New Tolumnia Tequila Sunrise

      I am slightly embarrassed to say, I dragged my good friend to the Bronx Botanical Garden (a 3 hour total train ride) just to get this beauty.

     As some of you may know, I have been looking for a tolumnia for over a year now. Yes, they are available online but I was scared to go through because of previous bad shipping incidents.

     There was only a handful of tolumnias for sale, most of the orchids there were phals. Even with extortionate prices, the shop was full of buyers. I checked the discounted shelf first in hopes of getting a nice plant for cheaper, but it was full of literally dead plants being sold for $30+.  The Botanical Garden shop was also selling many mislabeled tolumnias. I was thankful that I did some research beforehand and was able to determine which were labeled right.

     As seen in the above picture, tolumnias are rather dainty orchids. The pot itself was 1.5" across and the tallest fan was 2" tall. Three fans comfortably fit in the pot. The  1.5' spike held 6 unscented, half-inch blooms - now holding 5 because one wilted from repotting stress.

     Even though it could have grew comfortably in its pot, it was extremely clear the tolumnia was not repotted for a long while. The bark was heavily decomposed and gave off a rotting, moist, wet-dog like smell. I was a bit surprised to see it was potted in coarse bark, being the roots are so fine.

     I bough the orchid with intentions of mounting it. Whenever I see mounted tolumnias, my heart melts! I googled some mounting techniques for tolumnias and did the best I could - The plant was placed on cork with a tiny bit of chopped sphagnum underneath, some live moss on top of the roots, and tied up with monofilament. I placed a ruberband around the cork to hold the spike stake in place, and am now just waiting for attachment. Once the roots attach to the mount, off comes the monofilament and rubberband.

     Yes, there are many roots sticking out. I thought it would be best this way due to tolumnias prefrence to dry quickly. I mist twice a day and soak the whole mount every other day for 10 minutes. So far, the mount dries efficiently, almost completely within an hour.
 

      As mentioned before, I am waiting to move to college this fall where I will have an 'official' setup and proper lighting. As of now, it will hang off of my wall where it receives okay light - hopefully enough to keep growth going.

Root rot on Phal. NoID w/ keikis

Leaves showing some distress - Drooping and thinning especially on the bottom two.

 
      I think I finally understand why this Phal is pushing keikis.

     When I originally picked up this Phal. NoID I had no idea that it would push keikis from its spikes. It root system wasn't ideal, but still nice compared to what I usually find in big-box stores. Nothing I couldn't handle or havent fixed on previous orchids. The roots were slightly rotted, so I clipped, disinfected, soaked in SuperThrive solution, then potted into bark. About 4 months later, the plant became very thirsty and droopy. To my dismay, half of the existing root system was dead. This time, I clipped and disinfected with Physan and a fungicide to be safe before repotting into spag/bark mix. I added some chopped spag to keep up with the plants thirst, but made sure to keep it very airy. The medium dried completely about every 3 days. Afterwards, the phal was rather happy for another 4 months.

Post rot removal. 3 roots keeping this phal alive, all showing signs of rot, too.

     Recently, more drooping made me worried. I unpotted one last time to find 3 stubby roots keeping this Phal alive. There is one, stubby, somewhat healthy green areal root, but it rarely receives moisture so I doubt it contributes much. I cleared away the major rot, and once again soaked in Physan. The 3 roots I left all show black (but not mushy) rot. I will let them just slowly rot away and provide some water to the plant before I lop them off. There is no signs of new root growth, despite treatment with Superthrive.
   I am at loss - is this viral rot? And why would a rotting, on-the-brink-of-death Phal grow 2 new leaves?

Keiki 1 (right) and Keiki 2 (left)

 
   Keiki 1 has finally grown a nice root. It has attached itself to the cork, just like I wanted it to.
   I honestly am not too concerned about the mom. I of course will try to keep it alive but will not extenuate myself, especially since its a NoID and since I have 2 keiki clones.

     Hoping for the best, but dont expect any good news out of the mom.

Phal NoID "Mommie" + keiki #1 & 2

Keiki #1, Rubber-banded to cork mount.

     Im happy to introduce Phal "Mommie", quickly named so after I found 2 keikis growing on its spike. It is one of my healthiest plants and continues to grow leaves and roots despite supporting 2 (possibly a 3rd) keikis. I have read on a few blogs that the mom will sulk and even die after raising the keikis but my plant seems to be doing great. It is housed in a plastic pot filled with bark to keep moisture high, and was originally placed in grow area 2 (the quarantine area) after I noticed a few mealy bugs. The first few leaves on keiki 1 are slightly scarred from mealy bug dammage.

Mother plant, two new leaves on top.

keiki 1, left side with (mysteriously) damaged root.

Keiki 1, right side with new root.

 

















     As seen in the first picture, keiki 1 has been already mounted onto cork, despite not having strong roots. I want the roots to latch on as soon as possible to the cork mount, so it can be removed and let the mom grow without strain.  The sooner cork is introduced, the sooner it can happen! The cork is standing up by itself, attached to a stake, and lightly rubber-banded to the spike. It is not placing any weight on the spike this way. Hopefully, everything will work out.

keiki 2, no roots.