Angraecum Magdalenae Potting

[poetiscariot]

Maura -- do you know what the difference was between the didieri that's doing well and the one that didn't? That's really interesting. I just got what I thought was a small Psychopsis, but it turned out to be two tiny Psychopsises and I pulled one out so they'd have their own places. They seem fine but I'm wondering if I'll see any difference in growth because they're in different media.

Austen -- some of the conflicting advice is because there are people out there with bizarre ideas -- I ordered a few bare-root plants from a seller about a year and a half ago, and she not only took them out of their pots but cut off their roots before sending them to me, for example. They all showed up without a single root more than 3/4" long. What!!! Most of it's just that people's conditions are different, though, and since orchids respond more strongly to ambient humidity levels than most plants do, people do highly variable things to get the same results. I had a hard time getting much to thrive and then this spring I started potting everything a little wetter than what most the advice suggests. I'm getting better, more consistent growth, and the only root rot I've run into has been on plants that were overdue for repotting because their media had broken down, although they weren't climbing out of their pots. (So do watch that.) I also almost never really water: I spray everything down daily with a spray bottle, which is not what people would tell you to do with Cattleyas, especially, which supposedly demand to dry out between waterings and then want to get drenched. But all my best growers are Catts. I'm gradually moving toward potting damper than what's recommended, into small pots, repotting somewhat more often, and watering gently but very frequently. I also live in western NY state, and although we have a couple commercial growers in the area, it's not a climate that naturally supports touchy epiphytes. To say the least. So I had to experiment til I found things that worked for my plants, in my apartment.

Anyway, if what you're doing works, and it sounds like it is, listen to your plants more than to the internet. Welcome to the nutty world of being super excited over root tips and tiny millimeters of growth.

[mauraec]

Maura -- do you know what the difference was between the didieri that's doing well and the one that didn't? That's really interesting. I just got what I thought was a small Psychopsis, but it turned out to be two tiny Psychopsises and I pulled one out so they'd have their own places. They seem fine but I'm wondering if I'll see any difference in growth because they're in different media.

Hi Victoria -

To answer your question about the didieris - actually, I can't. This was one of those amazing, puzzling orchid phenomena wherein the facts and the outcome don't seem to align - like my Blc Boonserm 'Pratum Green' that I managed to kill practically while it was still in bloom and I'd only had custody of it for a few days. If you look at my thread from 6/24 "A trip to the nursery" or some such title, I posted photos of BOTH didieris in bloom. They looked nearly identical and both very happy. Never repotted them, since they didn't need it. After blooming, one of them just seemed to lose interest in living - I watered and fertilized and put them side by side and the about 6 weeks after they bloomed, I noticed that one of them was just a dried out skeleton with no roots whatsoever, while the other has remained healthy. So, I'm clueless.

I have read that if one wishes to experiment with different media and/or cultivation techniques, using 2 identical plants, one in the usual culture, the other in the new venture, lends itself to a somewhat controlled experiment - but with the caveat that at least one of them should be expendable should the brilliant new idea backfire and leave you with a little orchid corpse. Personally, despite the fact that I have amassed a collection of some 50+ orchids in about 5 months, I mourn the demise of any of them, especially when I have no idea what went wrong. Then again, there's always the offsetting thrill when, against all odds, I have a plant that thrives beautifully when I have eschewed all the usual rules, repotted at the wrong time, used a discouraged medium and/or watering/fertilizing system, tried to nurse a trauma victim when it was practically in autopsy, etcetera. I think that's one of the things that draws us to these strange beings - in many ways, they are as unpredictable as people. Except that I really have learned the mantra "It's only a plant, it's only a plant, it's only a plant...." I have finally taken some photos of a number of my most recent projects and am going to post them in the orchid photography forum, so look for them there - they're full of contradictions to the accepted principles.

Good luck with your psychopsis and others. With orchids, as in life, I truly believe that the right way to do something is whatever works!

Maura