HELP! Why aren't my Angraecums growing..? - Page 2 - Orchid Board

zxyqu · #11 03-17-2012, 11:39 PM

I don't think you have to have 80%. Mine never get below 50%, and are regularly at 60-80% in my basest grow area. You can get away with regular misting for awhile, but the roots really struggle in low humidity.

Leafmite · #12 03-18-2012, 12:55 AM

If yours are mounted, do the roots get enough moisture? I potted all mine so the lava rock could hold humidity around the roots longer. With the aeranthes, I let a little water sit in the bottom of the saucers where the roots don't reach. The water evaporates through the rock to provide extra humidity. They were so little and delicate last spring (just out of flask and rootless) that I still baby them. The one thing about angracums, aeranthes, and aerangis is that they need good airflow around roots and leaves. If you do pot them, use plastic net pots. You can spray lava rock to provide extra humidity. Good luck. These can be grown, you just need to tweak a bit to make them happy. The only bad thing about potting the leonis and didieri is when they bloom, I don't think it will look as nice. Good luck!

NeoNJ · #13 03-18-2012, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zxyqu

I don't think you have to have 80%. Mine never get below 50%, and are regularly at 60-80% in my basest grow area. You can get away with regular misting for awhile, but the roots really struggle in low humidity.

I don't agree that misting does anything, and you would have to "mist" every few hours to do anything for your plants. I water my mounted plants daily, and have a humidifier on the windowsill for them. And even with that, I am not able to attain 60-80% Humidity levels. The humidifier just can't pump out that level of moisture.

#14 03-18-2012, 08:44 AM

I have sesquipedale and have the same problem: it is very slow to grow. Mine is potted into clay pot with large bark pieces, humidity was 60-70% during winter. I am planning to take it outside for the warm months, our summers are usually hot and humid. I will see if it will make the difference.

NeoNJ · #15 03-18-2012, 08:51 AM

I have 3 Ang. sesquipedale. Two of them budded up this past December. Unfortunately, all the buds blasted. I was heart-broken. I do believe it was probably the draft from the window and the lack of humidity that did it.

Paul Mc · #16 03-18-2012, 09:00 AM

Just got me susqui..., it was in bud but I fear the change in environment caused bud blast. Sad... I'm finding this thread interesting though. My leonis had no roots when I bought it and it now has two, but it's in a terrarium with 80% humidity.

NeoNJ · #17 03-18-2012, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Mc

Just got me susqui..., it was in bud but I fear the change in environment caused bud blast. Sad... I'm finding this thread interesting though. My leonis had no roots when I bought it and it now has two, but it's in a terrarium with 80% humidity.

I have 2 Ang. leonis, and a Ang. magdalenae. I fear they will never bloom. I really have to look at whether to keep these Ang/Aerangis. They are taking up valuable space. I may have to give them to my Orchid society Auction.

Leafmite · #18 03-18-2012, 12:25 PM

I just gave away a dendrobium that did not like the cooler house temps in the winter. It would get such a slow start on the new growth it would never finish in time. I loved the den but....
I do think it is helpful to look up Angs. with the Angraecum Encyclopedia (an online site), then look up the temps and conditions in Madagascar from their particular region. Some angs come from the lowlands, some from the mountains, some live in deep shade, some are on rocks where they get quite a bit of light. The temps are quite different, too. Fred Hillman's (I think this is the guy) writings are wonderfully helpful, too.
I know that aerangis are recommended to be mounted but I had no luck trying to grow one mounted in a humid bowl. It died a slow, painful death (it was painful for me, too). When I see them for sale at two places in the Akron/Cleveland area, they are always potted. Hausermann's has them potted as well. My citrata and ellisii are both doing very well in the lava rock/net pots (new roots, new leaves). I also know that the angraecums and aerangis are very sensitive to fertilizer build-up.
Sorry you are so frustrated. I can well understand. They are so beautiful and to have so much trouble getting them to grow must be terrible. Then, to make matters worse, not that many people seem to grow and/or discuss them. It is difficult to pinpoint the best culture. I grow many plants and some are very picky so I am accustomed to adapting plants to grow in my environment. I also can put them outside for the summer and we have the perfect summers for orchids. Hope someone at you OS can help.

radiofreekirkwood · #19 03-20-2012, 10:15 AM

I am hardly an authority, but I can tell you my experience:

I grow several Angraecoids in "windowsill culture" and have struggled with keeping humidity levels high enough for mounted Angs. Everything that I've read suggests that it is best to mount Angraecum elephantinum, but since I couldn't keep the RH high enough, I decided to pot it in LECA/Hydroton and it's done pretty well. The mount was not exceptionally well established, so I didn't lose much root mass in the process and in the 9+ months that the Angraecum elephantinum has been in the clay aggregate it's grown new roots and new leaves. It may be another season before it's strong enough to bloom, but you might consider ditching the mount and going with a course bark/lava rock/LECA potted setup - it will certainly give you a little more room for error when it comes to watering. With the LECA, the air flow in the roots is still good enough that the existing roots from the mount are still alive and the healthier existing roots have budded with some new root growth.

Angraecum leonis grows for me in a small clay pot with medium bark and charcoal in an East facing window. I've only had it since last summer and I purchased it as a seedling, so I can't tell you if that culture will be successful for flowering, but it has many healthy roots (new and old) and has grown new leaves on top and the existing leaves have gotten much larger.

I grow a pair of Angraecum sequipedales on a window sill with great results this past January when both plants put out two gigantic flowers a piece. When I purchased both of these plants they were in tall 4 inch plastic containers with medium bark and several aerial roots. I read many places that suggested that they would sulk for a long time if re-potted as the roots don't like to be disturbed, but the pots were not stable on their own and the aerial roots were in the way of them resting on a flat surface as well. So I placed the plastic pots in larger clay pots and filed them in with LECA, this stabilized the pots, but left enough air movement for the aerial roots to survive. It also acted as an extra humidifier. I find that now, all the root growth is in or growing into the clay aggregate and I have had root tips that have remained active for over a year that just keep going round and around the pot. I dread the day when the bark medium breaks down to the point when it has to be removed, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

NeoNJ · #20 03-20-2012, 10:27 AM

Thank you for your reply and information. Due to a major extermination project going on in the home, I have had to take all of the orchids - potted and mounted - outdoors. In the process, I decided to discard some that were not doing well, so some of the Angraecum and Aerangis were discarded. The mounted Ang. leonis was discarded. The potted Ang. leonis has been kept. I also have 2 Ang. longiscott that I will keep, although I question whether they will ever bloom. Perhaps the Spring/Summer outdoors will help them!