Best pot and clip for laelias?

[happy go lucky]

Last month, I purchased a healthy Laelia purpurata and laelia anceps from Cal Orchids in Santa Barbara. They are in 3.25" square plastic green pots with medium bark and a little medium charcoal. While driving down the coast, they got bumped inside the car. Some of the roots growing from the pseudobulbs broke.

Today, I unpotted them to examine the roots. One laelia doesn't have any live roots. The other laelia has some remaining live roots. Neither has new roots. Why?

What is the best pot to repot them in? Would a clay pot with an orchid clip on the side be best? Do orchid clips hang on to plastic pots? Are orchid clips necessary for laelia?

They are growing outside in the shade. They turned an even lighter shade of lime (light yellow green). Is this too much indirect sunshine?

One of the laelias has brown spots on the leaves. Why?

[PhalPal]

Laelias love to be mounted; I wouldn't put them in a pot at all! They are very, very drought tolerant and like to dry out completely between waterings. They need very high light with some direct sun.

Pictures will help greatly with your other questions.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by happy go lucky

Neither has new roots. Why?

Cattleya Alliance orchids primarily grow new roots at a particular time in their growing cycle. They won't just grow new roots anytime.

Originally Posted by happy go lucky

What is the best pot to repot them in? Would a clay pot with an orchid clip on the side be best? Do orchid clips hang on to plastic pots? Are orchid clips necessary for laelia?

Orchid clips are useful to stabilize orchids that have no roots. You can also stabilize them with stakes. Clips aren't necessary, but they're often convenient. Orchid clips work better on clay pots because they fit better. I have used them on plastic pots but I pinch the clip so it's closed more. Thne it can grop the thinner plastic.

Originally Posted by happy go lucky

They are growing outside in the shade. They turned an even lighter shade of lime (light yellow green). Is this too much indirect sunshine?

Possibly, but I can't tell for sure because we don't know what kind of sunlight or how intense it is.

One of the laelias has brown spots on the leaves. Why?[/QUOTE]

Again it's hard to tell. It could be a few different things. Can you post a picture of the spotted leaves?

[happy go lucky]

Thank you PhalPal for advising that laelias like to dry out completely between waterings. I have been watering all my orchids, except vandas, once a week. Once a day, all my orchids receive a heavily misting with a garden hose. If I didn't have vandas, I would not mist. Perhaps the daily heavy misting kept the medium too wet. I'll move them far away from my vandas and cease the misting.

Ironically, I resisted mounting any orchid as I thought mounted orchids require high humidity and more than once a day misting. If I place my laelias in hanging baskets with spanish moss, do you think they would live with once a week watering and no misting? Or do they have a strong preference for a log? There are no trees in my tiny backyard. I do not know how to hang a log or a basket.

I do not have a camera, so I cannot post a photo of the brown spots. The brown spots are on the pseudo bulbs and leaves.

[kmarch]

You can find useful cultural info on Laelias at AOS | Members Only Area. Take a look at the Cattleya culture sheet.

[PhalPal]

Happy it is really difficult to stick to a 'watering once a week' schedule. I grow many orchids outdoors and sometimes I water every day and sometimes I water every 10 days. If we are having a Santa Ana I might water twice a day. During summer I rarely go more than three days without watering my mounts. (Catts and Laelias)

I got my laelias from SB orchid Estate also. They have many mexican types that do extremely well in high heat and very low humidity. Even during a hot spell in the middle of summer I might water my mounted laelia once a week.

I don't grow Vanda because they do like humidity we don't have. It's not that they can't be grown here, it just takes a little more time and effort. Hopefully someone from our area will jump in here and let you know how they grow theirs.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by happy go lucky

If I place my laelias in hanging baskets with spanish moss, do you think they would live with once a week watering and no misting?

Are you possibly confusing Spanish moss (which is in the bromeliad family) with Sphagnum moss (a true moss)? Sphagnum moss is often used as an orchid potting medium especially when moisture retention is necessary. Spanish moss is not used as a potting medium. Some people hang a bit of Spanish moss on their Vanda roots, when the vanda's are being grown bare root, to retain a bit of humidity around the roots.