I decided to try some Bulbos last fall. I bought a couple bare root, a couple mounted and two potted. I mounted the bare-root ones. I watered them when they started getting close to dry.
They didn't grow well at all. Several began growing new shoots, which soon turned black and soft. I lost two that were supposed to be "Easy."
I was browsing Orchid Board to figure out why. I found glowing reviews for a book:
Bulbophyllums: The Incomplete Guide; From A to WHY? by Bill Thoms
I bought the book. Bill says he heavily soaks all his plants very frequently, because Bulbos appear to take up water slower than other orchids. He grows nothing on mounts because they do so much better in shallow, wet baskets. He has side-by-side photos of divisions of plants to prove it. There is a lot more, but this is the main thing I was doing wrong.
I strongly recommend the book. It cost a lot less than the plants I was about to kill, but now appear to be turning the corner.
I might add - B. echinolabium comes from Sulawesi and Borneo, where it probably rains only twice a day in the dry season.
Bill has a nursery and can be found at
Bulbophyllums.com
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