Miltonia moreliana Dividing/Potting Help

[Clawhammer]

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]Hello!

This miltonia moreliana has been growing like wildfire for me, but has only bloomed a couple times, and it has been a couple years. I am chalking this and the crinkled leaves up to rooting issues. I have been having a heck of a time getting new growths to root. The roots seems to die when hitting the media, or don't break through the leaves at the bottom of new growths and get stuck. I tend to have this issue with most oncidiums, especially ones that grow out of potting media.

Any tips for blooming this species?
Any advice on getting a healthy root system out of these divisions?

Thanks!

[estación seca]

Because of the upright, rambling growth, it does better mounted. A section cut from a cedar fence board works well. Put a thin layer of sphagnum moss between the rhizomes and the board. You can lay it flat or hang it upright. The plant will do whatever it wants.

Keep the humidity as high as you can. Mounted you can water it multiple times per day if you like. With a thin layer of sphagnum you don't need to worry about the roots.

Give it so much light the plant turns completely yellow. Extremely high light intensity is necessary for good flowering in this, in Milt. spectabilis and Milt. flavescens. These three species easily tolerate direct Arizona summer sun through a window with no shade cloth outside. Not many orchids do that.

[Roberta]

Here's my Milt. moreliana... I refreshed the sphagnum last year but didn't do a full repot (8 inch basket), just left everything there. Note that it very crowded (and happy about it, blooms well). Leaves are light green, p-bulbs quite yellow. So sign of lots of light (and not a lot of fertilizer) Since you have multiple pieces, you can try different approaches. For the pieces you mount, definitely enough sphag so you can keep it pretty damp . For anything you pot up (or basket), again sphag or other rather moisture-retentive medium. I totally agree, light is the biggie..Those nice green leaves indicate that it wants a lot more of it.

Here's the plant last fall when it bloomed.

[Clawhammer]

Thank you ES and Roberta, as always!

I put two divisions in a clear orchid pot with sphag and I mounted the other three. Both are now in the brightest spots in my growroom...

I hope to follow up with blooms asap

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Roberta]

How is your success rate with slabs of lumber like that for mounts? I don't even have very good success with rougher slabs like the cedar shingles that I sometimes get from Andy's. I always end up remounting those on cork or on tree branches with very textured bark. If it works for you, great. I suspect that your grow room is a lot more humid than my yard, which would encourage roots.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by Roberta

How is your success rate with slabs of lumber like that for mounts? I don't even have very good success with rougher slabs like the cedar shingles that I sometimes get from Andy's. I always end up remounting those on cork or on tree branches with very textured bark. If it works for you, great. I suspect that your grow room is a lot more humid than my yard, which would encourage roots.

This board will be covered in live moss in like 3 months. I've actually had really good success with these boards in my basement environment.

Really interesting to know branches and cork work better in lower humidity environments.

[estación seca]

In my humid sunroom those three species loved those boards. (They got eaten and I'm starting again.) I set them horizontally. The moss stays wet for a few days so I don't need to water daily.