Back again with another retrocalla question.
So mine had one flower and 4 buds when i got it back in the beginning of october. Once i removed it from its pot and mounted it, the flower dropped and over the past month so did 3 of the 4 buds that had formed. 2 of the 4 had been growing but eventually one dropped. The other bloomed but the flower only lasted 3 days. Opening on day 1, fully open day 2, and now day 3 it is starting to wilt.
How long do the blooms last? I don't know why but i assumed more than 3 days.
Pics attached of when it opened on day 2 and another of what it looks like today, day 3
It has been a long time since I grew those, so cannot recall a typical bloom period, but it sounds like yours responded (poorly) to being unpotted and mounted. The best time to do that is just when new roots are emerging from the base of the plant, not when it is in spike.
The roots probably didn't have the capacity to take up adequate water, stressing the plant. In a pot of medium, the roots stay moist a lot longer, so can take up water over an extended period of time, so that's what the roots are used to doing. On a mount, they dry out faster, so when they try to "slowly sip" the water, there is none there.
You're going to want to water very often and keep it in high humidity, and let it get some new roots that are "tuned" for that mode of growing.
Thanks Ray!
I've been misting daily every morning, thoroughly soaking the sphag pad the roots are on, allowing it to dry out mostly by the next morning. I might need to mist the glass and background in the terrarium before nightfall to ensure humidity stays up overnight as it was not ideal humidity in there this morning (it's cold out and our heat is now on). I also purchased some of both your kelp max to help it create new roots accustomed to the new environment and k-lite and have been using that weekly now and i think both the monthly kelpmax and weakly weekly k-lite kept that last bud from blasting.
I enjoyed it while it lasted, i guess the fact it bloomed at all should mean it is doing well. Will continue what i am doing and monitor moisture and humidity as we progress further into the winter season.
*edit: dont know why it added a hyper link, i have a manual pump mister
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It may simply be a result of mounting it. Some plants seem to need to be well-established, no matter how they are grown. You'll often hear folks say that dendrobiums like to be "pot bound" before they'll bloom, for example.
A mounted plant may not be fully "comfortable" until it has attached a lot of roots to the mount.