These are the sad leftovers of a beautiful large Maxillaria tenuifolia plant that I bought last April at the show.
Plant arrived in the old moss. Moss was black and smelled bad. I decided to repot, but being total newby, I was very harsh with roots and damaged them badly when trying to get rid of old stinky moss.
I potted it into clear plastic pot with chc and quickly rotted rest of the roots. Bulbs wrinkled and I though the plant was a goner.
I eneded up selcting couple pieces with new growth and potting them into smallest pot with new moss. I was very carefull to let the moss get crusty dry on top before next watering.
To my surprise bulbs plumped up, new growths grew bigger and roots filled up small pot. I just moved it to the larger pot yesterday. From all these manipulations here is what I learned:
- Maxillaria tenuifolia likes to grow in the sphagnum moss on the full sun and likes to get somewhat dry between waterings.
- She doesn't really like her roots disturbed much.
- If bulbs wrinkled, they still might plump back if noticed in time to save them.
Anything else? Please add more...
Perfect timing for me, thank you! I have a Maxillaria overflowing a wee pot so will be moving it this spring. I really didn't know what to plant it in but will try spagnum.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, Susan! It is great that your Maxi is a vigorous grower. Don't you just love her yummy coconut scent! Good luck with repotting...
ReplyDeleteWhen I adopted my Coconut Pie Orchid (Maxillaria) from a friend, I was warned that it won’t do well on a north-facing windowsill but that was the only space I had available. So, I set it there and crossed my fingers. It’s been 3 years and I am happy to report that it’s really thriving with new growth of leaves and roots and fantastic blooms.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it remains odorless which is just as well because it’s standing near a Rhynchoalaelia which emits a very strong citric fragrance.
Thank you for visiting, Hanna. It's nice to know that Maxi would bloom without much sun.I only had the spot for her on sunny window and was at first worried to burn it, but she is doing great with my vandas and catts :).
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with mine but was able to rescue it too in new moss that I let get crusty on top before watering it. It skipped a bloom cycle and now I'm waiting to see if it will bloom.
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