New Leaf on Angraecum leonis

Angraecum leonis

     There's a new leaf starting on my Angraecum leonis.  For this slow growing orchid, that's a big development. Even better, the orchid shows no sign of shedding any of its lower leaves--it might actually be growing bigger!

New leaf closeup

Twice-daily watering on vase-grown Angraecum leonis produced spurt of root growth

Angraecum leonis growing in vase

     About 1.5 months ago, I increased my watering of the Angcm leonis to twice daily in an attempt to simulate the monsoon season that this orchid experiences during the warm months.  My hope was that extra watering would encourage some faster growth from this very slow orchid.

New root tips on Angraecum leonis

     Within a couple weeks of the increased watering regime, the orchid activated new root growth, producing the branching seen in the picture above.  These new root branches now measure between 1/4"-1/2" long after 1.5 months growth.  I cannot conclude whether it was the extra water, or the additional exposure to Superthrive which directly caused this root growth.  

     I haven't notice any other changes in response to the twice daily watering.  Now that the weather has cooled down (and because watering an orchid twice a day is a pain the neck) I scaled my watering regimen back to once daily.

Angraecum growth progress over 1 year

     Although I complain about this orchid being the slow-poke of my collection, a comparison to my oldest photo of the plants does show a rather significant amount of root growth in the past year.  In fact, most of the roots in the December picture are themselves newly grown (they are a light green, in contrast to the darker tone of the old roots).  The truth of the matter is that the orchid arrived to me in poor health, and needs to regrow its root system before it can really start growing impressive leaves or buds.

How often should I water my angraecum leonis?

     As I described in this earlier post, I've been growing my angraecum leonis in a vase, with its roots exposed to the air.  Angraecums are members of the vandaceous family of orchids, and like vandas, they can grow very well in baskets, mounts, other exposed-root conditions.


     Although I love how mounted orchids look, they require near daily watering and consistently high humidity to thrive, which I may not always be able to provide.  While NYC is incredibly humid during the summer (80-90% humidity for the majority of last summer), in the winter humidity drops to the 50-60% range.  Meanwhile indoor heating dries the air out in my apartment even further.  Although I do have a supersonic humidifier near my orchids, I don't always remember to keep it filled and running. As a compromise, I've been growing my angraecum leonis in a vase, which still leaves the roots exposed to the air, but also retains a higher local humidity around the roots.


     I am not sure what the optimal watering frequency for my angcm leonis should be.  Unlike my potted orchids, I can't really water it too frequently.  Up until now I have been watering every 2-3 days, and the plant has fared well and grown a multitude of new root tips since summer.  However, the old leaves on the orchid have wrinkled dramatically.  This wrinkling has particularly worsened after my winter holiday trip when the orchid had only one watering over a 15 day period.  


     Since coming back from the holidays I've started watering my angcm leonis daily, in the hopes of reducing some of the wrinkling on the leaves.  In part, I don't find the wrinkled leaves to be aesthetically pleasing, but another motivation for the increased watering is that I want the plant to have greater reserves to draw upon next time I go away on a multi-week trip.  


     Will increased watering undo the wrinkling on these leaves?  Even if the old leaves are irreversibly wrinkled, I hope to prevent it in the newest leaf that is growing now. 


     

Angraecum Leonis: first internet acquisition

an experiment in vase culture

    As colorful as the NYC flower shops can be, their exorbitant prices inspired me to try out purchasing orchids over the internet.  Online catalogs for the first time exposed me to the wide array of orchid species from which there's no going back.  This angraecum leonis is one of the first plants I ordered.

    The orchid arrived in a small pot of rock-hard sphagnum moss, with what turned out to be the entirety of its remaining living roots out in the air.  I knew it was time to repot, when I accidentally jostled the plant, and it fell completely out of its pot.  I initially repotted into orchid media, but then came across a reference to people growing vandaceous orchids in vases over at the OrchidBoard and decided to try it out for myself.

    At this point I didn't really know how to distinguish living vs dead roots, so I think I ended up trimming away some roots that were still alive.  The trick to making living roots stand out is to soak the plant in water.  Roots that are alive will turn a bright green color, while the dead ones remain a tannish brown.

    With vase culture, the roots of the orchid are more exposed and dry out much quicker.  The benefit is that there is no media to decompose, and the plant never really needs to be repotted (some orchids are very sensitive to their roots being disturbed during repotting and will sulk for a long time afterward).  Orchids like the angraecum are true epiphytes, and will be found with their roots exposed to the open air in nature.  Since New York winters can be very dry due to apartment heating, the vase (and the water at the bottom) helps retain a locallly high humidity level.  

     The orchid's leaves are very wrinkled, indicating dehydration.  However, it has shown enormous root growth (7 new roots in the last 5 months) and has also started growing a new leaf.  I currently water the orchid every 2 or 3 days by filling up the vase with filtered water+fertilizer and letting the roots soak for appx an hour.  While I could water more frequently to help the plant get better hydrated, I want to encourage further growth of the root system to adapt to a less demanding watering regimen.  Since the health of the plant hasn't deteriorated in the past 5 months of vase culture, I am hopeful that it will eventually adapt to less frequent watering.    

I should do something about the algae...