Bllra. loosing leaves, yellowing.

[Laelia purpurata]

I bought a large Bllra. a month ago. When I received it it was very pot bound so I removed it and pried out all the potting medium. It was almost completely root with very little bark in between. The roots did not look particularly healthy, in fact I couldn't tell that there was anything live in there but since the tops looked so great I figured that the roots must be alright. I repotted it to a slightly bigger pot but I couldn't really get any potting medium into the root ball, just around the edges and underneath. I figured that was alright because the roots were so dense they could hold the moisture themselves.

Over the next few weeks however, it has slowly been loosing leaves. They gradually turn yellow and fall off. This seems to be happening just to the pbulbs that had only one leaf to begin with but I'm afraid it might continue to the larger pbulbs. Does anyone have any suggestions about why this is happening and how I might be able to stop it? Can I expect it to continue, or do you think it will stabilize soon? I see one new root growing and there is a new growth, that was there when I received the plant, and it is growing too.

I was also wondering: if I remove a pbulb that has no leaves and pot it up separately, will it put out new growth?

Thank you for any advise you can give.

[jrodpad]

Hi. I don't know that there's anything wrong with putting potting material around and under a rootball as you describe if you're 100% sure that there's no rotting mass of degrading bark/moss at the center. I might be inclined to soak the rootball for a good long while before repotting to see if I can then wiggle and pick the root system apart. I've done this before (even cutting some of the roots that formed a collar around the inside of the rim of the pot) only to find a black, soil like mushy material at the center. It's a great way to rot the root system from the inside out.

I can't imagine that the beallara would be well anchored if you just wind up potting under and around the root mass. If it's not well anchored, every time you jostle the pot around when you water it you're going to be doing small amounts of damage to the roots that, over time, might aggregate to some meaningful damage. I might give repotting another go after soaking the rootball for a good long while. Alternatively, a well placed rhizome clip might help anchor the beallara into the pot.

Potting up could be the root - err - cause of the problem too. I'm told that Beallaras, like other onc types, like to be tightly packed and constrained. A larger pot means slower drying medium and that could set off root rot (or accelerate root rot that's already going on as discussed above) and cause the leaves to turn yellow as you describe.

I know there is a method of removing back bulbs and cultivating them into new plants with new leaves - but I've never done it myself, so I'll let someone else chime in on that one.

If you post pics - particularly of the root system, it would help us understand exactly what's going on.

Good luck!

- J