My first Masdevalia - is it best left in moss?
 

I've just recieved my first Masdevalia, it's a Masdivallia veichiana.

I have no idea if I will be able to grow it in my enviroment, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_o4OXVkcS2VU/So...%20%282%29.JPG

It came potted in sphag and I've never grown anything in sphag before. I know lots of Masdi pics I've seen have been in sphag and I wonder if it is the best medium for this sort of orchid, but at the same time it's not a medium I am used to.

The pot is one of those plastic mesh type, where there are more holes than there is pot. The sphag is also very loose looking and seems quite fresh.

When I got it the sphag was really dry and the pot was so light it kept falling over. I put it in an outer pot mainly to stop it falling over, but once I watered it it was standing up better anyway.

So what do you think... should I leave it in the sphag or should I repot in fine bark like I am used to for other types of 'chid.

I was planning on pulling it out the pot in the next few days anyway to get a look at the roots, but not sure if I should then return it to the sphag or try it in bark. :hmm

Rosie I'm switching all of my Masdies over to the net pots. I've always used sphag/tree fern and clay pots but after I received three Masdies from a vendor in the net pots in wet sphag, I fell in love with the pots.

My Masdies are doing much better this summer than in years past and I think it is due to the ability to supply heavy moisture but lots of air flow to the roots.

Good luck but be careful, Masdies are very addicting and don't take up much room :biggrin:

Brooke

Thanks Brooke,

I'm quite scared of this Masdie at the momment, but I love the flowers of masdies and if I can do OK with this one I will very likely get addicted. In fact if I don't do OK I will probably try again anyway because I love the look of them so much :biggrin:

Growing in Sphag will be a new experience for me, but because of the pot it looks like it will dry out very easily and I should not get a problem :crossfing

Hi Rosie! I'm new to Masdie's too....I've had a NOID hybrid for about a little over a year and I have it in a 3 inch plastic slotted pot in repotme.com's imperial multipurpose mix. I water it every three days or so and I keep it in an East facing window. Despite my low humidity it is still a great bloomer for me!

I've also acquired more Masdie's recently and I have opted to leave them in the moss they came in, but I repotted one since the moss didn't look so fresh. They came in the small mesh pots you described yours being in. They seem to dry out pretty quickly so if I have a hard time keeping moss moist in my orchidarium, then I definitely would have a hard time with a different kind of medium. From my experience, the Masdie's like to be moist, but not wet, and not dry!

Hope this helps some!

Sounds like how I got started on masdies!:biggrin:

I grow all my masdevallias in moss; I just find it's a great medium that retains the moisture masdies crave but also dries out fast enough that the roots don't stay sopping wet. It's not a hard medium to get used to, and you'll soon learn the signs of when to water. A trick I use is to press on the moss a bit, and if water comes out then I don't water. Unfortunately, it also breaks down a lot quicker than bark, which means you have to repot more often.

How quickly would you expect it to dry?

Wednesday - I got the plant and watered it.

Friday - I took all the moss and the plant out the pot to check the roots as the moss seemed nice and fresh I put it all back in. The moss was still very wet feeling.

Saturday - Moss still seemed wet. We had doors and windows open and good air movement in the house. As the mesh pot is in an outer pot (loose fitting, more space than arround my pots with bark) I took it out to allow increased air flow arround it.

Sunday - Moss still seemed damp but drier than Saturday. Same as Saturday, doors and windows open and mesh pot out of the inner pot.

Monday - Moss was dry on top but still somewhat damp feeling lower down. I watered again anyway, not sure I should have done.

So that's about 5 days to get to being just slightly damp and I think it would have take longer if I didn't have doors and windows open for a couple of days.

Is that normal with moss, does it sound like it's drying too slowly?

What is the pot size? It looks small to me, but you know how looks can be deceiving in pictures...lol. And are you keeping it inside of another container or is that just for decoration for the picture?

Yep they're like eating potato chips you can't have just one! :D I started with 3 and now have 9. Some are doing better than others. We have very hot summers here so I think some of them are not liking that too much. I think some of them need repotting. The medium is looking pretty funky. I may put one in a net pot with sphag as an experiment and see if it likes it.

One thing I do know is they are very fussy about water quality. I'd recommend using RO water or distilled only on these guys.

I have finally switched the last of mine to Paph mix. Every one that came in moss rotted the roots. The ones in Paph mix are fine. I personally don't believe moss has much of a place in my regimen. Interestingly, most of mine continue to bloom and grow over the summer. The heat hasn't bothered them in the slightest.

I have one Masd. it got to much light and the leaves turned dark.

Ross can you tell me what your Paph mix is?

Sheridan