Out of curiosity

[catwalker808]

I have 2 different comments regarding this issue. First, I believe that the native habitat of the masdevallia is in the southern hemisphere. Tom, in San Francisco, is in the northern hemisphere ... therefore any normal culture there would inherently be growing the plant upside down.

For you skeptics who scoff at this explanation, here's another. There are many pendant growing plants which are propagated and grow under normal tissue culture conditions ... namely with the bottles right side up, with the medium at the bottom. As plants grow larger after they come out of the bottle, the weight & mass of the plant may cause it to be pendant (as with long leaved Brassavolas). Possibly, negative photo-tropism (aversion to light) might play some role in downward growth. If germination & juvenile growth in a flask depended on a flask being upside down, then pendant plants, in nature, would need to germinate and only grow under the limbs of trees. (Plants such as the Masdevallia probably need the shade/ shelter and the moisture seeping down from a branch above).

While still in a flask, plants have very limited weight & mass. The inward sloping flask wall & the neighboring plants would support upward growth. If you wish to test the effects of negative photo-tropism, place the artificial light source under the flask or below & to the side of the flask base.

However, from our extensive experience with growing all kinds of plants in flask, I don't believe it is necessary to grow a flask, slanted or upside down just because an adult plant happens to grow in a pendant manner.