The most frustrating plants u hav ever owned...

[Paphman910]

Unfortunately, i have and have had a few of these frustrating plants. I tried three C. schilleriana without any success and right now a Dracula simia that grows well but every time it puts out buds, they eventually die before flowering. (And then I'm the one making monkey faces!) .

My Paph wardii is doing the same thing as your Dracula simia! Very likely my conditions are too warm during the nights!

Paphman910

 

[Kavanaru]

My Paph wardii is doing the same thing as your Dracula simia! Very likely my conditions are too warm during the nights!

Paphman910

I would check more the humidty... I grow my wardii in a warm greenhouse with my Catasetinae, and it grows and bloom very well... right now it has 4 buds maturing and just finished with two flowers...

 

[goldenrose]

Yep, I have quite a few. I have a number of Angraecum and Aerangis that are down-right stubborn - aren't growing, doing nothing ! Angraecum leonis - I have 3 of these - and none of them are doing anything! They have never bloomed, and have not yet grown one new leaf! Very frustrating. I also have an Angraecum magdalenae, also doing nothing! and I have an Aerangis luteo-alba that will not grow or bloom or anything!

They all get bright light, dappled sunlight, good air circulation, fertilizer and still I'm not seeing these orchids perform!

How long have you had them? If they're not growing - how are the roots? What's the potting media? or are they mounted?
leonis does seem to be slow growing for me, then I put it in sphag in a net pot, got a good response, I have it in sun growing with the Tolumnias & Neostylis.
magdalenae can take high light & in nature has a cool dry period in winter.
luteo-alba - shady, high humidity, mine is mounted, misting wasn't enough, I almost lost it last year, soaking it for 15 minutes, usually daily did the trick - new leaves!
I've found this genus to be a bit more challenging than what is usually indicated but when you get it right they are so worth it!

 

[cnycharles]

yes, i'd forgotten how many aerangis have jumped from a tall bridge, I suspect that it usually was because of not enough humidity

 

[goods]

I grow a lot of Angraecoid species, and I find that they aren't terribly difficult once you get the culture down. I think most of them do best in intermediate temps. There are exceptions on both ends of the range, but I've seen much greater growth in an intermediate tank with constantly high humidity than outdoors in LA. Also, they need very clean water. Other than that, relatively shady and I do best with them mounted.

 

[paphioboy]

Interesting to see what stuff other people have trouble keeping alive and ways to overcome it... Bring it on...

 

[Rick]

My Paph wardii is doing the same thing as your Dracula simia! Very likely my conditions are too warm during the nights!

Paphman910

My P. wardii have generally done well (compared to sukhakulii). Working on 2nd generation Slippertalk seed pods presently.

My GH also trends towards the warmer end of the scale. Barely getting below 70 at night for the last month.

Changing over to the sphag basket with sand, and reducing available K way down has greatly improved the looks of almost all my Barbata since this spring. Even the ones still in bark.

I know you've been using a lot more Ca and Mg in general with lots of your plants in the past. Maybe try reducing standard fertilizer even more, and increasing the percentage of calcium nitrate and Epsom salts.

 

[Stone]

My most frustrating orchid? ever?
Oncidium lanceanum. Bought as a seedling about 15 years ago at 1'' high. after about 10 years it got to near flowering size:clap: Then lost all its roots,:sob: So I ripped it off the cork slab and put it in sphag moss. It then proceeded to drop all except one leaf.:sob: After a while it sent up a new shoot and a couple of roots so back it went on to cork slab.:clap: In a couple of years it was big enough to flower and put up a spike.:drool: Just as the buds were developing it rotted off and lost all it's roots. yes ALL. :sob: Back into the sphag moss and put out a new shoot which developed a small leaf.:clap: So into a small clay pot with bark/charcoal. Grew well for a while and put out another growth bigger than the last one.:clap: A few days ago I noticed that all its roots were starting to DIE!---- JUST DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[paphioboy]

My most frustrating orchid? ever?
Oncidium lanceanum. Bought as a seedling about 15 years ago at 1'' high. after about 10 years it got to near flowering size:clap: Then lost all its roots,:sob: So I ripped it off the cork slab and put it in sphag moss. It then proceeded to drop all except one leaf.:sob: After a while it sent up a new shoot and a couple of roots so back it went on to cork slab.:clap: In a couple of years it was big enough to flower and put up a spike.:drool: Just as the buds were developing it rotted off and lost all it's roots. yes ALL. :sob: Back into the sphag moss and put out a new shoot which developed a small leaf.:clap: So into a small clay pot with bark/charcoal. Grew well for a while and put out another growth bigger than the last one.:clap: A few days ago I noticed that all its roots were starting to DIE!---- JUST DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I seriously think your clone of lanceanum was meant for the big compost bin in the sky from the first day. Get another one..

 

[Stone]

I can't bring myself to destroy it, It's called Purple giant x purple KING!!.

 

[Shiva]

A plant that doesn't flower is just green unless it turns purple with rot.

 

[Marc]

A plant that doesn't flower is just green unless it turns purple with rot.

