Bulb. lobbi - Can I "Pot" It?

[D&S Mabel]

I have a Bulb. lobbi that bloomed the first year I got it. That was 3 seasons ago and it has added a new bulb each year since but has failed to bloom again.


I "think" I might not be watering it enough as it gets watered each time my potted plants do and, since it is mounted (came that way from the grower), it probably should be watered more often.

My growing area is on an auto watering system and, since I can't change the watering schedule, - can I dismount this plant (or should that be "unmount") and put it in a pot/basket? If so, what kind of pot & potting mix should I try?

Any guidance is appreciated.

[whygreenberg]

I'd agree it's probably not been blooming because it's not being kept moist enough. Bulbos want as much moisture as you can give them without rotting them. The two potted Bulbos I've got, one is in a mixture of sphag and gravel (mostly sphag) and the other is in straight fine bark. Of course, our conditions are probably very different...But the one in sphag I only have to water once a week. The one in bark gets watered twice a week, but I often mist the exposed roots on non-watering days.

Now, I've never unmounted an orchid before (tho I think I'm fixin' to...I have a Masdie which I'm sure would be happier in my conditions if she were living in a pot). You may have to sacrifice roots which have attached to the mount...Bulbos have rather fine roots, so I think it would be difficult, if possible, to unattach the roots via soaking.

So...if your Bulbo has a very healthy root system, and you think will bounce back from loosing some roots, you might try unmounting. However, I'd personally see if there were some way I could leave it mounted and up the amount it gets water.

[orchidegg]

another idea you might consider is to put the mount inside a big pot and put sphag in the pot to help keep it moist more evenly between waterings. Then when it flowers you can take it out and hang it up

[Gold3nku5h]

I always unmount my stuff that i get. They always seem to be fine about a month after, and start growing pretty vigourously. I've taken them out of sphagnum wraped branches, off cork bark, and out of epi-web, and its all realatively easy, besideds the tree fern fiber, and im sure you can figure out why. I did damage alot of roots (only in the tree fern mounts), but these are just plants people, they want to live, and they arn't as fragile as we think they are. I treat them just as harshly (kindly) around repotting as any other plant, and it doesn't seem to bad.

[cb977]

Originally Posted by Gold3nku5h

these are just plants people, they want to live, and they aren't as fragile as we think they are.

Bravo!
My thoughts exactly!

I love my mounted chids so I don't usually remove them from their mounts...but if they are having a problem and I think their being potted might work out better, I have removed them with little or no problems.

Soak the mount (or basket) very well, then carefully "push" the roots off the mount. Some will, no doubt, get torn but it's not likely to be life-threatening.

[Gold3nku5h]

Oh, i love them to be mounted, but im getting them in pots, that will be hung vertically. Im in the process of building alot of pots that can stand vertical.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'm curious to know if there's a ten degree Farenheit temperature difference between night time temperatures and day time temperatures where you grow this. From what I understand one of triggers to getting a Bulbo to bloom is a 10 degrees F temperature difference between night and day.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

And yes you can pot Bulbos as long as you can grow them properly that way. Although growing them mounted appears to be easier (for me anyways).