Angraecum Magdalenae Potting

[Austen]

Hello,

Does my Angraecum Mag need a larger pot? If so, what is the best medium? I've read everything from fine bark to medium bark to tree fern to spagmum - needless to say, I'm confused.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

It looks like it is doing well in that pot, Austen. As long as the media is not breaking down and the plant looks healthy like this one, leave it to continue to grow. Nice growing.

cheers,
BD

[poetiscariot]

I wouldn't repot it based on size, either. That's a great plant, with all that growth, too. If it helps, for when you do need to repot, I did one a couple months ago in a commercially-prepared Cattleya bark/charcoal/perlite mix and it's doing great. People warned me it would sulk for ages, that they hate repotting, but mine's been steadily growing a new leaf. No dehydration. Seems really happy.

[Halloamey]

The plant looks great with so many keikis, but I am not sure of the media, it looks very dark and fine to me, a better picture of the media can help us diagnose better if the media needs to be changed.

[Austen]

Thanks for the help!

This photo was taken with the webcam with no overhead lighting, so the medium appears darker than it really is. (My camera is currently vacationing with my Mom).

OK, here's the deal. I seem to have inherited a natural green thumb from my Mother, and I admit that my house is a bit of a jungle. As for blooming plants, I was happy with African violets until I made the mistake of visiting the orchid house in Balboa Park in San Diego (a free admission public attraction). When I was given to understand that some of those orchids could be grown in the home, I was lost. I have yet to meet a plant I can't grow, so I kinda jumped in with both feet. My problem is all the conflicting advice out here on the internet. I guess everybody has there own style.

I let it grow for now. I'm happy to know that a bark mix will work for this guy - keeps it simple as I have that on hand.

Austen

[mauraec]

I've been looking for one of those and I'm envious! Yes, it looks like it's doing well in that pot for now, no matter what medium it's in. I'm sure you know the usual rule that any repotting should be done, if possible, after the plant blooms and before any new growth gets larger than 1-3". I agree with Victoria that the whole warning that angraecums sulk when their roots are disturbed is overdone. My husband just repotted an angraecum sesquipedale (see the thread "An Unruly Angraecum Sesquipedale" for lots of good input, especially from Amey and Bruce). I've repotted an angraecum leonis with no bad results, as well as a didieri. I had one didieri bite the dust really fast after I repotted it, but his brother is thriving, so you never know. Look around the forum for more input on angraecums - it's fun to do.

Maura

[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

[poetiscariot]

That's so strange! I've had a couple go on me for absolutely no reason I could tell. A Blc. Maikai from a good grower that showed up looking healthy withered away over a few weeks right after I got it. I took it out of its pot early on, roots and medium looked fine, but it was like it never took up any water. An Lc. Mini Song did the same thing after blooming, and I could at least kind of say it somehow exhausted itself blooming, but it was a big plant when I got it. Most the ones I've killed, though. . . I kind of know what I did.

Incidentally, you have more orchids than I do after about 2.5 years, and that was coming back after not growing any for a long while. I first started trying to grow them in about 2002! I'm just now getting close to 50. Maybe I need a husband who'll support my habit.

[mauraec]

Be careful what you wish for, Victoria - husbands who support one's orchid habit sometimes succumb to it themselves -