can my cleisocentron merrillianum survive?
 

Hello guys,

I have recently bought Cleisocentron merrillianum at the European Orchid Conference in Dresden, because I thought it's a lovely orchid. But maybe it wasn't such a great idea since I am still an orchid noob :lol:.

I got some care tips from the seller, but they didn't seem to work and now I don't know what to do with it and whether it can still survive. When I bought it, the orchid was quite dry and wrinkly and without roots (I was told it was necessary because of transport or whatever). According to the seller's instructions, I was supposed to soak the whole plant in water for 30 minutes cca 4 days in a row and that it would fix the dehydration and wrinkliness and I can pot it or mount it afterwards. Well, I soaked it 5 times and I couldn't see any difference (I thought it looked maybe even more dehydrated). I contacted the seller to get some advice but got no response.

You can see what the plant looks like now on the photos. It is not much different from when I bought it, although a few leaves have fallen of and the lowest ones are turning brown. Does anyone have a suggestion about what should I do next? Should I pot it and hope for the best? :help I would appreciate any tips, thanks :biggrin:

Without roots, the plant has no way to take up water. You need to somehow maintain enough moisture around it to keep it from dehydrating while it grow some roots. I think that Kelpak is available in most of Europe, it is good for stimulating root growth, a soak in a solution of Kelpak (if you can get it) would be useful. Then put the plant in a plastic bag with some moist sphagnum (sphag and bag) and hope for roots... It is a beautiful species. I hope that you can rescue it - but the seller's story about "having no roots being a requirement for import" is garbage. A healthy Cleisocentron is not difficult to grow. The one you got was not healthy. If you lose it, look for another one, that has roots.

Consider soaking it for a few hours each night in complete darkness. Many orchids open their leaf pores only at night, and it will take up some water this way. There appears to be one root on the plant, so there is a possibility it may take up some water that way as well.

Thank you for the tips! I sphag'n'bagged the plant (my first time trying that :biggrin:) and managed to order Kelpak, but it wasn't easy to find. Also if the orchid opens it's pores during the night, does keeping it moist inside the bag help to hydrate the plant (at night) in addition to preventing water loss?

That is the hope... it won't be efficient but maybe... basically, you are keeping the plant going until it can grow some roots. Like other Vandaceous species, it can produce roots along the stem near leaf nodes, and that's the goal. Once you get those growing, it has a good chance of reviving.

I see, thanks for info :). I may post an update sooner or later if there is any change. And i really need to learn to be patient with it :D.

Absolutely, patience needed! It could be many weeks or even some months before you see a result. Orchids are slooowwww. Your task at this time is just to keep it alive until it can rebound.

---------- Post added at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 PM ----------

Another thing that you could do... mount it with sphagnum along the stem. Mine came that way, it was certainly a division. I'm sure it had some roots before the division was taken, but that is how it was managed. THat might encourage it to do what it needs do - make it "think" it is attaching to a tree. Here is my plant. The growth in the foreground is a new one that grew from the mounted plant (which lost some of the original leaves). It is mounted on ta cedar shingle, but any rough-surfaced untreated wood (like a tree branch) would work as well and probably better.

Hmmm, the orchid doesn't seem to be doing very well in the bag. I took a look at it and I can see small dots of white fuzzy mold (too small to take a good photo of) and on the brown leaves, there are small dots that are almost black (I can see a few on the green leaves too). Can this be a sign of rot? Perhaps it is too humid inside the bag...

It may be too humid... maybe open it up so there is fresh air, but it still maintains humidity higher than ambient.

Use an empty clear jar. Usually the large snack jars work well.

Put a small container of water in there and don’t cover the jar all the way, maybe halfway.

Try this and put in a brightly lit location and see what happens.

There’s nothing special about the use of a bag. People used to use bags often because it’s cheap. It usually causes problems with air circulation and the plant’s leaves touching the wet surfaces of the bag. Leaves touching wet surfaces over lengthy periods of time causes suffocation.

The air is the thing that needs to be moist; the leaves should not be wet at all times.