Or orange

 

[FlowerFaerie]

My most frustrating orchid? ever?
Oncidium lanceanum. Bought as a seedling about 15 years ago at 1'' high. after about 10 years it got to near flowering size:clap: Then lost all its roots,:sob: So I ripped it off the cork slab and put it in sphag moss. It then proceeded to drop all except one leaf.:sob: After a while it sent up a new shoot and a couple of roots so back it went on to cork slab.:clap: In a couple of years it was big enough to flower and put up a spike.:drool: Just as the buds were developing it rotted off and lost all it's roots. yes ALL. :sob: Back into the sphag moss and put out a new shoot which developed a small leaf.:clap: So into a small clay pot with bark/charcoal. Grew well for a while and put out another growth bigger than the last one.:clap: A few days ago I noticed that all its roots were starting to DIE!---- JUST DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe it just likes sphag! :wink:

 

[Stone]

I think its dead.

 

[NeoNJ]

Amongst the Slipper Orchids, my most frustrating were the Multifloral Paphs, and amongst the Non-slipper orchids, right now I'm very frustrated with a few Aerangis/Angraecum (Aerangis mystadicii, Angraecum praestans, Angraecum leonis, Amesiella monticola) and also a wickedly stubborn Sophronitis cernua and Dendrobium jenkensii.

 

[NeoNJ]

Oooops! I forgot one. I had a large multi-growth Paph Delrosi.......I was advised to 'try and kill it' in order to get it to bloom. So I baked it outside for the summer. Nothing. I was then told to freeze it out over the Winter. But before I had a chance to do that ...... the entire plant overnight turned brown. Needless to say ....... it went in the trash !

 

[Rick]

I think its dead.

I was just checking on the status of growing this species in the TN orchid society.

A few people have it, and when its doing good its growing like crazy. But talking to one grower (who has 3 or so), the best one was "out of control great" for several years until the mount rotted and they tried to put it on a new mount. Well 2-3 years later they are down to just a couple of mangy growths after trying about 6 different mounts or potting schemes.

In the meantime the same folks above gave a divsion to another member (primarily a Phale grower) when the above plant was in its prime, who stuck it in a basket. That division turned into several and is overflowing the basket.

Temps and humidity are pretty typical for both the above growers, but the Phal grower generally keeps his winter lows no lower than 60 (15.5C) in the winter, and max would be in the high 80's low 90's in summer (~32C)

The 1st grower has surprisingly soft/acidic low TDS water for TN and fertilizes a lot. 2-3 times a week at 100ppm N during the summer. The second grower has typical middle TN water which is moderately hard and feeds no more than 1X per week (often skipping to once a month in winter).

I also need to check with Ed M since he has almost everything.

 

[Stone]

I was just checking on the status of growing this species in the TN orchid society.

A few people have it, and when its doing good its growing like crazy. But talking to one grower (who has 3 or so), the best one was "out of control great" for several years until the mount rotted and they tried to put it on a new mount. Well 2-3 years later they are down to just a couple of mangy growths after trying about 6 different mounts or potting schemes.

In the meantime the same folks above gave a divsion to another member (primarily a Phale grower) when the above plant was in its prime, who stuck it in a basket. That division turned into several and is overflowing the basket.

Temps and humidity are pretty typical for both the above growers, but the Phal grower generally keeps his winter lows no lower than 60 (15.5C) in the winter, and max would be in the high 80's low 90's in summer (~32C)

The 1st grower has surprisingly soft/acidic low TDS water for TN and fertilizes a lot. 2-3 times a week at 100ppm N during the summer. The second grower has typical middle TN water which is moderately hard and feeds no more than 1X per week (often skipping to once a month in winter).

I also need to check with Ed M since he has almost everything.

Thanks for the info Rick, Its good to know that it has done well at 60 degrees.
According to the Bakers, habitat averages at 68 mins. I still have not thrown it out but it has no live roots, 1 pathetic large leaf and 1 small leaf.
I might give it one last chance but I think it may have run out of grwth buds.

 

[Rick]

Thanks for the info Rick, Its good to know that it has done well at 60 degrees.
According to the Bakers, habitat averages at 68 mins. I still have not thrown it out but it has no live roots, 1 pathetic large leaf and 1 small leaf.
I might give it one last chance but I think it may have run out of grwth buds.

Yes, average low of 68 for real habitat info should be well within an adaptation to 60 as an absolute min under artificial.

I'm presently trying to resurect a Phale schileriana that has the same history as your (and the Berger's) lanceanum history. I bought it as a NBS seedling in 2002. By 2005 the mother plant had 18" leaves, and multiple branching spikes over 4" long. One season I counted over 100 blooms. A few years ago the mount I had it on was so badly rotted I decided to replace the mount. Some of the roots on the outside of the mount were bad looking anyway, but when I beat apart the rotten wood, I found a bunch of big thick (but white) roots inside the rotten wood.

Anyway it's been on a decline for the last few years. Down to 1 relatively small floppy leaf until about a month ago. I did salvage on of its keikis and its doing good on its mount.

With no more than a couple of nubby root buds and 1 leaf I stuck it in a small net pot with fresh sphagnum. Kelp extract and very low levels of feed. I just discovered two fresh little leaves and a spike (which I may pinch off):clap:. No roots protruding yet. So we'll see, but not dead yet.:wink:

 

[FlowerFaerie]

I had a Phal Newberry Parfait Picotee.... it seemed quite happy for about 6 months, and then suddenly all the roots disappeared without trace, not rotted, over one weekend. I took it out of the pot, and new roots grew, so I repotted in new bark (from another supplier, just in case...) only to see, or rather not see, the roots vanish again. It continued for several months, growing roots while suspended above a pot, but losing them the moment they touched the medium - until finally it got so stressed that all the leaves fell off. At that point I gave up! Maybe I should have mounted it