Share the Secrets of Schromburgkia tibincis
 

I recently rescue this Schromburgkia tibincis and was wondering if anyone could share with me the secrets to successfully growing this plant? I have been spraying it down daily and lightly feeding it to get it back to a healthier place. Other than limey coloration and a very poor root system, the plant seems alright. However, the growths seem to have been getting smaller with each of the last several growing seasons (probably starvation and dehydration).
Starting this fall, what can I do to maximize my chances of seeing blooms next year?

Thanks,

Aaron "The Orchid Whisperer" M.

I will be watching this one with interest as I have one that I believe is a species that I rescued off a palm tree and it has the same problem.
I tied my Schom. to a piece of tree fern trunk and after six weeks of feeding/watering it is throwing new roots.
The fact that we are heading into summer may be a contributing factor.

Baz

You Southernhemispherians and your crazy backwards seasons. Although Santa-themed bikinis and ice cold Foster's probably beat parkas and snow shovels at Christmas time.

You got that right Aaron, bikinis and Fosters are popular down here.
The last snow shovel vendor in our area died of starvation. Fosters vendors on the other hand......
On a more serious note, my Schom has an old pseudo bulb about 300mm (one foot) long and has two small rounded leaves. Any idea of species name?

Baz

Grow it the same as you would/do Cattleyas. Better to under water than over water. Bright light and heavy feeding in the hotter months.

Here's my Schomburgkia tibicinis.

It looks like it might be drying out too quickly. I had the same problem with mine. I took a bunch of spag and tossed it on top of the mount. Worked great for me. You could also take a big handful of spanish moss and drape it around the roots to keep some moisture in but not too much. I do that with some of my other mounts that need to dry quickly but not as quickly as they get in my grow area.

Great ideas Steve.

The problem might be with your mount. Your's looks like cork which I find a little too dry for some applications. I have a Schom. and 2 Smbna's mounted on grapewood and they're growing like crazy. I placed a cushion of New Zealand Sphag. between the plant and the wood. They get heavily spritzed with city water once a day and fertilized once a week. They receive E/SE exposure until about 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. There's a tall palm that casts a little intermittent shade during their sun exposure. These plants have taken very well to their mounts/lighting location and almost immediately began throwing out roots and growth. The attached photos document root production from July 10, 2008 through Oct. 1, 2008. There were no fresh roots when the plant was mounted on July 8, 2008.

I think I will try adding a little sphag around the roots and see if that helps. There are some new roots forming at the base of what I think is the newest growth. I will up the feeding gradually so that I don't shock the plant.

As Junebug said, it might be the mount. I also have a Schom on grapewood and it's growing like nuts. When I first got it about six months ago, it came as a division that the specimen plant looked rough. It came with about 5 pseudo bulbs of which two quickly rotted away.

It now has ten bulbs and an eleventh popping out recently. It went to spike in May, but the guy I was counting on to water my chids while I was down in the Virgin Islands on vacation, flaked out and the spike burned off.

Don't know what species of Schom I have (not seeing the blooms as of yet) but I do have one of the pseudobulbs about 14" long and almost 2" thick.

I treat it like a Vanda and water it every day and multiple times.

Now, as for your delimma, you can always send it to me here in my warm sunny climes of So Flo for rehab:biggrin: