Platystele umbellata flowering

[Pattywack]

Platystele are definitely some of my favorite miniatures, their flowers are so small yet absolute perfection. I purchased the umbellata from Glass Box Tropicals in November of last year. The plant flowered shortly after I received it. Now it is flowering again, I believe there are close to a dozen inflorescence.

I have tried to capture the tiny flowers along with buds that look like purple grapes. This one is hard to photograph!

I can’t wait until more flowers open.

[estación seca]

Wow. I agree that has miniature flowers.

[Dollythehun]

Patty, your culture? Cute little guy! Full size is?

[Pattywack]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Patty, your culture? Cute little guy! Full size is?

Dolly, I grow this little one in my greenhouse/shelving unit under T5 lights though the plant is in a shady area. These really like shade, I’ve not had any issues with it in this setup. The temperature they prefer is cool to warm, it is mid 60’s at night and high 70’s to low 80’s daytime. The humidity is always 70 or above and I run a fan constantly.

It is potted in spaghnum and I repotted it late spring. I usually water this with distilled and occasionally use tap, well water. I fertilize weakly weekly. They do not want to dry out.

Platystele umbellata is from Columbia and is found at 600 to 1600 meters I believe. They are mature at 1.5” tall with flowers at 1mm in size. They resemble a tiny Hoya flower or raspberries. These plants will continue to flower from older leaves so a mature plant may be covered in blooms.

I looked for quite awhile trying to find the umbellata and at the time everyone was out of them. I had recently setup a Exo Terra terrarium and had purchased some items from Glass Box Tropicals so I decided to check out their plants. I was very happy to find the umbellata listed. They have nice plants and are a great vendor.

I’m watching for more flowers, there are several inflorescence.

And thank you for asking! It is a sweet little plant.

[No-Pro-mwa]

It's a darling plant.

[bjmac]

Patty this is a great mini. I have one in my tank and it has been a excellent bloomer. I let mine get to dry when we were in Utah and I almost lost it, but it is recovering. Mine is at the top of my tank and gets lots of light. I got my from Glass Box also. They have a lot mini orchids.

[Pattywack]

bjmac I agree, this is another great mini. I looked for a very long time for this one and was so happy to have found it at Glass Box Tropicals. They are very helpful and really have nice plants. As proven with the umbellata, they have some miniatures you just don’t find often.

At one time I had a Masdevallia erinacea that never grew well, only flowered once and slowly faded away. Nothing seemed to help the plant, I tried everything. I understand they are difficult to establish and sulk often when newly acquired. My plant was just that, seemed to wither away.

I wanted to try erinacea once more and only Glass Box Tropicals had them. I ordered two plants a few weeks ago, repotted them together, (they are tiny) put them in the greenhouse/shelf alongside the umbellata and they have never missed a beat! I think one leaf fell and now they are growing. Hopefully this time around will be much better. I would recommend Glass Box Tropicals to anyone growing miniatures.

[bjmac]

Patty I am on my second Masdevallia erinacea. The first one lost all of it's leaves. The second one has only been in my tank 2 months, but is it has not drop leaves. Hope it gets established. Do you have your orchids in a green house or are they in terrariums.

[Pattywack]

Originally Posted by bjmac

Patty I am on my second Masdevallia erinacea. The first one lost all of it's leaves. The second one has only been in my tank 2 months, but is it has not drop leaves. Hope it gets established. Do you have your orchids in a green house or are they in terrariums.

I have a greenhouse shelving unit, inside my home with t5 HO lights. The shelving unti is 5’ tall x 19” deep x 27” wide. I have a fan running constantly. This holds quite a few miniature orchids.
The Platystele umbellata and the Masdevallia erinacea are in this setup. They are doing great, humidity is near 80% temps are approx mid to low 60s at night, high 70s daytime.

The stenostachya is in my Exo Terra. It is a small terrarium 12x2x18 without any fan. The passive air vents along with my meddling have always seemed adequate for air circulation. I hand mist this daily, some plants twice daily. I have two Exo Terra lights on this setup, 26wt natural daylight, cfl bulbs.

The new erinacea is doing well, no more leaf loss and I am seeing new growth. I was skeptical of repotting it so soon after receiving them though I planned to pot them together and decided it might be best to do this before they established in my setup. I convinced myself by repotting as soon as they arrived I would only be disturbing them once. Mike, I believe, from Glass Box Tropicals packaged these extremely well, included a heat pack and sent them in a styrofoam container. Unbelievable!

[Leafmite]

Looks like quite a show! Congratulations!