Angraecum germinyanum repot advice - Orchid Board

Spiffy · #1 07-23-2020, 02:23 PM

Hi All...new species for me. I purchased this one a couple of weeks ago. I'm aiming to grow on my windowsill - eastern facing, temps should be ok.

As you can see from the photo, the plant has arrived in a small pot and double planted. It also has a ton of aerial roots. I'm daily misting at the mo, but ideally could drop my watering down to once every 4 days or once per week.

RH is a little low than ideal at the mo - 40 - 60% typically. Likely this will rise heading into autumn etc.
Some of the aerial roots have dried up right at the ends.

I read that these plants are particularly sensitive to repotting? In which case I'm weighing up 2 options:
1) Place existing pots inside larger terracotta pot, with some chunky bark pieces to line; or
2) As you can see in the 3rd pic, I've been experimenting with mounting some aerangis (punctata + fuscata + mystacidii) on wicking material. They seem to be going well so far with some new root and leaf growth showing in the last month. I'm tempted to do another one of these.

Any pointers? Wait until next spring for mounting + option 1) for now? Or are the worries about repotting overdone? If possible I'd rather mount up now while there is some summer and growing season left! I probably wouldn't be fretting so much if it wasn't for the roots starting to dry.

Advice appreciated!

estación seca · #2 07-23-2020, 03:50 PM

Smaller Angraecums are high-humidity orchids. They can be difficult in low-humidity homes unless in a terrarium. Perhaps consider putting them in a very tall glass vase or hurricane lamp glass?

Most monopodial orchids are in continuous growth when temperatures are correct, so you could repot or mount now.

I might consider repotting as it was done with this plant before - leave it in the current pot, thread the roots through the openings of a larger basket pot, and add a little more medium.

It's hard to care for mounts in a typical home environment with humidity as low as yours. The wicking mount would help. Monopodials on mounts generally need watering at least once a day, often more.