Restrepia nittiorhyncha

[Duane McDowell]

Photographed at a nursery in Ecuador

[pavel]

cute lil devil!

[nicki]

I really like the colors and shape! I've been wanting to add an Restrepia to my orchid family.

[nebula_34]

fascinating plant.

[AtantaR]

these lil guys are so cool in person

[orchidsal]

Great shape, great colors and pattern. Someday I will start a terrarium per your advice Duane. It may just accommodate some of these cool/intermediate growing miniature orchids. AL

[Brutal_Dreamer]

That is a great orchid. I love the cup shaped lip.

Cheers,
BD

[Duane McDowell]

These really don't need cool temps. I'm growing two in warm temps, in with Cattleyas (down a little lower to give them some shade). They're not doing great, but they're doing all right, and they bloom regularly. I grow them in clay in sphagnum and styrofoam to take advantage of some root cooling by evaporation.

[orchidsal]

Thanks Duane for your growing tips. Could you possibly PM me were yours came from and will they take up to 88 to 90 degrees in the summer? My humidity runs 50% minimum to 75% maximum in summer. Is this also sufficient in your opinion? Please private message me. AL

[Duane McDowell]

Al,
I've sent a private message. Here are a few thoughts on growing intermediate-growers in a warm greenhouse...
The greenhouse I grow in gets up into the mid eighties (maybe higher) for an hour or two on warm days in the summer. We mostly grow rice, corn and tomatoes, so these temps are perfectly appropriate for what we're trying to do... The Restrepias don't love this, but it doesn't kill them. I get some browning on the edges of older leaves as a result of the high temps, and my summer blooms last about a week rather than two.
I pot them in sphagnum over styrofoam chunks in small clay pots. I have those pots inside larger clay pots with a layer of sphagnum between the two pots. The clay and sphagnum act as a passive evaporative cooler, so the roots stay cool even when the foliage is warm. It works out pretty well, overall. Another strategy for keeping plants a little cooler is to position them lower in the greenhouse. The temps drop pretty rapidly below bench-level. I have a small vertical bench in the greenhouse where I work. Catts are at the top, Sophro. hybrids are down lower, and the Restrepias are at the bottom. They don't need too much light, so this seems to be a good strategy.
If you have temps in the 90s for more than an hour a day very often, Restrepias might not be a good choice for your greenhouse.