Gongora gratulabunda in low humidity?
 

Hello, everyone. I'm planning on buying a new orchid and to avoid failure I try to make enough researche beforehand so I don't end up killinig it. I was wondering if Gongora gratulabunda might thrive in low humidity conditions.

I must clear up, I live in Mexico City, so it's not desert-dry condition. Moreover, today is a cloudy day and the weather forecast marks 69% humidity. I also had previous experience with Gongora cassidea (I'm guessing it wasn't galeata because the scent was apple-pear, not orange), and it bloomed under my care without fertilizer, so I'm guessing I can give it a go with gratulabunda.

I also have a Sharry baby rn, and at first I saw some super mild wrinkling on one of its leaves (more like ondulating), but I was underwatering it since it was a new plant and I didn't want to risk overdoing it.

So that's my question, do you think it's safe to buy this plant? And while we're at it, any Stanhopea would also do the trick?

Thanks in advance,

Stan.

I looked it up. It grows a little lower in elevation than Mexico City and closer to the equator, so your temperatures should be fine. I think if you watered it enough it would do fine. Gongoras like to stay wet, wet, wet. And if you grew it among other leafy plants the humidity in its growing space would be a lot higher.

I don't think you have to worry about "low humidity" until you regularly drop below 40%. Gongoras and Stanhopeas generally prefer the cooler temperatures that you are lucky enough to encounter in Mexico City. There are a few societies where you live which might also be able to help you. My friend Antonio Reyes grows a wide variety of orchids in Mexico City, but I can't recall the exact name of his orchid society.

Hi to you. I'm pretty good with Stanhopeas and hope to be better...patience. Had no luck with galeata but my small gratulabunda may be starting a spike. Had it growing under lights and it got watered every 2-3 days but I'm thinking it didn't appreciate the heat the lights were throwing off. So now it sits in south windowsill above my sink and gets more humidity and not quite as warm...I think! ;)

Thanks, everyone! I'm ordering it from Ecuagenera, so I guess I'll be able to take a look at the roots. I'm thinking of planting it in a mixture with bark and some peat moss and sphagnum moss, making the latter ones a little bit more abundant.

And yes, I guess my humidity is fine haha. I just used to think it was super low but never really bothered to look at numbers.

The association here in Mexico is the Asociación Mexicana de Orquideología. I'm not a member at the moment, but might join later :)

So thanks everyone. Hopefully in a few months I'll be showing its flowers hehe

Best regards,

Stan.