Aerangis modesta:
This may be case of the blind leading the blind, but I have had success in growing and blooming Aerangis modesta. I'm far from an expert and hope you get better advice than I offer here. The plant that I have was purchased from a vendor we both know just north of SF. I'll guess that I got it about ten years ago. It's mounted on cork bark, a little moss underneath and wrapped with the usual nylon string. The roots don't adhere to the bark at all. See a photo of it on my website, www.colorkidz.com/orchids. It usually has but three leaves and blooms every year, but I moved it a bit last year. It didn't bloom but now has four leaves. I see one new root and six new extensions. This is a bit more vigorous than I have seen in the past. You and I are in similar climates. I live near Palo Alto in the SF bay area. My greenhouse runs colder than yours, down to about 54 and up to about 80 or so in the summer. The greenhouse drops below 60 pretty regularly even in the summer. I grow dry in the winter and very wet in the summer, and a bit on the bright side. I use a humidistat with a timer all year round but set it down in the winter. Most of the greenhouse including the Aerangis gets doused from overhead several times a day with a heavy mist (not fog) when it's hot out. The growing conditions are weird but works for me (sometimes!) There are some black spots on the underside of the oldest leaf probably 3 - 4 years old and the others are relatively clean. It gets fertilized no more than once a week in the summer with the "splish-splash" method supplemented with one or two beads of Osmocote tucked in behind the stem. It gets fertilized a lot less in the winter. I think that fertilizing is not an issue as the plant grows so slowly. I don't know why the roots would stop growing in the summer, but if the inflorescence rots I would guess that it was growing slowly in a cool, wet environment. That has happened to me, especially with other Aerangis. The leaf spots would tend to confirm it for me. If the root tips rot also that would also be confirming. Keep it drier in the winter but don't let it dry out. If the leaves begin to shrivel, you have waited too long. They'll fatten up again, but you will have lost some time. You said that the problem begins with your summer watering schedule, but if the plant stops growing then, the temperature at the plant may be too low for the humidity it sees. About the rhdosticta, I don't have a lot of experience. What I have heard over the years and I think also from Fred Hillerman is that it doesn't like to get it's "feet" wet. Mine grows on a mount and is still alive but I have only had it a year or so. Remounting it wouldn't hurt and this is a good time to do it. Come on down sometime! Paul Simon ----------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 17:09:48 +0000 From: "K Barrett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [OGD] Aerangis questions Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed MIME-Version: 1.0 Precedence: list Reply-To: "the OrchidGuide Digest \(OGD\)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message: 3 My Aerangis modesta isn't attaching to its mount. I've had it for over 4+ yrs and it has never attached to the mount the vendor put it on (not Andy's, *G*). Its on some sort of a tree limb, with a bit of moss (not sphagnum) overlying the roots. The roots start to grow then peter out after only getting a few mms long. Ditto any inflorescence, it grows then stops. That may be becasue I notice it starting to grow so I start to take better care of it - watering and fertilizing - and it stops... making me believe it prefers drier conditions. Also the leaves spot like crazy. Its only flowered for me twice. Obviously I don't understand its cultural needs. Currently its growing with intermediate temps (60-85) and bright light, at the edge of the overhead misting zone where slight amounts of mist gets to it 4 x daily. Growth seems to increase if I keep it drier. I notice growth stops when the summer misting schedule begins. I'd like to move it to a different mount. I have either cork or treefern. *Does* A. modesta like drier conditions? Would cork then be a better choice? Should it move from the edge of the misting zone? Plus, I have A. luteo-alba (var rhodoscita, I think) that I bought in a 2" pot in fine bark but its roots seem to prefer the top of the mix rather than bury themselves in the pot, so I assume it would prefer a mount. Same questions apply: does it like drier conditions? cork? bright light or shade? how to keep the leaves from spotting? I'd like to be more successful growing these 2 plants. Any advice? K Barrett N Calif, USA _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids
