Ludisia discolor in bloom
 

I got this as a tiny little cutting from a friend about 3 years ago. It never did much until I began paying better attention to watering it. It likes more than what I was giving it. So now it has taken off and has 2 spikes and a number of other spikes just starting. I grow it in low light. One spike and a trailing piece broke off when I was trying to photograph it so I will try and root the piece and give it away.

Very pretty, good job!

Nice!

Very nice!

nicely grown

Lovely! My orchid plant is also in bloom. I must post pictures.

Thanks for looking!

Great photo!

I love this one, what with bits breaking off and being rooted I have several and it's great to see all the flowers just now :)

Thanks Rosie. I have never seen the bloom in person till now and I always thought people grew these for the pretty leaves. But the blooms are fairly significant too. I think the red part of the blooms adds a lot of contrast and makes them quite showy.

I admire your success with this plant. I have had one for going on 2 years now, and I can't seem to make it happy. It is in spike right now, but the leaves look terrible. They have lost their stripes and have turned solid green, and some have pink spots on them and one has turned completely pink. Ugly. I had it outdoors in the summer and it looked pretty good, and that's where the spike started. I had to bring it in and it is kind of under the shelf where it doesn't get much light, I water it weekly, fert bi weekly, temps range from 55F nights to 70F days. It looks disgusting ! Any ideas ? I will post a picture tomorrow.

Thanks gngrhill. I don't do anything special. It is in more dirt like soil rather than orchid media. And under 1 T5 but not real close. I had a couple pink spotted leaves also. I think I was spraying another plant with something and the overspray hit those leaves. It must be sensitive to some things. Could that be the case with your spotted leaves? I don't let mine go dry and it gets fairly warm temps in summer and 60 at night, 65 during the day right now in winter. And fairly good moving air. I just feed it same as the others with a balanced fertilizer usually applied weakly, weekly. Hope that helps.

Thanks, Silken. Gives me hope that I can turn this thing around sometime.

Congrats on the blooms!

I bought this a few times as a kid.
I always killed it by overwatering it. One day, the plant looked wilted and I gently pulled it up, and there were no roots left and the fleshy stem part half rotted away. lol
I didn't know it was an orchid at the time, but readily available and leaves were so nice!

Silken, here is the picture I said I would post. What do you think ?

Well, its alive! I'm no expert on it but I wonder with the many holes and loose media if it is a bit too dry. Mine is in a clay pot with soil like media and a few small rocks on top. I do plan on re-potting it one of these days as it needs a larger pot. I think mine stays moist most of the time, but not soggy. It is a very fleshy stem compared to other orchids. OrchidWiz does suggest a more open media than what I have and quite a bit of water year round except a bit drier for a couple months in winter. Maybe give it some seaweed now and then to keep roots growing. As for the spotted leaves, looks similar to a leaf or two of mine. Could it have been sprayed with something? Otherwise it looks fine. Maybe pinching off a few gangly bits will get it to bush out like a house plant does. I just broke a piece off of mine that was hanging way over the pot. It was accidental tho!

Did you say it was outside for the summer? I wonder about leaf miners. They can cause damage leading to dead or damaged patches like this.

I am not familiar with leaf miners. Is that something they would bring inside , or would they only attack outside, do their damage and then leave? How would you combat that?

---------- Post added at 10:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:50 PM ----------

I have never sprayed it, but being under the shelf I'm sure it's been dripped on when I water the plants above it. I had it in a soil type media when I first got it, but changed it when it became obvious I wasn't making it happy. It has never been happy. Maybe if I put it into something like a soil and bark or perlite mix. And I don't know about the light. It seemed to do good outside which was bright, but doesn't seem to be happy anywhere near the lights inside. Although as an afterthought, it doesn't look any happier under the shelf :biggrin:

According to Orchid Wiz it is a pretty low light plant. Maybe like a Phal.

Thanks for your help, I'll see what I can do with it.

Leaf miners are tiny little insects that burrow through leaves, leaving skeletonized curlicue tracks. They eat the insides of cells and leave the walls, so the plant surface is intact. They're common on a lot of leafy vegetables. They can leave pale patches on leaves if a lot of bugs attack one leaf.

They don't do a lot of damage to most vegetables and we (I?) don't grow leafy vegetables for looks, but on a decorative plant I could see them making an ugly mark.

However, I have no idea whether they would attack a jewel orchid.

gngrhill - if I can offer an opinion, L. discolor grows best if treated more like an African violet. Mine was started from stem cuttings, I took a large plastic pot, filled 2/3 with bark mixed with Styrofoam chunks. The remaining 1/3 is filled with African violet potting mix. Place the lower ends of cuttings in soil & anchor. Keep moist, light should be lower than or equal to Phalaenopsis. Leaves fade & wither if they get too much light.

Thanks, Orchid Whisperer, Maybe after it blooms I will try a repot. Both you and Silken recommend a more soil type medium, so I will try that. I don't think I can take any stem cuttings as there are only 2 stems at present, but I do have a couple of very tiny new growths coming up, so when (if) they develop, I can try cutting the big stem and try to start a new one.