Miltoniopsis spikes drying up

[seaj]

Originally Posted by RJSquirrel

your spikes and flowers dried up bec they got too hot in the window. they cant take direct sun from any window, they dont like it. might as well finish it off with S/H and send it out with a bang hey?

It wasn't the flowers that dried up, only the last two spikes. All of the flowers on the 5 previous spikes lasted about six weeks before showing signs of fading. The plant never got direct sun either. It's been kept no closer than 2 feet from a north eastern facing window behind other plants so it couldn't have been issues with direct sun. Why do you think semi-hydro will be a death sentence for this plant?

[RJSquirrel]

I was thinking the plant has to have gotten to hot or too dry one or the other. but since you know thats not the problem seems Ive not been any help. And I dont think you are going to be able to keep the S/H from sucking the water off your plant. I think S/H works better on plants that dont need so much water. for water hogs like miltonopsis I have my reservations about using the culture. You cant get any easier than packing these things in sphagnum and water as needed. Im getting like others , Im not experimenting much anymore with mixes as I know what works for me and against me...

[orchidsarefun]

the first sign of an improper watering regime is that the new growth wrinkles, so watch for that.
That said mine has 5 new growths, and one of these is a wrinkly. I find that I have to mist the mix surface at least 2x per week, in addition to a soak-watering 1x per week.
I agree that the best thing to do is to stick with what really works for you. Join an orchid society and go to orchid shows, its good to see how other plants are grown cos maybe your culture isn't as good as you think, or maybe its better than you think !

[flexdc]

I grow a no-id miltonopsis mostly outdoors in the winter here in LA. Night time temps can occasionally dip to the upper 40s. When that happens I move it into a heated cold frame which is heated to the mid-50s at night. The plant is in sphagnum with broken pieces of clay pots in the bottom.

When I got this plant, it was kind of sickly. I first put it in bark and it sulked by giving me wrinkled leaves. After I transferred it to sphagnum, it became much happier by putting out 4 new growths last year. Now the bulbs are quite nicely plump. And I also found the beginning of a spike the other day.

Conclusion: I don’t think Miltonopsis mind the cool, but they definitely resent the hot and dry. If you are in the bay area, I might try growing this outside in a shady area, unless night time temps drops into the 40s. In fact there were a few cold nights down here that I forgot to pull the plant into the cold frame and it didn’t seem to faze it.

I will follow up with a pic later.

[flexdc]

This NOID Miltonopsis is grown mostly outside. Potting mix is sphagnum moss, loosely packed with a generous amount of clay pot shards in the bottom. Some leave burn because I was giving it a bit too much light. A few leaves shows accordion wrinkles because it didn't like the bark mix it was in -- too dry.



A closer look at the roots and one of last season's maturing pseudo bulb.



I am hoping this is the beginning of a spike. This is another rescue plant from someone's back yard.