Masdevallia potting experiment

[s.kallima]

I've had several Masdies in S/H for a few years, the oldest one has been in hydroton since 2008. It works great for me, but a modified version of it, because I found the pellets on the first 1/3rd of the pot were always drying too fast, and I had trouble with young leaves getting stuck in the sheath.
I replaced the top 1/3rd part with live sphagnum moss, or even loose dead sphagnum moss and it is much better. It keeps moisture on the surface, but not too much because the LECA under has a draining effect. I keep one inch of water at the bottom of the pots, and water mostly with pure water, very seldom use of fertilizer.

[DelawareJim]

Has anyone tried growing them in Seramis?

It's now available here in the US and I'm tempted to have a go.
Plant and Orchid Care Products | Seramis

Cheers.
Jim

[Bud]

Your experiment is working Paul....the Masdies are happy and healthy....it also got the correct color leaves so the lighting is perfect....I will use this method on three of my new arrived Masdies. I used the RJSquirrel method on the others and I got four of them to bloom....

[Polarizeme]

Originally Posted by Bud

Your experiment is working Paul....the Masdies are happy and healthy....it also got the correct color leaves so the lighting is perfect....I will use this method on three of my new arrived Masdies. I used the RJSquirrel method on the others and I got four of them to bloom....

What is that? RJSquirrel method??

[DelawareJim]

Originally Posted by s.kallima

I've had several Masdies in S/H for a few years, the oldest one has been in hydroton since 2008. It works great for me, but a modified version of it, because I found the pellets on the first 1/3rd of the pot were always drying too fast, and I had trouble with young leaves getting stuck in the sheath.
I replaced the top 1/3rd part with live sphagnum moss, or even loose dead sphagnum moss and it is much better. It keeps moisture on the surface, but not too much because the LECA under has a draining effect. I keep one inch of water at the bottom of the pots, and water mostly with pure water, very seldom use of fertilizer.

What if you tried a more "square" container with a 1:1 height to width ratio? I think one of the most common semi hydro pots is approximately the same as a quart take-away soup container and is roughly 1.5:1 in height to width. A pint take-away is roughly 1:1 and may actually be slightly wider than tall.

Might be something to experiment with.

Cheers.
Jim

[OhioBob]

This is a great thread. I just bought my first Masdie two weekends ago. It is pot bound and I have been trying to decide how to repot it. Of course, I bought it without knowing any of the growing requirements so have had a fast education.
The plant is in a 1.5 square pot and I was wondering if I should go to a 2 or 2.5 inch clay round pot.
Keeping the masdie in the winter and spring will be easy in my cold house but come the heat of summer will be a different challenge.

[s.kallima]

Jim, I use regular clay pots that I transform into s/h pots, plugging the bottom hole and drilling 2 holes at 1" above the bottom. So there are close to 1:1
My plants seemed to be stressed by the top layer of pellets not staying moist enough I guess( clay pots evaporate way more than plastic, so it could be the cause).
since I have moss on top, just near the base of the leaves, they are growing way better!

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Polarizeme

What is that? RJSquirrel method??

Here you go: Growing masdies/draculas in glass bowls?

[Paul Mc]

Ooohhhh, Moss on top! Doing that today! Great idea! Yeah, I noticed it seems way to dry at the too for my liking.

RJ's method did work for me, as the Masdie continued to grow leaves but 2 other collapses due to root rot. The one that did survive had horrid black spotting on all of the leaves. While it survived, its never been truly happy. Hence, trying something new, lol...

[Vanda lover]

I have been considering trying this myself. Mine is in a clay pot in sphag, sitting inside another clay pot on top of some clay pellets. The whole thing sits in a dish of water, but until I put a fan on it, it was remaining too damp. With the fan it seems just right and the plant has improved.