I've been a bad Vuyl mommy, but I'm willing to change!

16 years ago

My first orchid, a Vuyl. Cambria 'Plush' seems to think I am a bad parent and it's probably right.

The problem is as follows - it is not getting enough water. The new pseudobulb that it spent about 6 months growing never swelled and today I saw a new growth emerging.

A little background on the plant:

When I bought it it was planted in a very soggy medium, but since I was new to orchids I was afraid to repot it. Within a few days the oldest PB began to turn yellow and rot - I tried to dry out the plant as much as I could and fortunately the problem did not spread. When it finished flowering, I finally repotted and discovered that the entire pre-exising root mass had rotted away, however there were a number of new root tips just peeking out from the new growth and the adjacent PB. I repotted in a fine grade bark/charcoal/perlite mix - at this point everything seemed to be peachy - the new growth got bigger and the roots were growing. Then at some point the roots stopped growing and started to look a little thinner and dryer. I was afraid to water too much because it didn't seem that the whole of the medium was drying out even through the topmost roots were. I watered approximately weekely and sprayed down the top of the medium every day. This continued throughout the entire summer, and I kept waiting for the new PB to swell up and get bigger, but it never did. The new growth is actually taller than the previous one, but it's almost paper thin. Now I'm afraid I'll completely kill the plant if I try to do this one more time. The two older PBs still look fairly plump so it's still got some gas left.

Growing conditions: Front row in front of large picture west facing picture window, gets direct sun after about 2pm until dark. Temperatures range from about 60-75 normally, however can get up to around 85 for fairly extended periods of time in the summer (this might be one of the problems).

I think I read a suggestion to put sphag on top of the medium to keep it more uniformly moist - do you think this would help? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

~Jem

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Comments (5)

xmpraedicta
16 years ago
Hi!
I have three of my oncidium types (sharry baby, Miltonidium Ruffles 'Scent of a Woman' and colmanara) in straight sphag. Both the miltonidium and colmanara thrive, whereas the sharry baby is sulked for 3 years, producing new growths that promptly rot. I also have a miltonia spectabilis in S/H but I think it hates it, so I'm going to switch to sphag too.

If you're growing in a central heated home windowsill, you may want to put it in sphag the next time a new growth comes out. In my experience, sphag is moistens and dries the most evenly. Bark has been not so good for me, because the top dries WAY too fast, and the bottom stays wet. I don't know whether it's because the bark I have is inefficient at wicking water or something, but sphag seems much more friendly.

I've tried the over-laying sphag thing. In theory it seems like it should work beautifully but in reality it didn't work at all. I don't know why.
littlem_2007
16 years ago
hi, i have same experience with sphag.. it does not work for me, either. it is either too wet or too dry.

sue
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jane__ny
16 years ago
I have better luck growing these in a airier mix. I find their roots will rot in sphag. I'm a underwaterer and never had luck growing them in sphag. I've actually had the best luck with Aussie Gold, which tends to be dry and stays loose. But I have a bunch of oncids in small bark with sponge-rock and a little sphag thrown in and I get good root growth. I also grow them on the cool side. They do not like heat or direct sun. Western sun may be too much for it.

Grow Sharry Baby in a drier mix and she will love it. I potted a large one in Aussie Gold and it loved it. Had SB for years and it grew well, but when moved in Aussie, I couldn't believe the growth. I've since given it away because it was too large and too Stinky. Seriously, give up on pure sphag.

Jane
howard_a
16 years ago
Here's my take. I know we all have our preferences but I never blame a medium for problems. That is just me. Here again, however, we have a testimonial from someone who deciding that their mix is too 'soggy' repots into something more open but then experiences continued problems now perhaps due to too dry conditions leading to brittle, dead, roots that don't develop.

The unassisted (by artificial light) west window is at once too much light and too little! Your area can see frequent clouds and I suspect an atlas would show your locale receiving less than 180 clear days out of 365. IMO this is too little for good growth of anything but 'low light' species. OTOH when the sun 'is' shining and temps are up in the mid-80's possibly higher that is too much, even I admit that. The only recourse is to shade away the worst of the natural light. What is left will not cause heat stress or scorch but neither will it be able to put size into a p-bulb. The difference must be made up artificially. If someone knows of another way I would like to hear it.

When orchids stall, sulk or otherwise go on strike the reason will always be found outside of the pot. Too litttle (rarely too much) light, too little or too much heat, too little or too much ventilation... external causatives. Water 1x/wk for a plastic pot, 2x/wk for a clay pot regardless of what is in it and call it good! Do not spray or mist or otherwise try to 'top up' orchid pots. That way lies madness and also root rot. With experience will come the ability to experiment in ways that will not harm your plants. Until then its best to follow some rules. They won't always be a perfect fit but they work for quite a lot of growers new and old.

H
jemsta
Original Author
16 years ago
I would completely agree that the medium is not to blame for my Vuyl's problems. However I think there is a chance that changing (or otherwise adjusting) the medium may alleviate some of the problems associated with my less than optimal growing conditions (I've had a desire to try Aussie Gold at some point anyway). The funny thing is, I have a Dgmra. Winter Wonderland about a foot away from this plant and it is happily throwing out two spikes from nice fat PBs. The difference between the two plants culture is that one the Vuyl is in a plastic pot and the Dgmra is in clay.

That said, clearly this plant is not happy and perhaps the heat and intense light at some parts of the summer are to blame. Last week I bought at 42w cfl so that I could experiment with light setups and plan to buy 3 more this weekend for my winter grow area (east side of house). Perhaps next summer I will leave the Vuyl in there with a combination of morning light and a cfl or two. That room should also be cooler.

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions.

I've been a bad Vuyl mommy, but I'm willing to change!

Comments (5)

xmpraedicta

littlem_2007

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I've been a bad Vuyl mommy, but I'm willing to change!

Comments (5)

xmpraedicta

littlem_2007

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jane__ny

howard_a

jemstaOriginal Author

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