nervilia crociformis - please help

[neophyte]

I like to consider myself a pretty reasonable grower/buyer – someone who thinks it through before buying a new plant and evaluates whether or not it can be adequately cared for. Well... I kind of lost control when I saw a Nervilia crociformis tuber being offered on Tarzane Group (there are still 2 left, last time I checked).

First, the packing and delivery was superb – the plant arrived within 1.5-2 days of being ordered and was in a little plastic cup to prevent dehydration with lots of cushioning to make sure the little tuber wouldn't be jostled around.

But it's so tiny...

Please don't die on me.

I have it on a bed of sphagnum right now with saran wrap partially over the top so it stays moist. It is on the edge of the heat mat so the sphagnum won't stay cold and wet. Tomas, who was very responsive and provided a lot of tips, says to keep it slightly moist for now until it sends up a shoot, at which point I should put it one inch deep in sphagnum or sphagnum w/ perlite. I thought I should just ask here too. Does the current set-up look okay? Too prone to rot? Yikes, all help is appreciated!!

[neophyte]

Okay, well I managed to find this link:

Nervilia crociformis from Western Ghats, India | Orchids Forum

Also, some general tips from Tarzane:

Temperatures: Warm to cool growing miniature/small size terrestrial / jewel orchid species
Light: Bright shade
Watering & fertilizing: Regular watering and fertilizing in active growing season, goes dormant – no watering and fertilizing during dormancy.
General care: Growing cycle of Nervilia terrestrial / jewel orchid species is very similar to Corybas - they start to sprout in late winter / spring with bloom spike first, after bloom they grow beautiful single leaf, new tubers will appear on long rhizomes at the end of growing cycle, leaves will die off and plants will go sleep – you will be left with leafless tubers that you will keep dry till new cycle starts again! We have also success growing these as evergreens in terrariums setup when we do not remove and dry tubers, but keep them in the same pot and constantly moist – it seems to work and for some 3 years now we do have same pot with old leaves dying but new leaves starting right away without any dry dormant period. They grow well under cool to warm conditions, in bright shade, high humidity and moist but not soggy. Potting mix may vary and depends on your preference, we do use sphagnum moss, but you can use different terrestrial mixes as far as they are moist but well drained. Perfect for terrariums, vivariums, glass orbs, frog encounters, windowsill and greenhouse growing and outside in proper zones year-round.

Tomas's comments:
Nervilia tubers go through yearly cycle - they are dormant now or just starting to wake up from dormancy, your tuber will arrive still dormant. You should wait for first sign of sprouting and once you see little knob on the top, you can go ahead and pot it. Some people prefer to pot it right away and wait for sprouting inside the pot which is also possible, but you have to be careful not to water it, so it does not rot - only keeping it very lightly moist and humid.

You should start light watering when you see shoot, regular watering and fertilizing is when growth is at least 1".

Two mixes I do use is either pure sphagnum moss or sphagnum moss with perlite and also terrestrial mix of peat moss, perlite and little of tiny bonsai mix. These two work for me.

For Nervilia I go around 1" deep.

---------- Post added at 12:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 AM ----------

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The sphagnum looks a lot darker/wetter in the pic due to the lighting; I dried it out a bit more so it is rather damp but not wet. I hope that is ok...

[neophyte]

Tomas's response:

Hi, this seems like way too wet at this stage - they are still dormant or barely waking up. When they are dormant, we do keep them in plastic containers with nearly completely dry sphagnum moss on the bottom - there can be little moisture, but it is more dry than moist. There will be little know starting on the top part of tuber, once you see that you can pot it and that will be the side up. If you prefer pot it now, when dormant, it is option too but again, potting mix will have to be kept very lightly moist, some light spray on top once a week maybe, till you see sprouting. Any heavy watering or sitting in very wet moss will lead to rot. You do not wish to dry your tuber so some moisture and humidity is necessary but wet is not good at this stage. Hope this helps.

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At this point I am just praying no rot has occurred yet... I will continue to add any tips/feedback I hear from Tomas in case anyone else decides to grow these.

---------- Post added at 10:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 AM ----------

Follow-up from Tomas:

I do keep containers closed but punch few holes in the lid for some ventilation. Keeping it warmer and in higher light now should make tubers sprout soon. When you spray, spray just around the tuber moss only and do it very lightly, it is just for humidity to initiate sprouting.

[neophyte]

Update: not much has happened; it's possible that the tuber shrunk infinitesimally. I have been keeping it in the little plastic container with the moss just barely damp (more dry than moist). The lid is still on to keep the air humid, but the tuber itself is not wet.

I reached out to Tomas to ask him whether his Nervilias had sprouted yet and he said they were only just beginning to wake up or were still in dormancy, so I'm hoping everything is okay so far. He says to try to keep it in higher light and humidity to encourage sprouting.

[neophyte]

Update: it's just starting to sprout! I will be watching with bated breath...

[DirtyCoconuts]

NICE!!!

i did not want to get excited with you until it happened but yay

[neophyte]

Thanks DC!! If I can just get it to flower and enter the vegetative phase, I'll be happy...

[neophyte]

It's growing!! There are little white absorptive hairs at the base of the plant, sort of like the ones that protocorms grow; very interesting...



Also, I only just found out that the accepted name for this species is actually Nervilia simplex.

[Roberta]

Bravo! That is super-cute.

[PeterP]

Hi. Hopefully your Nervillia is still alive and thriving. Just a few notes: I grew this species when I lived in Sri Lanka. I found it very easy to grow and potted it in a shallow pot in loamy brown soil from the garden, like the soil it naturally grows in there. It rapidly multiplies by way of stolons and will eventually form large groups. It keeps growing until the dry season forces it to go dormant. If one keeps watering it, it will not go dormant, but then it also will not flower. It needs a dormancy of a few months in order to flower. In nature, it will flower after the first rains of rainy season. The leaves follow later.