Dying lepanthes in terrarium? slow decline.

[vraev]

Hey guys,

I have been trying to grow lepanthes for many years. While I had a limited amount of success in the past, 2 y ago, I changed my setup and since then, haven't had any good success yet with any species.

The plants grow ok for the first few months...then they keep flowering profusely until they die. I just can't figure out what is happening. It can be mounted plants, or it can be potted plants.



note the marks under the leaves. Plant flowers profusely...but fails to grow new leaves from the pot.



Kiki from the L. maxonii above. Didn't know what to do..placed it in this pot as u can see...hovering over the media. I hope i can keep it alive.



L. vellicata .. grew very well for the 1st year. Then went downhill...now down to one good leaf.



Multiple lepanthes...the mounted one u can see creeping... L. caprimugulus, L. calodycton. Grew very well again for a while... 8 months or so and then are going downhill again. Now more new leaf growth.



L. tsubotae... again flowers..but clearly dying



DOn't remember which one this is...again..flowers..but not too much new leaf growth.



almost dead L. telipogoniflora and L. caprimulgus



Another L. telipogoniflora on a slow decline. The L. tentaculata next to it is doing ok.



Any suggestions? Please help. There is one fan as u can see. But.. a mistking system coming on 8 times during the day once every 2h. I try to avoid water on leaves at night. Don't know what else to do. For some reason...they just don't seem to do well in long term.

thanks

V

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[harpspiel]

Well, I'm certainly not an expert so take this with a grain of salt, but seeing the red on your sphagnum, some very dark leaves, and the nepenthes, it looks to me like you might be growing them in too much light. The color of everything, including the pitchers, seems very dark/intense which to me indicates high light but perhaps could indicate some nutrient deficiency that I'm not aware of?

Keep in mind that different types of orchid leaves respond differently to light levels - some get lighter when light is high, and some get darker. Some also prefer a bit of a 'sunburn' - I have a Pleurothallis prolifera and it was recommended that I up the light levels until the leaves have some red, and the plant seems to be happy with that. However, pretty much everything I see about Lepanthes says low light.

[vraev]

Thanks for the reply. So I guess I should try to move them down a bit? Concern is whether I should try to go for it and perhaps unpot all those problematic lepanthes and try repotting it. But on mounts for all? some potted? Regd nutrient deficiency...I tried some fert pellets, but it actually seemed to kill some plants...I guess it was too strong. So now I am going to go back and try the better-gro orchid fert again.

[harpspiel]

Well in general pleurothallids (and carnivorous plants) should be fertilized extremely lightly. What I generally hear is 1/4 strength orchid fert every few weeks. However, someone with more knowledge might be able to say if there is a specific nutrient that they are either lacking or getting too much of.

[vraev]

I noticed that some plants seem to do well in the lowest reaches of the tank. L. calodycton for instance...notice it in the 5th pic. Not the potted one, but the one on the mount seems to LOVE that corner at the bottom..it is making like 5 new leaves. It hated it when I had it at the top.

[AnonYMouse]

I only grow L. telipogoniflora and I don't grow them (3) in a proper tank, so take this with a shaker of salt.

You have A LOT of moss.

[vraev]

Generally I found live sphagnum is good enough for most orchids to live in... the live moss can control the amount of water and most plants..especially with my experience in nepenthes, really enjoy it. As long as the moss doesn't go downhill, the they enjoy the microclimate it creates. Heck...one of my telipogoniflora grew its biggest roots when it was potted in live sphagnum. But sadly.. I forgot noticing that the moss started dying and there was algae buildup on top and that put the plant downhill to death.

The other mosses are kind of a nuisance....but almost impossible to get rid of.

[Ordphien]

Water? Light? Temperature? Humidity?

[vraev]

water is distilled water only... sprayed through a mistking system for 8 times a day. Light is 4 x LED 24". Temperatures...I seriously don't know. My thermometer died. But room temps are like 18-21C. The humidity again..I don't know. humidifier also died long ago... the mistking keeps everything pretty wet/humid. The moss is the indicator of humidity...when it gets too dry, the moss goes dry/white.

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[Paul]

Actually, dark green leaves do not indicate exposure to very high light levels ... Quite the opposite, in fact. Or were you referring to the red on the leaves? If the latter, then I definitely agree.

I, too, have issues with Leps and so will be very interested in watching for the advice this thread draws.