Care tips for Bulbophyllum barbigerum

[Carrot Nose]

Hi everyone, is there anyone with experience growing Bulbophyllum barbigerum willing to share some tips, please? I bought one a month ago from an orchid show. I gather they are relatively rare because I can barely find any information about them on the internet. I want it to do well so would appreciate all tips.

When I got it, it was wood mounted with a bit of sphagnum moss and some other kind of moss grown on the wood (which is now dead). Now it seems kinda shrivelled and droopy though it has put out a couple of new roots. I thought it was dehydrated so I put it inside a small clear pot (still attached to the wood) and piled more sphagnum moss around it and overtop to keep it more hydrated. It's also sitting overtop a humidity tray right by a south facing window. I am in Canada so the climate's not the most similar to its native Africa. Trying to do what I can for it. I only wish one day it might be healthy enough to bloom. Here is a pic of it. Thanks.

[AnonYMouse]

Mine is just finishing off its blooms. Since we have very different conditions, not sure what I do will work for you.

Mine is in a terracotta pot with a coco fiber liner and LECA as media. It sits a few inches under a household LED light. Gets watered every day.

If it were mounted (I have other bulbos that are mounted), I would remove it from the pot-o-sphag and just water it more frequently (it was healthy when you bought it, correct?).

Good luck.

[Carrot Nose]

Thanks for the reply. Yes it was healthy when I got it. It's still not too bad, just shriveled a bit. What is the rationale for taking it out of the pot of moss? To give more air flow? I ask because before I put it in the pot, I was spraying it 3 or 4 times a day. The humidity here is super low in my home (20 to 25% in winter, 30 to 35% in summer) and I am away virtually all day so I can't really keep the humidity up unless I have the plant sitting in moss. And I'd rather not use a humidifier.

I guess it could have rotted roots due to lack of air, yeah. Bit wary of unwrapping it to find out. Congrats on your blooms though!

[silken]

Baker's culture sheets in Orchid Wiz say it does OK mounted but many growers have a problem keeping it moist enough. It likes really high humidity. So potting it is likely a better option for you. I grow my own one bulbo in moss and see many people do that. But in the culture notes for this one, it doesn't mention moss as a suggested media at all, but rather open fast draining medium in shallow pots. Such as medium bark, shredded tree fern fiber and large perlite. So maybe it needs more air to the roots than moss will allow. It needs lots of water spring thru fall but less in winter. Good luck with it.

[AnonYMouse]

I HATE sphag. It's too difficult to control. There are people who do well with it. I'm just not one of them.

You can try a simple enclosure, like hanging it on the inside of a vase.

[Carrot Nose]

I used to hang it off another pot like that, before I put the whole thing in its own pot surrounded by moss. I do ok with moss, I actually do a bark/moss mix for my other plants who are doing well.

Ok so it likes high humidity, might have to fully pot it at some point. Bark on its own may not give it that high humidity in my environment though.

At any rate I unwrapped it today and found it didn't have a whole lot of roots, I actually don't know what they should look like - but it didn't look the best. Just 3 or so brownish ones I can't even be sure were alive. So I've wrapped new moss around it (the old stuff it came with looked kinda decayed).

[lepetitmartien]

use a small (but big enough) plastic GH, it'll keep air wet, but beware to have enough air movement. It makes wonders to most of my bulbos. Now I don't have the humidity issues of the air you face.

[Carrot Nose]

What is GH?

[Tschimm]

Greenhouse.

[lepetitmartien]

Note it'll not work for all, it does for some for me. Until I get some terrariums running.