Monn. Millennium Magic 'Witchcraft' AM/AOS

[coeruleo]

i bought this nearly a year ago... so maybe it will be ok, but it feels like this orchid is off schedule or something. it must be the 'trickiest' orchid i have to grow. after initial success with a few dendrobiums, i was searching for a new winter dormant type and found this guy. i bought it post-bloom so a little discounted, it had 2 cut off flower stems on the large bulb that were recently cut and still green then. it had one large bare bulb, one tiny bare bulb, and a new sprout about 3" tall with 2" roots, in a 4" plastic pot with sphagnum moss. i waited about a month to water it, it came slightly damp. over the winter outdoors, the large bulb did shrivel a little, but the new growth just shot up and developed this great tropical looking plant. the new bulb is a few inches taller, but not as stocky as the first big bulb. a few weeks ago we had a heat wave, and it dried out completely. i watered it, but in the meantime the old bulb got a little wrinkly. then some sort of insect hit it hard, i came home and the plant looked all wet, like something dripped on it, but the plant above is a dendro that had not been watered that day, so i took it to the sink, it was stickier underneath the leaves, so i rinsed the whole plant off and sprayed with neem. i assumes thrips got it? it lost the two lower leaves, they turned yellow and dropped off. the other leaves are a little bug eaten, but i think ok. now i think i see 2 flower spikes beginning... i have been fertilizing with weakish worm tea... this is my first in this orchid family, and this plant still makes me nervous. i don't know if this is on schedule or not, but i am stoked it is going to flower. i am hoping to repot it when it goes dormant, that dry hot spell was too severe i think for such a small pot. i am not entirely sure how to repot it though. in small pots it likes moss, but i am not sure about using moss in a larger pot than 4". anyone with advise, please chime in!!

monnierara millenium magic is a cross between catanoches midnight jem and mormodes sinuata and from what i gather cannot be used for breeding new hybrids, it is sterile. too bad, because these have really dark blackish flowers... i can't wait! if i don't kill it in the meantime. i hope the flowers grow as fast as the plant did. it really shot up quickly.

[gardenguysorchids]

They can bloom at this time. In fact the seller you bought yours from has been selling them in spike for several months now. Mine is growing great but no sign of a spike yet. Hope it holds till autumn. Great new growth on yours.

[coeruleo]

the wet on the leaves in the photos by the way is a spritz of neem again today. it is sitting in the pot i plan on moving it up to this fall when it goes dormant. maybe the dormancy is starting after all, i am afraid it was premature... but again my first of this type. if this does well, i have a spot for maybe 2 more similar. i've seen some really nice yellow flowered relatives. and this did well outdoors over winter.

[silverstoli]

I repotted mine a few weeks ago. The moss it was in was in very bad shape. It was also in a 4" pot. I did repot it in a 6" clay pot. When I first repotted it, I put it back in moss. But as I have it outside, it would get wet and stay wet. So, I took it out of the moss and put it in a mixture of half moss and half bark.

I water my Vanda's twice a day, so if it seems to be drying out, it is easy to spritz it again. I fertilize once a week, by dunking so that was another reason not to go full moss. I tend to water too much, so I potted it to give it a better chance to survive me.

Mine was affected by spider mites, but I think I am finally winning the war. I used the 409/alchohol/water solution and it has worked better than the neem spray I was using.

Good luck with yours, I'm excited to see your blooms!

[catasetum-ian]

hi,

first of all, congrats on the spike and the subsequent bulb is bigger than its previous indicating you are on the right track

secondly, do you have the pic where you mentioned that the plant looked all wet?? color of the liquid?? brown/colorless or black?

thirdly, the pots seems ok for me, and your weakish tea fertilizer sounds good to me but you can stop fertilizing after another three weeks for the bulbs are almost matured, the mild fertilizing now is for the continuous of development of the spike. i had experimented with a few plants, those that i stop fertilizing upon maturity of the bulb and also start of a spike has a smaller bulb size or less inflorescence compare to those in which is fertilize till the bulbs are fully matured or the flowers buds are formed.

repotting during dormancy is fine but some growers advocate repotting during new growth develops.
but for me, the current pot size is fine, these guys performed better when they are slightly under potted. during dormancy, you may remove it from the current plastic pot and just let it sit in the larger clay pot in your pic.
4-5 inches pot seems fine, DO NOT OVERPOT. personally i prefer clay pots with sphag, they dry faster. but in reality, i am not a fan of sphag moss. climate in my growing area is very different from yours, but the general rule applies, water and feed during growth, stop fertilizer when bulb is matured, NO watering when there are NO leaves

[coeruleo]

i don't have a picture of the plant under attack, it was just clear colorless sap, a little tacky, i think from this plant. i had a panic attack and cleaned it off immediately under running water and then used neem. the sap was on both sides of the leaves. there was more underneath. there are now little spots on the underside mostly where it has been bug bitten. but not too worse for wear.

---------- Post Merged at 07:03 PM ----------

i was also considering a wood basket filled with moss and charcoal... and maybe some clay pellets. perhaps i will wait another growth cycle first.

[catasetum-ian]

i don't have a picture of the plant under attack, it was just clear colorless sap, a little tacky, i think from this plant. i had a panic attack and cleaned it off immediately under running water and then used neem. the sap was on both sides of the leaves. there was more underneath. there are now little spots on the underside mostly where it has been bug bitten. but not too worse for wear.

---------- Post Merged at 07:03 PM ----------

i was also considering a wood basket filled with moss and charcoal... and maybe some clay pellets. perhaps i will wait another growth cycle first.

COLORLESS TACKY SAP.................if what you are describing is what i think it is, the sap is what some called a Happy sap, meanings they are produced when the plant is in a favorable condition, usually formed under the leaves, mostly at the junction where the leaves break off when plant is in dormant shape. sometime i notice them forming on flower spike as well. i tasted them before and they are SWEET！！
disadvantage is that they attract ants and they feed on this. these ants will bite on the area leaving black marks.

[coeruleo]

it seems to have attracted mites or thrips or something as well. i have rinsed the plant off a few times now and re-neemed. it's so dry here that any spot of moisture attracts bugs. and it has been unusually humid this week too which has been allowing the bugs to really proliferate. i have some onions that were suddenly covered with black aphids overnight.

---------- Post Merged at 09:14 AM ----------

oh, if you want to see a sticky sappy orchid, get a miltassia shelob. the flowers on mine get so covered they look candied. it gets all over the plants around it too.

[King Kjeldz]

u attracted one of the few pests that attack catasetums and relatives MITES...red spider mites and false spider mites and the webbing they exude..a miticide is in order and i suggest your whole collection....mites like the dry spells and breed like...welll mites.....lol....goood luck withe the spikes cant wait to see blooms

[coeruleo]

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