper Angel, but not with the other 10-12 I've tried. I don't let them get too warm (they go into air conditioning in the summer), and I give them no more than 50 ppm every couple of weeks. I use a high quality sphagnum moss in 3" clay pots. They're not in strong light and I keep them moist with rain water (or 1:3 tap water to rainwater). I repot every year or so.

I'm repotting now and nearly all of my plants have just the core root fiber left while the velamen is rotted away. My first inclination would be to suggest that they're staying too wet but I thought this group liked it that way.

I know every situation is different, but does anybody have any ideas I could try? wuness

[AnonYMouse]

I've had no luck with this genus so far but...

I picked up a couple smaller species a couple months ago to try again. This time they are in clay pots with LECA in the bottom and Orchiata (precision size, I think) at root level and up. My thinking is I can keep the pot and LECA damp while keeping the Orchiata well draining. It hasn't been long enough to say one way or another. They aren't dead yet but its winter (cooler temps and higher RH).

If you are comfortable with sphag moss, you can try pot-in-pot with sphag. I've seen this done with success by others (I HATE sphag). Pot up the plant in sphag in a clay pot then place in a larger clay pot and fill the space with more sphag. This will keep the root zone cooler and help regulate the moisture.

Next time, if I remember, I think I will try the pot-in-pot with perlite between the pots (seriously HATE sphag).

---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

Zeer pot is a Pot-in-pot method using sand? I saw a thread here (?) by Orchid Whisperer (?)

[Salixx]

I've taken to mounting nearly all of my Masdevallias. In my experience thus far, they are the happiest this way. Those on regular wood-type mounts are kept in an indoor mini-greenhouse and misted nearly every day. If I have them outside of those, I've switched to kool-logs and fill the log up daily. If you have a way to maintain moisture, I think these plants really appreciate being mounted.

I don't like straight sphag for them. I can't think of a single masdie that I've bought that's come with a healthy root system if potted in straight sphag. Those in a tree fern fiber mix are usually better. Before I switched methods, I had a masd. flying colors that did very well in a 50-25-25 mix of sphag, perlite and medium bark.

I also have a few plants that have taken to semi-hydroponics very well. Others have floundered. They also seem to just limp along with it if they don't already have an established root system... IME, they are reluctant to throw new roots.

Not that it really matters too much and I cannot say if it's causation or correlation, but the hybrids seem to do better in s/h and the species like the mounts. Time will tell - I currently have way more species than hybrids.

[estación seca]

I'm learning too.

I have M. floribunda that arrived, mounted, from Andy's Orchids early December 2016. I put it inside a very large vase with Lepanthes manabina and Octomeria sp., both mounted. They are near a 6500K CFL. I keep a dish on top most of the time and it is around 80% relative humidity in there. This time of year temperatures vary from 60 F - 75 F / 15.5-24C. I keep their moss wet and there is condensation on the glass much of the time. They are all very happy.

Here are some Orchid Board links to the RJSquirrel glass bowl method, which many people have found useful. RJSquirrel is still active here:

Growing masdies/draculas in glass bowls?

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...looms-too.html

[u bada]

Yeah those buggers are very tricky, I'll say, which is why i don't grow many of them anymore...

but along the lines of them liking being mounted... I think a lot of them prefer to dry out ever so slightly between waterings, and a grower in NoCal which specializes in them and draculas says they do best in fine/small bark (via friend who attended a talk with them)... And the growers I've been to that grow them well have them in bark. Mounted is good if humidity can be kept extremely high.

In terms of sphag... as is in general with using sphag as a medium, I've learned to really let it dry before I water again. You can grow catts in sphag just has to dry out completely, neos too, etc... but with masdies, letting them dry till they get to, say, close to a rinsed out sponge dry has worked for me... that said, humidity still has to be relatively high...

what is said about light is also confusing, but from my experience and from others, they really prefer medium light, and certain species (coccinea) prefer catt light as long as temperatures are cool. I currently grow my masdies in grow tanks, and they all are pretty close to the fixtures.

as for roots, yeah, I agree, for some reason getting them to root once they've declined is just a challenge, don't know why... but I could say that about so many orchids.

and temps... was just talking to a friend about his masdie collection, and he was just telling me they've been suffering in the 40 degree weather we've been having (he grows outside here in SoCal)... as with other pleuros, many are actually more intermediate than full on cold growing... although probably more a outisde grower's issues than indoors growers...

hybrids can definitely be more adaptable, and vigorous growing...

[Leafmite]

I just have one Masdie, Masdevallia nicaraguae. It is mounted and kept in a bowl to help with humidity. It seems to be a happy orchid. Someone at our OS grows many of these and all of the ones I have seen are potted, very healthy and quite amazing. I have no idea what potting material he uses, though.

I think the key to happy roots is a good air/water ratio. I find with orchids and other plants that like to be very wet that the roots will be happy as long as the medium is porous enough. With the orchids, I have the added advantage of being able to use basket pots or mounting them to increase the air flow even further. I have many orchids mounted with the bottoms of the mounts sitting in water so that they can wick the water to the roots. I have a Phrag in Leca, a Burr. Nelly Isler in tiny Lava rock chips...whatever achieves a good air/water ratio for these water-loving orchids.

Good luck!

[naoki]

Probably the temperature? Did you research the habitat (especially altitude) of each species? For some of them, you need to keep the night temperature in the range of 50F. A few can tolerate above 60F. But most are happier if the night temperature is mid 50F. When you give the correct temperature, they grow rapidly.

[wuness]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm going to leave them in sphagnum for now since I've had good luck getting divisions started in it. I don't think mounting would work for me since I've never developed the knack for it (probably a humidity issue).

Since the damage really does look like over-watering, when I see some new growth I'm going to try a 1" layer of leca in the bottom of the pot to improve drainage. I'll probably stick with the sphagnum, but I'll also try fine bark or even tree fern (or a combination).

They're too pretty to throw in the towel just yet.

wuness

[No-Pro-mwa]

I didn't like mine in straight spagh either. I am now putting them in spagh and tree fern mix. The ones with larger roots I also mix in some seedling mix which has spagh perlite and small bark. I put them in my basement inside a tent shelf so they have better humidity and much colder. They finally seem happy.

[Tindomul]

I think temps have something to do with it. But lets start with Sphag. I hate Sphag for Masdies. Although I am using it on a cool log. Therefore I should say I hate sphag to pot Masdies in. They always end up rotting or drying out. It doesn't work for me. I switched to semi-hydro with expanded clay media. Three months now, but it's working. Only 1 plant was rotting, it was in a plastic rather than a clay pot. I think that the sun was heating it up too much. I put it in the plastic pot because I ran out of clay pots. Oh well.