Koellensteinia graminea

[articuno75]

Received plant on Friday 4/4/2008. Plant is in a mix that consists of Spagh moss, Spagh peat, Dyna rock, Vermiculite? (The gold flakes ), Bark, and Perlite. Could have other stuff, but this is what I could see after digging around for a bit.

Just by the consistancy of the mix I'm thinking these are more semi-terrestial and that they like their moisture.

My plant has 6 growths, three spikes in bloom and what appears to be two new growths coming up.

The plant measures 12" leaf to leaf across and the tallest leaf is 9 1/2".

So far I have watered twice and misted with wormtea twice. I don't know about the mix, but I think I'm going to leave like it is for now.

[brandank]

Sounds like it is pretty happy the way it is. Very nice, I can't wait to see all the those blooms open. Good Luck!

[brookn]

It's so cute, I can't wait for mine to bloom.

[articuno75]

Well adjusting to the desert conditions of my apartment, the blooms fell, one of the spikes dried up, and a couple of the buds blasted.

I water when the medium is about dry, but not fully. I've only watered three times so far. Depressing.....

Still in low light and getting plenty of air.

Okay...Quit sulking already!!!

[jay]

Sorry to hear about the blooms. It is still a beautiful plant that once it adjusts should put on a nice show for you.

[janice]

Jenny, I received my Koellensteinia graminea about a week before you. Sounds like the plants are about the same size. I had one spike in bloom and another ready to open. I did repot into a fine bark mixture with charcoal, perlite and minimum sphag. It is in my living room with 2 large west windows.................and humidity can be a problem - generally runs 40 to 50 percent. The blooms are good and a lot of new growth. I did note that one new leaf is wrinkled but was that way when I got her. My blooms appear a little lighter in color. I can move it to the bedroom with the humidifier if I need to....

[articuno75]

I'm thinking I might have to do a repot and thought of putting into a similar mix, only without the spagh. If it's super dry in here at my apartment and I have to constantly wet the medium, with it having a soggy base, I'm fearing root rot. These plants need Phal conditions and I've got to find that happy medium I suppose.

[patticake]

Good luck, Jenny.

[Tobi]

Jenny,
I repotted mine in a fine bark, fine charcoal, and perlite mix. I also added some finely
chopped NZ sphag. I think if you chop it up really well and get it mixed in with the other
media, you would have less of a chance for root rot and still maintain the moisture.
I also lost my buds that were just starting to open. Prob. due to the 40 F temperatures
when it arrived and sat on my front porch until I got home from work. All and all, it
does have new growth and looks fine.

[articuno75]

I was going to do a repot on this a couple of days ago because of the bad roots that were sticking out of the bottom of the pot. I actually had this thing half way out of the pot and then I stopped. There are all kinds of new roots just shooting everywhere!

I just stopped what I was doing and stuck everything back in place. There's no point in messing with a good thing.

I think I can sacrifice a few bad for the many good to come. So if my plant bombs, at least we'll know why.

[articuno75]

This thing is spitting out the most ugliest roots I've ever seen! It kind of grosses me out. Unlike the roots of a Phal (that look cool ) or a Paph, (creepy spider, LOL) these to me look like nasty grubs! (oversized maggots) Yuck!!!!

[solay]

Ah, I think I will stay away from buying one of those. This is a first. I usually want to buy what everyone else has. Maggots!!! No thanks. The blooms are nice though. Jenny, you are right! YUCK!

[articuno75]

I'll get a pic up later so all can see.

[articuno75]

See what I mean? Eewwwww.

[brookn]

Wait till you see mine, little maggots everywhere. I think they are kind of cool, those Paph roots still make me shiver lol. I haven't even got the courage to repot yet, and that monster spider leg is crawling out even further ewww! Yours is looking good.

[Tobi]

Geez Jen, they sure do look weird! Made me run and take a look at mine. The roots look
pretty normal and healthy on the one I got. Looks like Brook has the same scenerio

Sorry about the blurriness. Too much coffee this morning.

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by Tobi

Geez Jen, they sure do look weird! Made me run and take a look at mine. The roots look
pretty normal and healthy on the one I got. Looks like Brook has the same scenerio

Sorry about the blurriness. Too much coffee this morning.

Mine look like that a little further down in the medium, but the ones growing near the top....They just freak me out to the point I don't want to touch it. I use my pokey stick instead.

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by articuno75

Mine look like that a little further down in the medium, but the ones growing near the top....They just freak me out to the point I don't want to touch it. I use my pokey stick instead.

I could almost visualize you poking around in your mix with a stick afraid
of what you might find.

[patticake]

Jenny, You're too funny! I think they look kind of cool...New roots mean healthy plants! Keep us posted on the maggots!

