Suggestions for culture of new orchids..lepanthes and masdevilla - Orchid Board

vraev · #1 03-17-2011, 03:41 AM

Hi guys,

Finally...I was able to get in my new orchids today. They came in fantastic condition and I am very pleased with them. The amazing quality of these plants itself makes me think that it is a responsibility to keep them growing n that good condition. I dont care much about flowering.

I only have one other orchid: Lepanthes telipogoniflora and it has been doing pretty well.

Please offer some suggestions as I am truly not an orchid grower. I am a nepenthes enthusiaist and I am currently growing these plants in a highland nepenthes tank. Temps can go to 82F during day in this tank during spring and temps can get down to 55F at night. During summer is a problem as temps have gotten to 93F or so during peak times for a month or so and then I use an AC at night to cool to 60F. I know I have to be careful with these temps.

ANyways here are some pics.. I basically mounted all the lepanthes using the sphagnum moss that came with the plant on cork bark. The masdevilla and dracula are potted in a mix of sphagnum moss, charcoal and orchid bark in a 3.5" net pot.

Lepanthes calodycton

Lepanthes gargoyla and lepanthes ophioglossa

Lepanthes micropeltata and lepanthes melpomene

M. patula

D. chiroptera

D. vampira

To end this series, here is a pic of the regular inhabitants of my other tank, a Cephalotus follicularis

thanks,

V

Discus · #2 03-17-2011, 05:33 AM

Nice plants!

Dracula are generally grown suspended (often in a slatted basket), as the flowers come out the bottom of the plant.

Those plants should do OK in a highland Nepenthes tank - as long as you can keep the higher temperatures in check - but the humidity should help them cope.

vraev · #3 03-18-2011, 12:44 AM

Thanks very much. I am very happy with the quality of plants I have recieved. THe lepanthes telipogoniflora came with 2 leaves...these new plants are just amazing. Never expected them to be this nice.

Thanks for advice on the dracula. It is approx 2' underneath a 4 x T5 54watt + 2 x T8 fixture. Is this enough light? ALso it is underneath the lepanthes mounts...so its in shade. THat should be fine right?

Also, can someone provide suggestions on a cooling system? Its just the start of spring and daytime highs were already 76F. Night time is struggling to get to 65 or 64F.

Discus · #4 03-18-2011, 04:59 AM

re: cooling, if the outside (room) air is cooler than the tank, flushing room air through the tank will help - you can keep the humidity high with a misting or fogging system. You can do this pretty simply with some "muffin fans" which you can hook up to a thermostat or control manually.

Some people have experimented with using PC (i.e. computer) cooling systems and aquarium chillers on their tanks - there were some threads on this. Have a look at A chilling experiment for example.

Dracula need about 600-1500 foot candles of light; if you have a light meter or camera with a light meter, this should be fairly easy to measure.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #5 03-18-2011, 12:17 PM

The photos on Flickr are not showing up.

Other than Lths telipogoniflora and Lths calodictyon, what other ones did you get?

The Lepanthes can take the warmer temperatures.

Depending on the Masd and the Draculas, they may not. Drac vampira is fine in those temperatures.

Most Draculas have flowers that are pendulous.

vraev · #6 03-18-2011, 05:56 PM

Hi Philip,

thanks for the reply. Opps!! I have shuffled around some pics and didn't realize I broke the links. It should be fixed.

I also added all the names.

The telipogoniflora I had for over 2 years now. It took off when I mounted it rahter than growing it in the pot tat it came in. SO thats why I mounted everything.

The pics look washed out because of the mister that is on....humidity reaches a max of 94% at night or even more. WHen I woke up at 8AM, all plants had water on their leaves.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #7 03-18-2011, 06:12 PM

Yeah, I've never did well with potting the smaller species of Lepanthes either. My Lths teliponiflora does really well mounted.

vraev · #8 03-18-2011, 06:32 PM

so what do u think I should do....does everything look like it is well positioned and potted? Is my mix ok? I really don't want to loose any of these gems.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #9 03-18-2011, 06:38 PM

If the Lths are in terrariums, that might be just a bit too much moss, imo. The moss is also looking like it's smothering some of the stems on a couple of the Lths. Try to keep the moss around the root zone, not the stems.

The Masdevllias and Draculas look like they're in pots that are much too large.

Other than that, I'm not sure what to say.

vraev · #10 03-18-2011, 06:50 PM

yeah...but I generally don't have humidity that high. Also...sometimes the humidifier runs out and when I come back from school, the moss starts becoming dry...so the reason for the huge amount of moss is to leave that reservoir for the lepanthes. It seemed to work for the lepanthes. But in the past, i have failed with mounting some bromeliads or other plants on cork with less moss.