My care habits seem to be death to S. hartmannii

[vmax3000]

I can't figure it out. I have tried mounted and potted...each time, death is the result. I have great luck with vandas, in general. The latest attempt with Sarcochilus hartmannii is a mounted plant. Around the base of the plant, there are scads of little plantlets, but the bottom leaves on the main plant have yellowed and fallen off. The leaves have developed sunken lines...kind of a dessicated look, but the humidity in my greenhouse is ~55-60%. I don't water S. hartmannii as much as I do the other vandas, as this one is surrounded with sphag. moss. It's up high in the greenhouse with the sun lovers. I am stumped. Should I just give up?

[lepanthes89]

I've had bad experiences also with this species.
The Aust. books say it needs carefull watering,intermediate temps.and good light/ventillation.
The thing with this genus is that they are so sloooow growing, that there is no room for mistakes.
I am currently trying Sarc. cecilliae from a seedling.Wish me luck.
Spiro

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You're having problems because they're lithophytes (they grow on rocks).

http://www.sdorchids.com/www/sarco_article.htm

[Lagoon]

I also have a hartmannii that gave me a really hard time thru-out the summer months (got it this spring) The one thing mine didn't favor was being dried out between waterings - it look terrible, turning yellow- leaves falling off and just all around dried up looking.

I threw it in a well drained peatmoss based mix and began spraying & drenching the leaves down a few times a week with distilled water. Its been just a month now its looks soooooooo much better, I really did think it was a gonner for sure, Man, I really wanted this one to live. The spider mite outbreak didn't help. BLAH!

Well anyways, its on the road to recovery with some new green basal growth.
Just hang in there... you'll get it down - KEEP TRYING!

[Andrew]

Sarcs are vandaceous. That's about all they have in common with Vanda. They need cool, shady conditions. I grow my Sarcs in a shadehouse without heat in Melbourne, Australia. My Sarcs are under about 70% shadecloth (80-90% in Summer) which is probably on the brighter side of Masdie light. While hartmannii prefers slightly brighter light than most other Sarcs it is not a high light orchid so keep it low in the greenhouse (which will also help keep it cool). I grow hartmannii potted in 2 bark: 1 larva rock. I use a slightly coarser grade of mix compared to other orchids but I do not allow the mix to dry out for any length of time. While I have seen hartmannii grown successfully on a mount, I find the lithophytes are easier to grow in pots.

[Undergrounder]

Andrew has good advice, i'd do what he says.. Don't treat them like Vandas at all. They're really meant for pots, and they don't like to dry out. Put it in a very well draining, coarse medium, but then don't hold back on the watering.

[cb977]

I guess I'll be moving mine to a shadier area!

[camille1585]

Wow, this is completely the opposite of what Orchidwiz says for this one! OW says Catt level light, as much as the plant can tolerate short of burning the leaves because in the wild they live in exposed habitats. And light is highest in winter. So are they completely off the mark with this one?

[Lagoon]

Camille, In my case it didn't like the high heats with the high catt light. My house is cooler now and the lighting is the same. So I think its the combination of the two.

[Undergrounder]

Camille i admit i'm no expert on hartmanii so i might be wrong, but i have visited Sarcochilus growing near Sydney many times, and they only live in cool, lush, shady, ferny, damp and humid areas in gullies and ravines in the mountains. BUT the ones i see are Sarc. olivaceus and Sarc. falcatus, not hartmanii which may well grow in a different environment..

I would open my "Native Orchids of Australia" book and find out but it's piled underneath 20 other heavy books and i don't want to cause a bookalanche...