8/08

(1) Epidendrum medusae (68 day, 53-59 night, 60-80% humidity, 6560 feet);
(2) Trichopilia fragrans (75-76 day, 55-59 night, 80% humidity, 3500-6560 feet);
(3) Dracula vampira (77-80, 53-59 night, 70-75% humidity, 6560 feet);
(4) Brassia pozoi xanthina (52-80 degrees, 4900-7709 feet);
(5) Phragmipedium 'Zapatilla de la Virgen' (50-80 degrees);

My first Ecuagenera order. These plants are in beautiful condition and I have very little to say about them.

8/17

The second part of the shipment, from Ecuagenera USA, arrived on Monday, August 16 after having been shipped out the Monday before. UPS really messed up this order, it seems. I’m not sure if the Paphinia will bounce back, and it could take a long time for that Lycaste to recover. The Lycomormium on the left seems okay, though I’m not happy with the brown spots on the foliage, on the new growth to the left in particular. I’ve asked for a refund/replacement on the two plants in worse condition, hopefully they’ll fulfill it soon. If I get to keep the latter two, I’ll probably spend the next year obsessing over whether or not I can revive them.

(1) Lycomormium squalidum (3300-6100 feet);
(2) Paphinia neudeckerii (62-80 degrees, 80% humidity, 2500-4200 feet);
(3) Lycaste locusta (50-80 degrees, 55%+ humidity, 6500-9842 feet)

8/18

I got a refund for the two plants, so I proceeded to wash off the media of what I have and check on their condition in greater detail. It turns out that the Lycaste has one new growth which looks promising enough. I saw some mold spots near the bottom of the largest pseudobulb, which I just washed out. Then, I put the whole plant in a net pot in front of a fan. The Paphinia had more mold spots and when I washed it, the pseudobulbs were quite easy to separate. I found some rot at the top and bottom of two different pseudobulbs, which I cut off. I believe this plant is going to die in a few days. I’m keeping it bare root on the humid windowsill on this rainy day, on top of some paper towels. The Lycomormium had a tiny bit of mold on its roots as well, which I washed off, and it’s sitting bare root in a terra cotta pot in front of the fan. I also cut out more of the rotten parts on the leaves. And the Epidendrum medusae’s roots are pretty much dead. I discovered one new growth on the smaller division rotted. I think it’s trying to push out a new root at the base of its stem, hopefully this will happen within the next week. I took all the sphagnum off the mount. I’m planning on putting in a new order to Ecuagenera now, to replace the Paphinia, probably the Epidendrum and get some more plants… I’m not as torn up about replacing plants I’ve recently killed as I was in the past. I believe it was primarily bad luck to have the Epidendrum arrive before an incipient heat wave.

8/21

I'm glad to see the central pseudobulb greening up from the bottom. I'm also glad to see it shrivelling a bit, means that it's sending resources to the newer growths.

UPDATE (9/13). Since this picture was taken, the Lycomormium has dropped all its leaves and I don't think it'll survive. But the Lycaste is continuing to develop new bulbs, however slowly. It's still bare-root and sitting in a dark and moist spot, sharing space with Coelogyne mayeriana.

9/13

Well, well, here’s my third Ecuagenera order, meant to compensate for the last. The plants spent six days in the mail, the weekend wait could’ve been avoided had they not been shipped out on a Wednesday, a bit later than normal due to Labor Day, which they shouldn’t have chosen as an import week. It makes me feel unhealthy myself to see some of the leaf browning and some of the papery thin, dry roots. I wonder why my first order was so good in comparison—they only spent three days in the mail, yes, but is that all? No matter, it’s useless to speculate.

Left-right, top-down: Dendrobium mohlianum, Polycycnis trulifera, Camaridium scalariforme, Anguloa uniflora, Masdevallia sanctae-inesae, Masdevallia prodigiosa, Dendrobium victoriae-reginae.

Though the weather has cooled here, it hasn't in Apopka. Maybe I should only order from Ecuagenera in April and October.

The pictures were hastily taken and aren’t particularly clear. The Masdevallias are actually doing better than many of the others; the Dendrobiums' foliage look fine, but their roots seem weak. It seems like the Polycycnis will be okay, I rather like how wide its leaves are. The plants with the most damage were oddly enough the big robust ones—Camaridium scalariforme and Anguloa uniflora. Nevertheless, I’m sure they can recover, so I won’t be asking for any refunds. Some of these plants might look ugly for a while or take a long time to flower, so this will either lead me to develop a strong savior complex or a feeling of mistrust towards Ecuagenera (probably both). On the positive side, I really admire the robustness of the Anguloa, whose pseudobulbs feel like stones in my hand. What a wonderful genus, thought I’d be bored of large plants with plicate leaves. And on a more practical level, I need to find a pot wide and shallow enough to accurately hold the Anguloa and some heavy cachepot for the tall Camaridium. For the next week or so I plan on monitoring them in a nearly bare-root setup before transferring them to more permanent setups. I will wait to see new root growth. And I need to reconfigure the cooler slightly, seeems like the Brassia no longer needs to be there.

9/24

Thank god, I see new growths. Lycaste locusta has a nice new root coming out of one of its new growths (pictured below). Lycomormium squalidum has a small new growth coming out of the failed new growth, and Anguloa uniflora has a tiny new growth coming out of a backbulb adjacent to the new growth which rotted off.