Angraecum Leonis.....Questions.

[Cattleya17]

Hello everyone im new and my name is samuel and i got an ang leonis about 3 maybe 4 weeks ago in bloom. the first bud blasted and it immediatly sentout another one. This bud was small and upside-down and it then turned right side up and started to lengthen its tail and get fatter so just over night when things are going good it turned yellowish and then by the end of the day it is now completly yellow. this happened to the other bud too! while things are going good with absolutly no probs they just blast for no apparent reason overnight what could be wrong? too much light? its 6 inches from my flourescent lights its a T-5 bulb that emits 5000 lumens humidity rarely falls below 55% i am watering like the woman from cal orchid said to(she said water when you can stick your finger down to the second knuckle and barely feel moisture) but it seem that when i water the buds blast but it happens a little before that point im confused. the temps go to about 73 at day and down to 65 or sometimes 62 at night. im in my house growing. am i not supposed to water period untill flowering is over or should i only mist

[Ross]

First of all welcome!

Next, I grow primally Angraecoids, but mine are mostly in a terrarium (tank) a very large one where I maintain 90+ percent humidity. It rarely drops below 80% and then only at night when I run the thru-wall fans for 2-3 hours top freshen things up a bit. Having said this, what I know about most Angraecoids (including yours) is if you have problems with either bud/flower drop/blast or incomplete opening, it most suridly is a humidity issue. These guys come from the parts of the world where high humidity is a regular thing, thus is a must. I don't think light is the issue, 'cause these guys can take really low light (and a few demand it). But I really think if your plant is in the "open" (as on a window sill, etc.) that may be the problem. Try holding more humidity around the plant by setting it in an old, unused aquarium or other glass container large enough. Keep the light the same but try to just increase the humidity and see if that doesn't do the trick.

Oh, yeah, I don't see it as a watering issue either unless it it too dry. They like to be wet - sort of drying out overnight, but not like Cats or other orchids. The ones I have in my grow window get daily watering by submersion (dunking) then dry out from the constant fan movement, then water again. If you got it to flower, but not hold the bud/blossom, then I'd bet humidity is the issue. Get the humidity, somhow, to above 80% and you should be good to go.

[mehitabel]

Hi, Samuel. Welcome.

Here is some advice a very accomplished orchid grower gave me about ang leonis. I know she'll be glad that I passed it on to you:

>>"Angraecom leonis grows from sea level to 1500m, making it a warm to intermediate grower. At the higher altitude end of its range, it would be happy with day temps in the upper 60s to low-70s, with nights about 10 degrees cooler. It seems to be a popular misconception that Madagascar is all hot and steamy. It is not, and has many cool-intermediate to cool growers as well, and also some orchids which thrive in areas that are near desert.

>>"Fortunately, Ang. leonis grows in this wide variety of climate zones so usually does very well in cultivation under a variety of conditions. As for humidity, please don't get carried away. I can even grow wet cloud forest Pleurothallids without dryness problems at 50% humidity as long as I keep the media moist. My leonis is bareroot mounted on a slab of cork and spends its winter at about 65F during the heat of the day and roughly 55-60F at night. It gets bright diffused light when the sky isn't overcast -- which it frequently is."

The way I understand that advice is that you do need to keep your ang a bit moistish, *not drying out like a catt*. It's possible that your ang is getting just a tad too dry between waterings.

1. Don't withhold water from it.

The "knuckle deep" advice from CalWest is good advice, and certainly will keep you from *overwatering*, but maybe just a tad more moisture than what you're giving?

2. For increasing humidity, here's what I sometimes do: get a clay pot bigger than your ang pot. Put the clay pot in a saucer of water. In the bottom of the clay pot put something like a jelly-jar lid upside down. The lid is to keep your ang pot from touching the wet bottom of the clay pot and getting too wet.

The bigger clay pot will stay moist and release a little humidity in the air continuously around the ang, but the ang itself will not be getting too wet.

3. "Bright diffused light" . A few inches from a T5 is going to be very intense light. Iit won't hurt for you to move it a few more inches away from your light. Try something like 8-10" to start. That's safe, and it won't be too little or too much.

You *can* put a plant too close to a fluorescent tube, and T5's are much stronger than t8's.

The thing about being too close to a light is the *heat* and *dryness* a few inches from the light. It can also be even more intense light than full sun at noon. So moving your ang a few inches further away may help a lot.

This heat and dryness from being too close to the light could be what's interfering with your attempts to give it humidity.

Hope this helps.

There's a lot of learning how to do things when you try a new orchid, so don't get discouraged. You've done really well to get that second bud going. Now you just have to get it over the hump

mehitabel

[Brooke]

Hi Samuel - I think Mehitabel is correct the T-5 is causing your problems. T-5's run much warmer than a T-8 and 6" is probably drying your bud out.

Try increasing your humidity in the immediate area of your Ang. and see if you can get another bub to appear.

Good luck

Brooke