Masdevallia strumifera

I've had this plant for 2 years and this is its first time blooming. I got interested in this species after seeing an amazing video showing this species in its natural habitat:


In that video, you can see that this is a species of *very* high elevation, up to 3750 m in the sub-paramo of the Colombian Andes. He describes the habitat of having typical daytime temps of 10-12C with nighttime temperatures that can easily get down to 0C or even lower.

He further goes on to mention that on a scale of 1-5 of difficulty, this species is a 5, and he considers it "one of the impossible species" that "no one has ever had success blooming".

Challenge accepted!

I grow mine in the bottom of my wine cooler in the coldest, wettest spot possible. This time of year the temps are ~16C max in the day and ~5C min at night, nearly 100% humidity and high air movement.

 

Here’s a photo from a couple weeks ago (with the door open)

I’ve had this set up for a few years now and after countless tweaks and hacks I’m pretty satisfied with how it works. Just wish it was bigger.

The main modifications were as follows:

1. had to bypass the NTCs on the Peltier units so it could get below 10c

2. Drilled a few holes through the back to install a few waterproof fans in the cooler

3. replaced the fans on the cold side (interior) blowing of the Peltiers cause normal fans don’t last long in the grow chamber

4. rigged a fogger up to so that when the cooling units kick on, the fogger runs too. This balances out the moisture that is stripped from the air

5. Mounted an LED board on the inside of the roof, and wired the driver outside the grow chamber. It is a spider farmer Sf1000 run at about 40%. Some diodes have died but overall it has held up well considering that the climate inside is modeled after a 3000 m paramo…

 

Thanks!

The enclosure is a wine cooler with a few modifications. This is a thermoelectric one rather than a compressor-based cooler. With the two thermoelectric modules, it has no problem getting down into the low 40s at night, even in the summer.