Miltoniopsis season, and forever the orange rot

[s3attlite]

I usually go for rescues so am used to that orange rot, but I decided to spend a bit extra this time on a named variety: this one is Miltoniopsis Bert Field ‘Leash’. Still got the rot...

The plant came with so many healthy leaves but with a rather severe climbing growth pattern. It’s the only Miltoniopsis I have that I know came from Hawaii and its leaves started turning yellow and dropping like mad. You can see the before (crooked in its pot) after repotting/leaf loss. I attributed it to environmental shock but it was still shocking for me to see more than half the leaves fall within a couple of weeks. I enjoyed a couple days of blooms but I ditched them for the plant’s sake.

The plant is stable now, but not before the sheaths along the new media (pure sphag) started getting orange and rotting. I don’t think the sheaths had enough time to dry out and having so many close together trapped too much moisture. After I pulled, cut, and shredded off all the sheaths, a month later it is throwing out roots and several eyes are swelling. Phew!

Potting them close enough to the media that the root tips dont dry, but not too low that the media gets sheaths and psuedpbulbs too wet seems to be important in the cooler months. Luckily it’s warming up and I can just water like crazy soon and not think about it!