epidendrum newb looking for guidance
 

hey ob!

due to top tier enabling that goes on around here, we have once again dipped our toes into the murky waters of epidendrums. these 2 epi porpax arrived today (at breakneck speed, way to go schwerter!), and look great!

per the discussion at Roberta’s thread, the thought is to place them on a packed bed of moss in a bonsai pot and keep them moist.

does that sound on point? decent, to high light?

how moist should we keep the moss? any special winter rest considerations?

thanks all for the general epi porpax info!

I think just damp... they don't need to be as wet as a Bulbophyllum. No rest. I have one growing quite happily in a bulb pan. Here are some pix. The one on the basket... it's a upside-down plastic basket with a ball of sphagnum inside held in place by garden ties. The plant grows over the top and out the side. The one in the pot has a bunch of fern-y things growing in it along with the epi, which completely covers the surface (a bulb pan) So a top view is just a ball of plant, but the side view shows the pot. That one is in small bark. The, the Epi. gnomus is in the same group... it came to me mounted, I put it on top of an inverted basket, I have found that mounted things that like to stay damp do well horizontal instead of vertical. (No medium, the basket just holds it sideways).

Note the one in the basket - the part on the top is very red - gets lots of light. The part on the side is green, more shaded. With more light it'll bloom better (get more of the red in the flowers)

Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids spoke to our society and mentioned this. He said it grows best mounted horizontally, not vertjcally, with minimal medium. I've been to its habitat but didn't know it at the time. It is moist cloud forest. Nights are always cool and dewy. Roberta has cool nights almost all year with frequent dew. Inside a heated winter home presents problems for plants like this.

Dew? Not so much. Humidity goes up at night as temperature goes down, but actually doesn't hit the dew point all that often. Nights aren't all THAT cool.. haven't been below 68 deg F in at least a month. (We're just getting close to autumnal temps, not there yet) "Dew" and "rain" come out of a sprinkler or hose where I live. What Mother Nature provides is a bonus, but not to be counted on. Might be OK for cactus, but not for orchids.

Curious. Why do you have the baskets upside down versus right side up?

For the one that is growing on the plastic basket - the plant's natural growth pattern is to form a mat. So what I'd like is for it to drape itself over the basket. The sphag just serves to put some humidity near the roots - these actually have very shallow roots, don't get particularly intimate with the medium. So I'm growing it more like a mounted plant, with a little extra "humidity" - still very airy around roots. (I have had the plant for lots of years... initially it was potted and didn't do well. Then I mounted it but it was vertical and also didn't do that well. ) This was another approach, and so far it's working quite nicely. For the Epi gnomus, it was already mounted... the basket just serves to help keep it horizontal (which helps moisture retention). Wouldn't matter which side of the basket was "up" since it's just being a support. So, basically trial and error, until I found something that works.

thanks for the input folks!!

the approach will be similar to your basket, roberta, but probly not so deep! these plants are pretty small.

@es, yeah, they will probly be a challenge for us to grow, but, meh, if we kill a couple more orchids, oh well.

thanks again, i will try to post up a pic when they r done, but for now its off to start watering!

potted them up today, and fingers crossed they like their new home. packed sphag for the bottom layer of the pot, then light, loose sphag mixed with some fine clay chunks. they are basically just sitting on top of sphag with that to anchor them down. let’s see what happen....

also,i had to get a quick low res shot of our bonsai pot orchids together! the bulbo isabela seems to be happy

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Looks good!

thanks for the encouragement and guidance, roberta! they will look better with some flowers, but hopefully next year i can post an update.