Brassia leaves

[exasperatus2002]

What causes krinkled leaves in Brassia? I have a large one in a 12" bowl which occassionally gives out krinkled leaves. Looks like it had a paper jam. It flowers regularly. Sorry about some of the leaves, my cat got ahold of it before we got her declawed.

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here it is in bloom

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[Joan]

krinkled leaves like those shown here is usually a sign of not enough water.

[kmarch]

The crinkling or pleating you see in your leaves is caused by not enough water during the time those leaves were growing.

[exasperatus2002]

With the bowl its in. Its sometimes hard to judge when to water it. Any suggestions on what to use to repot it in? Id like to make it into a specimen plant like you see on displays but Im thinking Im going to need to make a division for lack of room.

[Tobi]

I've had good luck with medium bark, charcoal and perlite for these.

[exasperatus2002]

I have it in a bark & sphag moss mix. Any suggestions on a new pot? Im thinking Im going to need tupperware soon. Also, is there a way to make up for the water shortage to iron out the wrinkled leaves?

[snowballsarebad]

Does your pot have drainage? While crinkled leaves are caused by not getting enough water during their growth, this can be because of overwatering or poor drainage. Overwatering and poor drainage will lead to root rot, and then the new growths will get dehydrated.

[mayres]

That is an excellent point - what is sometimes perceived as underwatering is actually overwatering due to root rot. You might want to double check the condition of your root system. I think the humidity level might also be a factor in the crinkling of the leaves - in my case having plants in an air conditioned office is a real challenge to keep them from crinkling. Unfortunately once they come in this way there is no turning back - hope for better results on the next set of new growth.

[exasperatus2002]

Out of concern for root rot I took the Brassia out of the pot. heres what I found. While it was out, I decided to make a small division and mount it for my cubicle at work. Its a 4 bulb division. I dont think its a problem with root rot. I did drill some holes around the side of the pot to supplement the ones on the bottom.



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