Dracula velutina shedding leaves - Orchid Board

SteveM · #1 08-30-2023, 08:44 PM

Ok I got a Dracula velutina exactly a month ago. It was a nice size division, truly bushy. Anyways I came home earlier this week to find 3 leaves on the floor. I thought my cat was at it again and moved it to a higher place. Today as I was watering it a bunch of leaves fell off. I'd say in the last week I lost close to half the plant. I know these are difficult. I do not have them in a terrarium. I have been watering them around every third day. The media is a sphagnum moss- bark mix with some charcoal. They are in my house in about 77-81 degrees in the past week I have started misting them a few times a day because of the low humidity. Anyways I think that i may have over watered even though the soil seemed to be drying. Can the misting have done this. I do not use RO water or anything like that. My water is pretty low in alkalinity and chlorides. CaCo3 + Mg is around 30 PPM. Chlorides at 0. I have also fertilized them, but I do not fertilize often. maybe once a month. I also read that the shedding may be normal with Dracula's but I think it is a little excessive to be normal. Been thinking to go the terrarium route but space is kind of an issue (I have too many hobbies lol). I'm thinking it's mostly a watering issue, possibly too much plus with the misting this week. Any ideas. A picture is posted below of the shedded leaves.

estación seca · #2 08-31-2023, 01:01 AM

I'm not a Dracula grower. I think your house is too hot and the humidity is too low for Draculas. I don't know where you live but these do well in the San Francisco fog belt. I would also water every day.

Roberta · #3 08-31-2023, 01:34 AM

You really can't overwater a Dracula - they need to be damp all the time. Your water quality seems good (they are picky about water) I agree with ES that high temperature could be an issue. I have found that Dracs will put up with fairly high daytime temperatures if they can cool off at night. Rather than misting, keep it well-watered, moist medium can make up for low humidity. Also, if it is cool at night, the humidity is also higher, which is what it needs. (My success rate with Dracs is fairly good though some higher-elevation ones don't make it at my house. I grow them outside, RO water because my tap water is definitely too hard. I use sphagnum in plastic baskets, they get good aeriation in the root zone, range from damp to sopping wet.)

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #4 08-31-2023, 12:49 PM

Stop misting them.

If you use a cool mist humidifier, I recommend directing the mist around the Dracula, not point the mist directly at it.

I also recommend RO/DI.

SteveM · #5 08-31-2023, 10:06 PM

Yes, maybe they were getting a little dryer than they would like. Also, once I started misting, I stopped the ceiling fan in its room. I have been having them on a pebble tray but as far as a humidifier I can't have one in this room. Possibly the fan was keeping the heat from building up around it. When October or November comes around, I plan to keep it in a shaded part of my greenhouse probably for most of the winter. I will try the DI for now to see if it comes back even though our water is pretty good quality I was not able to water Venus fly traps with it years ago when I had a few of those. Its all a learning experiemce that is why I like these plants so much because there is so much to learn, and they all are quite a bit different. Thanks all

Roberta · #6 08-31-2023, 10:12 PM

From the photos that I found of it, this is one of those Dracs where the flowers are held above the medium, so it can be potted (unlike many that have to be in baskets because the spikes come out of the side or bottom) So, a suggestion... use a terra cotta pot (or even 2, one nested within the other. Then use sphagnum as the medium, or something with similar characteristics. Keep it damp. Then, as it dries, there will be evaporative cooling in the root zone. With that, you can get away with higher-than-ideal temperatures.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #7 08-31-2023, 10:18 PM

The plants themselves don’t need terribly high humidity. As long as it is around 60% - 75%, they’ll be fine. I don’t know how low is what you consider low, but I’ve grown Draculas without any extra attention other than RO/DI.

---------- Post added at 07:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:14 PM ----------

Species such as Dracula benedicta, Dracula vampira, Dracula sodiroi all bloomed, no problems for me.

Roberta · #8 08-31-2023, 10:20 PM

I'd be more concerned about temperature than humidity. They do like cool, and indoors temps tend to be more even than they'd like. Mine mostly laugh at summer (even when it gets hot and dry), grow and sometimes even bloom. (In the early morning... flowers collapse by mid morning but open again the next early morning) The relatively cool nights seem to really help.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #9 08-31-2023, 10:22 PM

Even with the temperatures, as long as it doesn’t go above 85 F, most species do just fine. It doesn’t have to be an ice box.