Hi tropichris; A nice orchid grower gave me a broken off piece of a Ludesia discolor. It was the 4-5 inch tip of a larger plant. It had an endbud and 3-4 leaves, but no roots. I laid it in a saucer, with the leafy end elevated at the saucer's edge, and with the stemmy end on a thin pad of damp sphagnum moss (NZ)--not covered. I placed the dish in bright, indirect light--right by the sliding glass doors. When the sphagnum was almost dry, I misted ONLY the stem area until the sphag was evenly damp (not swimming). Depending on the weather, this sometimes meant misting it twice a day (it was about this time last year). Little Ludie didn't wilt, but nothing happened fast. Eventually, when I lifted the stem to peek at the node areas underneath, I saw that some nobby looking root beginnings had formed. At this point (and tired of spritzing the sphag so often) I lightly covered half the stem area with a sphag layer equaling that underneath. This I dampened as often as necessary to keep it from drying completely. I never misted the leafy part. Slowly, more root nubs and three leaf buds appeared at the stem nodes, so I soaked a well sorted medium of small fir bark, charcoal, and pearlite (probably 3:1:1) and potted Ludie in terracotta. All three sprouts made their ways to the edge of the pot. I live in an area of low humidity, but Ludie doesn't seem to care. I keep it damper than a Phal (keeping a skewer well down in the medium to check for dampness) watering it about once in five or six days (here). It's growing fine, but so dang S-L-O-W-L-Y that I wonder if I'm missing something. No spikes, yet, but it has only been established for 8-10 months. Sweetcicely

i have to add my experience with this because it is so different: I bought a small LD from a garden centre. after i repotted it in terrestial type mix, after a few months part of the "runner" in the mix started to rot. i took it out of the mix when i realized what was happening. some pieces sort of fell apart and after cutting off the rotten parts i have a few pieces. i put them all in water and they have been growing nicely with new roots. one of the pieces is flowering right now. i add a bit of superthrive once in a while and some dyna grow fertilizer every so often. i wash out the container and change the water when i think of it- but i mostly use tap water which i know must be somewhat hard because there is mineral deposit on the outside of my clay pots. also my house is at 68F unless i have guests who get cold - then it is at 74F while they are here. i have decided to keep them in water only. maybe mine is a canadian species which is bred to our climate.. LOL... also, i have found that it needs more than phal level light. sue

Hi Always interesting the different experiences with the same plant. I had a similar experience with mine would always sort of limp along. Never die but never thrive either. Anyway over time i kept moving the smaller and smaller pieces to different locations About 5 months ago I placed it in a 10 gallon aquarium which i use for cuttings of other plants. It has absolutely exploded in there lol.Even out growing philos!! I'm totally perplexed as to why as there are people using these as yard plants in my area!! But not for me The only possible difference is the humidity level obviously. as it's less than two feet from where it was growing before . I added a piece of the silver form but too early for results. Maybe this idea will work for you?? The local commercial growers grow them in hanging baskets hanging UNDER the benches in sphagnum with a bit of peat. I do know they resent too much light Anyway hope this helps gary

I have Black Jewel Orchid I would love to have a small start of Nancy's Revenge in exchange, to replace the ones I lost. I do have other Cane Begonias that you may like. Here is a link that might be useful: exchange page