Masdevallia Maui Lollipop in Bud

[RandomGemini]

Haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to share this triumph. I have been trying to bloom a masdie for a while. I picked this plant up last summer. Needed repotted badly. I got a good deal on it. So I got it home, put it in a net pot lined the bottom with hydroton, then a layer of chunky bark, followed by a layer of sphagnum moss, very thin at the top of the pot. I water it with tap water when the saucer is empty. Two to three times a week. I've fertilized it maybe twice?

So far I have found three buds. I hope I find more. I was going to repot it again this year, because the pot I used still seems a touch small for it, but if it's happy, I'm not messing with it!!

[wintergirl]

Good job! It looks like there is still room in that pot

[soobie]

Ah this is so cool! I pocked up a Maui Lollipop last fall. It was my first Masdevallia, and has grown three new leaves since I got it. Hope I will see some flowers someday!

[RandomGemini]

Originally Posted by soobie

Ah this is so cool! I pocked up a Maui Lollipop last fall. It was my first Masdevallia, and has grown three new leaves since I got it. Hope I will see some flowers someday!

I've always read that hybrids are easier to bloom than species and have found this to be true. Mine grows new leaves like crazy. It has sat in this window since I repotted it, so I think giving it lots of light and consistent moisture is the key. This window is over my kitchen sink and I grow dendrobiums and cattleyas on the windowsills on this side of the house.

[RandomGemini]

Originally Posted by wintergirl

Good job! It looks like there is still room in that pot

Maybe? I was thinking I might repot it again since it was seriously overgrown in its last potting situation. But now that it's blooming, not touching it!

[Leafmite]

Congratulations!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Way to go do post pics when it blooms. I am still struggling with mine but I am guessing as a whole the hybrids are easier to bloom even though my first to bloom hirtzii is not a hybrid. I have bloomed all but one of my hybrids and one of them is spiking now.

I finally got them all re-potted but they had a bad summer. I finally killed one of my species and nearly killed my Dracuvallia, it looks really bad.

I love them but need to find a better solution come summer time.

[RandomGemini]

This one lives in my kitchen window. In the summer, I have an umbrella up on my deck outside that keeps it from getting a ton of direct sunlight. I also water it a lot more on hot days. I think the trick to keeping the roots cooler is air exchange around them. The masdies I have in net pots seem to do the best. The ones in clay don't do as well, but clay is supposed to stay cooler. So I'm not sure. Right now I have one in each in this window and both are doing well. My veitchiana, I nearly killed. It's recovering from my poor treatment of it. It started out with mealybugs and then got a case of leaf dropping that I managed to stop when it had two leaves and about five good roots left. It's on the mend. I potted it up in a pot with hydroton, mixed bark, topped with moss and put it in a clay pot and kept the saucer filled with water all summer long and that seemed to work. It now has about a dozen leaves. I'm so bummed. It was a gorgeous plant, in bloom when I got it. Now I won't see blooms for several years. The Maui Lollipop though... I'm in love. It's a hybrid of Masdevallia Mendozae and something else, so the flowers look like little goldfish. The first bud opened today. I have about ten spikes on this plant, all told.

[soobie]

Nice!

[RandomGemini]

Better pic of the whole plant. Two buds open this morning. I love this little guy.