growing Sobralia crocea

[neophyte]

Anyone who grows S. crocea -- what conditions does it need? Can it tolerate hard-ish water?

Incidentally, I think I saw a picture of a blooming S. crocea belonging to a certain Roberta in the November 2020 page here: Southern California Orchid Species Society. Super cute!

[Roberta]

Yeah, that's me... I grow it in a terracotta pot, quite shady. Here it is, "in situ". It gets RO water because of its location. I have had better success with several of the Sobralia species in my "RO area"... Sob. macrantha and its hybrids don't seem to care, but they were all big plants when I got them. The species that I have had to establish from bare-root plants, or that are on the small side, have done better with the more pure water. But my city water is not wonderful... northern California tends to be a lot better.

Temperatures are, it gets what it gets. Winter lows in the low 40's F but occasionally close to freezing, summer highs typically around 85 deg F. but on occasion a good bit more (when I water more)

[estación seca]

I bought 2 Sobralias bare-root from Ecuagenera in July. I read they take a long time to establish. I agree. They're only now making new growth. Keep them moist.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I bought 2 Sobralias bare-root from Ecuagenera in July. I read they take a long time to establish. I agree. They're only now making new growth. Keep them moist.

Andy Phillip's advice on bare root Sobralias is to start them in pure sphagnum. I have found that helps... then I move to fine bark for the long haul. Once established, they don't need potting very often because they're pretty much terrestrial so aren't bothered by broken down mix as much as other orchids. They do resent the bare-rooting process so be patient - and expect a lower success rate than for epiphytes for that reason.

[estación seca]

That's interesting... about 5 years ago Andy had a bare root sale and said to put them into fine bark. I'll try sphag next time.

The ones I got from Ecuagenera I put into extra large perlite : potting soil 90%:10%. This drains very rapidly, retains moisture and is very airy. They get morning sun through a window and I don't let them dry out. I used pots slightly smaller than Roberta's. As the organic stuff degrades I'll put local leaf litter on top to replenish it.

[Roberta]

Actually, the effect of sphag and fine bark is similar... basically, these need to be kept quite damp to establish. So however you choose to do it, that's the goal. I have had my share of failures from Ecuagenra Sobralias, but some great successes as well. My absolute favorite, Sob. violacea, came that way... and now is as tall as I am, has had the best blooming this year that it ever had... but it took 4 or 5 years to get to blooming and a few more years to get really good. (That one has always been in fine bark)

[neophyte]

Thanks, all! I'll be sticking it in sphagnum as soon as it arrives, then.

[neophyte]

Update: I had been watering once/twice a week, assuming the plant wouldn't like to be in constantly soggy moss; the sphagnum never went dry but sometimes was less damp than it probably would have liked. It didn't help that our tap water has a rather large amount of dissolved minerals. The plant is down to its last pair of leaves – darn it, it was doing so well before – and at this point I am watering every day. It is a slotted pot so I am hoping there won't be any rot; I am not too hopeful the plant will recover, but we'll see.

[estación seca]

Switch to pure water. It really makes a difference.