My second try at Miltoniopsis

[NYCorchidman]

look at all those flowers! they are indeed doing very well!

Again, my challenge will be keeping them cool enough during summer. oh, well...

I read that they like to be kept moist. Last one, I kind of watered too much and roots seemed dying gradually.
What media are yours in?

[fishmommy]

mine are in bark, watered daily.
yes, keeping them cool is essential - they overheat easily. air movement helps a lot

[flexdc]

I potted mine in Sphagnum because I don't water enough. If you tend to water too much, try fine bark.

[fishmommy]

I am trying a bark/sphag mix on one as an experiment to see if I can water less as well.

Anyway, they don't like to dry out. If you get kinky leaves, more water is needed.

[camille1585]

I put one in S/H in the fall and it is doing wonderfully! I previously struggled a lot with Milts, in part because I'm an underwaterer by nature. With S/H watering is so easy, and I'm counting on the evaporative cooling to get the plant through the summer. It's not so much heat on the leaves that kills them, but overheating roots. If you can keep the root zone cooler it'll do much better.

[NYCorchidman]

Thanks for all the input, everyone!

Camille- Don't roots rot when immersed in water all the time? I've never tried S/H, so curious.

[camille1585]

If you read up on Ray's site (first rays) you'll everything you need to know about S/H.
The short is answer is no, the roots don't rot providing that they grew in that environment! Existing roots will eventually die since they grew tailored to a much different environment.

The Milt I put in was a bit in sorry shape, with only a few roots. I potted it in S/H, flushed the pot every day for the first month or so, and soon there were 6 new growths starting. Now, 6 month on, those growths have put out tons of healthy roots that are growing down into the reservoir. And I can see that some of the old roots are still alive.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by camille1585

If you read up on Ray's site (first rays) you'll everything you need to know about S/H.
The short is answer is no, the roots don't rot providing that they grew in that environment! Existing roots will eventually die since they grew tailored to a much different environment.

The Milt I put in was a bit in sorry shape, with only a few roots. I potted it in S/H, flushed the pot every day for the first month or so, and soon there were 6 new growths starting. Now, 6 month on, those growths have put out tons of healthy roots that are growing down into the reservoir. And I can see that some of the old roots are still alive.

Thanks, wow, how interesting! living root under water!
It makes me want to give it a try. hmmmm just for this miltoniopsis. why did you have to flush the pot every day? how often do you flush it now?
If this can help my miltoniopsis, I would definitely try S/H. by the way, do you keep your growing environment cool enough for these types? what else do you do to have such success?

6 new growths is amazing!!! Mine has two, one very small one, strange...and the other one seems to be a normal size. The whole pots is quite dense with many pbs. not even sure if it's just one plant or two or more put in together. I'm already scared of dealing with the roots. I normally cut away half chunk when repotting oncidium types, they just have waaaaaay too much fine roots. any recommendations?

[camille1585]

I was flushing every day because of a comment Ray made in a thread. Flushing removes the accumulated waste, and I think the roots grew faster with more frequent flushing. Now I flush when the reservoir is getting low, so every 3-4 days now that it's warmer.


I have yet to keep one of these through the summer, so I don't know. They die well before from the sphag ball of death (EU suppliers pot them in bark with a dense sphag core = immediate root rot). But I know that people can get cool growing masdies through hot summers by growing them in sphag+clay pots (more evaporative cooling through the clay) and S/H also has a cooling effect. But high temps here are not that high, no more than 25-30C in the netherlands, with a few hotter days here and there.

Of the 6 growths 6 were tiny little things, but 2 are growing into full sized bulbs.

[NYCorchidman]

Oh, I see. I am keeping my fingers crossed for your and mine for this coming summer. I am even thinking of calling a friend who has a house with shade back porch. hehehe The question then becomes, whether or not my friend waters the orchid correctly. ha~

Or I should get my mini fan going right next to this orchid all summer long. not sure if that will help much.