Bulbophyllum cernuum

maybe it drys out too much in terra cotta...i keep my bulbos in plastic pots....or could be it has lost its growth eyes...if they were damaged or dried out, it will never grow anything, just hang there forever....i would give it more time and try to keep the moisture more constant. good luck!

 

Keep it shady, VERY warm and humid (not necessariy "wet"), and it ought to respond nicely.

 

Hmmm... I hafta disagree with Ray here. Both of mine do quite well in intermediate temps and bright shade. High RH, and daily water on a rough cork mount seem to do the trick as well.

I know Forrest has a concoction he mixes up for rootless bulbos, and he claims decent success with it. If he doesn't chime in, I'll see if I can find it somewhere in the depths of my e-mail.

 

ahh yes. the concotion.

Here is what I do, someone taught it to me and I have had good success with it, at least I think.

basically mix up a batch of warm water, sugar, super thrive and vitamin e.

the amounts are not exact. Call it a few pints of water, a half cup of sugar, several drops of super thrive and 2 vitamin e capsules broke open so the liquid gets out. Mix it all up and soak your plant in there for several hours.

If I were you this is what I would do, then I would put it on a piece of cork with little or no moss, and water daily. I would hope to see new root activity soon.

 

Jon and Marni,

The reason I recommended very warm conditions was to accelerate the plant's metabolism.

Reviving and growing do not necessarily mean using the same set of conditions.

 

That recipe is the one George Norris always pushed for reviving desiccated, root-free plants.

Todd Zimmerman wrote me once that "From a physiological standpoint that mix would probably kill anything but an orchid in a matter of minutes because the osmotic potential of the solution is so high. The only reason orchids survive it would be because they are designed to inhibit water loss/water entry.

Epiphytic orchids have extremely dilute sap compared to other plants (about 1/4) so their ability to pull water from external solutions is very low. Any increase in external solutes counteracts this ability, so if you want to get water into the plant as quickly as possible soak it in pure water. A sugar water solution will just pull water out of the plant. The cell membranes are semipermeable, letting water out with no resistance, but stopping everything else from coming in. The sucrose must be actively brought into the cells. At that point the cells of a sick plant are not set up to do this very effectively (few transport ports), and are low on energy to activate the ports or to process the sucrose into available energy (ATP) once it gets into the cell."

If I recall correctly, vitamin E is a fat/oil soluble chemical, not water soluble, so I don't see how it could help.

 

So just to be sure Ray, your recommendation was based on assumption and not experience. Correct?