MILTONIA Leaf Color

[Tommy]

Hi all, question about my Miltonias, color it has been a very pale color since i bouht it about a month ago. the picture dosen't show the real color it is much lighter than it shows up. about a week after i got it i checked out the roots, and there were only 2 or 3 the rest were rotted. i even sent a picture to Oahill thats where i got it. and they told me there was nothing wrong with the plant told me this several times, so i cleaned it up and repotted it. added some Spag to the roots and rooting hormone and some orchid bark to hold it up . now several weeks later still looks the same there is no sign of any new growth it just sits there.Do you think it will survive i try to keep it moist.Thanks Tommy

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

The growths on the far right and far left are the new growths, and should slowly lengthen their leaves. Maybe you should measure the length of the inner leaves to satisfy yourself that it is actually growing. The wrinkled leaves can be from one of several problems that I have heard of.

1. Letting the plant dry out to hard. Miltonias should get close to dry, but never completely dry.

2. Low humidity. Well, I am suspect of this really being a cause.

3. Too much magnesium. Had a friend growing a Miltonia in semi-hydroponics that got some very strange growth, in addition to wrinkled leaves, by using the standard fertilizer solution that she always added when the plant needed more water. She has, since reading that magnesium could be a problem, started using plain water only on her Miltonia, and only time will tell if the plant starts normal growth. What it was doing was to grow upward only, and not start new growths, sort of like a monopodial. It looked very strange to say the least.

The pale color is sort of normal for many Miltonias, certainly for vexillaria which yours looks like it may be related to, but sounds a bit paler than normal. I am not a very sucessful M. vexillaria grower, so don't know the solution for the pale color.

[Ellen]

I agree with Oak Hill - the plant looks basically OK. Miltonia and Miltoniopsis leaves are normally a grayish green color and always look like they're slightly dried out, so they will never be thick and green like a phal or catt. The pleated leaves on the new growths mean that it was not getting enough water and/or the humidity was very low at the time that those leaves were growing. I don't know if this happened at Oak Hill, or in your care, but it could be due to repotting into dry bark chips. At first glance, I would say that your plant is way overpotted, and that the chips are too large. A good medium for growing Milts is a mix of pure sphag and perlite, in a pot just barely large enough to hold the roots. The sphag mixture will hold moisture and give the plant what it needs. And milts need an amazing amount of moisture. Moreover, they like it fairly cool, humid and breezy, with high light. They are not the easiest orchids to grow in the house, but they are extremely resilient. Even if the plant has no roots, it will grow new ones in no time if you give it enough moisture. My suggestion would be to put it back in the size pot it came in, in a sphag-perlite mixture, keep the medium moist at all times, and keep the humidity around the plant as high as you can. In SC, this should be easy if the plant is outside! Just keep it in the shade to avoid sunburn. Good luck.

I agree with Ellen about the plant being way overpotted. Orchids like snug shoes. And I agree with her about the plant needing lots of water. I have mine in fine bark with NZ moss and perlite added. I also throw a handful of ceramic pellets into the medium for weight, and in the winter I water it twice a week, and it summers outside and gets rained on frequently, and if not, I water it.

[Tommy]

Thanks, for your advice. i will do as you-all say this is my first milt.the name on the tag is Miltoniopsis-Andy-Easton,i wish i new as much about Orchids as you do. i guess i will learn it will take a while.Thanks again Tommy

[Ellen]

Tommy,

Andy Easton is a really nice one! Good choice. And good luck maintaining it until it blooms, probably next spring if all goes well. Learning about orchids is a gradual, cumulative process. I've been growing them for over 15 years, and still learn new things every day.

[jerrymeola]

I agree with Ellen about the pleated leaves usually being from 'water and/or the humidity ' , but find the best prevention is good air circulation not necessarily more water.

The pleated leaves are probably from OakHill. It is common for new growth to be blocked from the air circulation on a crowded growers bench. It probably will not be an issue for you in the future and it will not harm the plant.