Maxillaria paranaensis propagation from cuttings

[dnatural1]

Hi All,
I was recently given a couple of Maxillaria paranaensis cuttings mounted on tree fern. They seemed like they were making a couple of new roots when I got them but do not seem to be progressing now. See attached photo. My questions are:

What is the best way to propagate this plant? A lot of the photos I've seen of this plant show it mounted (eg https://www.aos.org/SITF-Blog/Maxill...018-07-23.aspx)

If mounted what is the recommended base (tree fern, cork, other ?

Any special preparations required - some suggested I remove the sheets around the pseudobulbs

If mounted is it placed with the leaves pointing up or down (I've seen pics of both ways - mine came with the leaves pointing down!

Any suggestions welcome

[estación seca]

Maxillarias need to stay moist. Your plant has few roots. It will struggle until it makes more roots. Keep it as humid as possible and water it plentifully. On a mount it will need daily watering, more on hot days.

[Roberta]

First, DON'T remove any of those sheaths! They protect roots hiding under them. I think that now, just patience. (And if the whole thing gets wet, great... the roots under those sheaths can hydrate the plant before it grows new active ones)

[dnatural1]

Hi All,

A belated tks to Estacion Seca and Roberta. Your comments were helpful.

As like all Maxillarias it would require to be kept moist then a 'plain' mount would be a challenge for me as it can get quite hot and dry even in the East coastal region of Australia. So I decided to hedge my bets and opt for two options. One was to pot one of the cuttings in a sphag-pearlite mix. The other was to keep one mounted but pack some sphagnum moss on top of the mounted piece (and tied the whole lot with jute twine). I tried the latter method on other mounted plants and it mostly worked.

BTW only one root was actually growing into the tree fern mount. The other roots may have been there from a previous life.

[Roberta]

Looks good!

[estación seca]

Both should grow.

[dnatural1]

Tks again Roberta and Estacion Seca. I'll send a couple of photos that show the results when they happen.