Sophronitis culture

[Dr.Robert Bradford]

Living in east Texas, I am trying to begin a culture of various Sophronitis species and hybrids. My plants are being summered on the patio in partial sun with plenty of air movement; all my plants are mounted on cork with some sphagnum near the roots. I would be interested in suggestions for a successful culture of these marvelous minis.
Thanks

[articuno75]

Hi Dr. Rob!

I've seen that you've posted a couple of times about this matter with no response. I'm sorry, but I don't grow these as of yet. YET, LOL! I love Sophronitis grandis. That's the one on my list of wishes. I'm sure that some one will see this and be able to help.

[exasperatus2002]

I like them too but havent managed to acquire one yet. I was going to at parksides orchidfest but couldnt go. From my understanding, they're care is similar to Cattleya's.

AOS | Cattleya

[kid a]

Unfortunately I have no idea either,sorry. I don't have any yet.

[kmarch]

Dr Bradford,

Since many orchids formerly classified as Laelia are now found in the genus Sophronites, it makes the genus Sophronites quite a diverse group of orchids requiring an equally diverse range of cultural conditions, from the cool, somewhat moist growing Sophronites coccinea to the tough, high-light, warm growing Brazilian species.

Carl L. Withner has a series of books (slightly out of date now regarding the generis names) on the whole of the Cattleya Alliance. Volume 2 is on Laelias, many of which are now in the genus Sophronites and he has another title: The Cattleyas and Their Relatives: Schomburgkia, and Sophronitis, and Other South American Genera which contains info on Sophronites.

The info you're asking for is volumnous and more than can practically be posted here. Culture for the genus is not one-size-fits-all. You'll need to do a fair bit of studying to get a grasp on the entire genus and the books I mentioned above is a good place to start. Others will probably be able to recommend other books specific to the genera.

[patticake]

Hi and ! Some of my plants have Sophronitis in them as part of a mix. You can kind of tell what they want by how they react, but I would do some reading as kmarch suggests and see how it goes! Let us know how you progress!

[Brooke]

Welcome Dr. Robert to the forum. Until you can study more to determine which Sophronitis you have, in E. TX + growing season I would water the mounts daily in the morning. You can tweak your care after you find out exactly which species you have.

Brooke

[Orchidflowerchild]

Well, if you're talking about anything but S. pterocarpa or S. cernua, good f'in luck, outdoors in E Texas. I still refuse to accept the lumping of the laelieas into Soph., especially considering that they're NOW talking about scrapping the whole thing and lumping everything that has no affinity to Encyclia in the whole SUBTRIBE into Cattleya! Anyway, Sophronitis (TRUE Sophronitis, that is) are high-elevation cloud forest dwellers, occupying the cordilleras of southernb Brazil. S. pterocarpa and S. cernua, howver, are lowland dwellers from the Amazon basin, and quite well suited to our environment here, in East Texas. As for the lovely upland jewels, our sultry nights will weaken and can eventually kill them.

What part of E.TX are ya in? Welcome to OB, BTW!

-Cj

[patticake]

Originally Posted by Orchidflowerchild

Well, if you're talking about anything but S. pterocarpa or S. cernua, good f'in luck, outdoors in E Texas. I still refuse to accept the lumping of the laelieas into Soph., especially considering that they're NOW talking about scrapping the whole thing and lumping everything that has no affinity to Encyclia in the whole SUBTRIBE into Cattleya! Anyway, Sophronitis (TRUE Sophronitis, that is) are high-elevation cloud forest dwellers, occupying the cordilleras of southernb Brazil. S. pterocarpa and S. cernua, howver, are lowland dwellers from the Amazon basin, and quite well suited to our environment here, in East Texas. As for the lovely upland jewels, our sultry nights will weaken and can eventually kill them.

What part of E.TX are ya in? Welcome to OB, BTW!

-Cj

I think you meant Orchidgeeks, not OB...

[arleneg]

Recently, I acquired a Sophronitis cernua. According to the info I found, its culture is much like Cattleyas.

At any rate, since you mentioned that all your plants are mounted, they will need to be watered once a day. For now, grow them under bright indirect or dappled light. Start with that until you find more info specific to the plant.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by arleneg

At any rate, since you mentioned that all your plants are mounted, they will need to be watered once a day.

Well maybe....it depends on the other conditions too doesn't it. If dry, they might need to be watered a couple of times a day, if kept humid, maybe only once a week or so.

Remember there's a different between what the plant needs and the methods we use to deliver its culture.

[arleneg]

Originally Posted by kmarch

Well maybe....it depends on the other conditions too doesn't it. If dry, they might need to be watered a couple of times a day, if kept humid, maybe only once a week or so.

It's rather humid in Texas (currently in east Tx...Dallas 50%, Tyler 64%, Bryan 77%, Houston 78%). Since we don't know exactly where in east Tx he is, watering once a day is safe to recommend until he gets more culture info for his Sophronites.

[kmarch]

You're missing my point arleneg. "Water once a week" is a method of delivery dependent on many other conditions, not a cultural need of the plant (which would be something like "allow to dry between waterings" or "keep evenly moist"). Watering frequency is relative. The need of the orchid is not. You're also making assumptions about what kind of Sophronites the Doctor is growing. Sharing the cultural needs of a particular orchid is more useful than sharing a particular habit.

[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by kmarch

You're also making assumptions about what kind of Sophronites the Doctor is growing. Sharing the cultural needs of a particular orchid is more useful than sharing a particular habit.

He mentioned them being minis, in the initial post, so I'm assuming we're either dealing with a trandtional Sophronitits, or maybe a Hadrolaelia or a Hoffmannseggella (rupiculous laelia (yup, still going with Chiron and Castro!)). In the case of the two former cases (depending on species) successful culture outdoors in any part of east texas is going to be near impossible. Again, cooler growing, mountain plants. Hoffmannseggella is a different matter, and they are easy as hell to grow, here, but I doubt that is the case.

-Cj