[nenella]

Very very nice roots! I think all roots look Cool too !as long as they look 'living'.. whatever the shape !

[solay]

Yes, Tobi's look more normal in terms of roots to me. Not at all like maggots. Jenny, I'm with you. A stick is your friend.

[janice]

jenny, you are tooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to have to look in the morning for MAGGOTS...................and if I find any you will hear me SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[articuno75]

I'm thinking that maybe my plant has lighting issues? Everyone elses plants look fantastic and then I see mine and I notice that I don't even have any new growths on it. So I moved it closer to the light by placing it near the windowsill. This should help, but we'll see.

[articuno75]

I see that everyone else has new growths already and mine is really lagging behind the trail. What are you guys doing for them?

[Tobi]

Jenny,
I moved mine to the northeast side of my room. I was getting good growth but the
leaves on the new growths were not only pleated but were getting brown tips as well.
I know I wasn't over fertilizing, so that was not the cause. I increased the humidity in
my room to about 70% and it seems to be helping the pleating problem. I have about
10-12 new growths so I'll see how they develop.

[articuno75]

This plant just hasn't produced for me, I'm beginning to think this little guy dislikes me. I haven't seen any new root development or new growths.

Any suggestions???

[patticake]

A lot of plants go dormant for a while after blooming... Do you think that maybe this is the case?

[Tobi]

Jenny,
If it's any consulation to you, the new growths that were comming up for about a
month after I got mine have stopped growing as well. Nothing seems to be happening
so I'm guessing that it might be resting as Patti stated. Hopefully it will wake up and
start again. The woman I talked to at Oak Hill said that they can bloom more than
once a year.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by articuno75

Any suggestions???

Patience; just keep her alive and she will produce!

[articuno75]

Thanks guys. I just figured that after the blooms fell and giving a month or so, something should have happened by now, besides the maggot looking roots.

[brookn]

I don't know what's up, mine is growing like a weed. I'll have to update it. I keep it in fairly low light, I ignore it, and water it when I remember. No schedule, this last time I watered it, it had dried out completely. I use a little fert. and Superthrive when I remember (maybe once a month). It's in with the Phals. behind them, low light, 67% humidity today, temp 72 F. I say ignore it.

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Patience; just keep her alive and she will produce!

Ummm, I'm keeping it alive..... Barely. That's about as much as I can say.

I gave it a repot yesterday. The maggoty roots didn't look all that great, so the repot will do it some good. We'll see how things go I guess.

[patticake]

That's one I didn't get. Good luck, at least it's still alive! Maybe the re-pot is just what it needed.

[articuno75]

The repot worked it's magic. I got growth! I'm pleased as a peach. There's a lot of new growth too. I'm hoping for spikes come Spring.

I took these pics a few days ago and you can see the rebound. I'm happy

[patticake]

Yay!! Go, Jenny...go, Jenny...go, Jenny...

[Rocinante]

That looks good, Jenny! I've had some difficuulty with mine since I got it around the same time you did in April. During the late summer, I had some leaves die off and I thought she was a goner. But I stayed patient with her and she rewarded me with some new growth in I guess about November. My new growth is a little more advanced than yours at this point and I'm not that optimistic about spiking in the spring, but at least she is growing.

[articuno75]

Yours looks great compared to mine!

[Rocinante]

I'm just trying to keep her alive. Oak Hill has these in spike right now.

[brookn]

Just keeping her alive here too. Jenny has given me some inspiration to repot, so I am going to do it today. Mine looks like crap compared to how I got it. I am unsure what cultural condition I am not giving it, but I am seeing that they do not like to be too warm.

[articuno75]

They don't like damp either....

I noticed that when I mist the leaves on this will get fungified really easy, so I do not wet or mist the leaves on this one. I try to avoid it at all cost.

[PNP-Phal]

For those who like to see Koellensteinia graminea in the wild.




This Picture is made in situ. In Suriname a long the Palumeu river. Februari 2009.

[articuno75]

That's beautiful. I'm wowed by all the water that it's near. Mine enjoyed moist, but damp was a no-no. Is there a lot of air flow there?

[PNP-Phal]

He sits on a tree next to a big river. There is a lot of light a lot of air movement and the temperature drops hardly under 20°C (68°F) during the night. Most of the time the temperatuur would be 30°C (86°F) ore more.
Very near to this position there is a rapid (a flow acceleration) not a real waterfall. (Sorry I don't know the good English word.)

[katrina]

It's gorgeous!!

Your description of the native temps explains why mine seems to be struggling. I keep it pretty cool during the winter.

Thanks for sharing the pics!!

[Chris Orchid]

I wish orchids like that could grow outside here but not happening anytime before christmas and easter fall on the same day