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I have been asked to describe how I grow the Masdevallia 'Peachie'
seen on the plant table during the September MOS meeting , so here
it is. I have been trying to obtain a sample of as many different
genera as I can, just to see what I can and can't grow. I had wanted
to get a Masdevallia for quite some time because they have many desirable
qualities; they are small in size, have quite unusual flowers, don't
need a lot of light, and are not too expensive.
I adopted this plant as my first Masdevallia at our Palm Sunday
show this year from D&M Crawford out of Murraysville, PA. This primary
hybrid is a cross between a pink form of M. floribunda and M. triangularis.
Both parents are reputed to be intermediate temperature growers
so I figured that this plant would have that and 'hybrid vigor' going
for it. It was, and still is, potted in a very small clay pot with what
appears to be straight osmunda as the growing medium.
It has spent most of its time sitting on the windowsill of a small
west-facing basement window (with low-e coatings, no less, which have
been described in the past as 'death to orchids') which gets only very
limited direct sun in the summer just before the sun drops below the
horizon. In the winter, as the sun sets further south and is blocked
by part of the house, it gets no direct sun. At night during very cold
weather, it is moved away from the window to the interior of the room to
protect it from freezing.
The house heat is controlled by an electronic thermostat that
drops to 62 F at night and as high as 73 F during the day. The
temperature on the windowsill varies from the mid 50s at night to
perhaps 65 or 70 F during the day according to my Radio Shack
electronic min-max thermometer/humidistat. In the summer, the
temperatures were from 65 F at night to 75 F or so but I think
that the temperatures, for the most part, were cooler this year
than average and we didn't have any long spells of very hot
weather.
Humidity is generally from 60 to 80 %. In the winter, the console
humidifier for the house runs nearly non-stop just below the window
where the plant lives and it definitely keeps the air moving. Humidity
is also enhanced around the plant by placing the pot into a yogurt cup
(Glenda, it was Blueberry !) lined with carpet pad. The overspray from
misting or drenching is caught in the cup and is wicked up through the
pad to make contact with the pot. This is also useful as a reservoir for
long weekends away when the plant would not otherwise be watered.
It is watered with reverse osmosis purified water purchased from the
local grocery store and carted home in two 2.5 gallon reusable jugs
(it's not my only plant). The fertilization has been haphazardly done
with Dyna-Grow Bloom at the recommended rate or less.
While I am sure that these conditions are less than optimal,
they seem to be working. The plant was in bud, unbeknownst to
me at the time, when I got it and has been in bloom for most of the
time with as many a six open flowers at one time. I only hope
that its recent sill-mate, M. kuhniorum from Oak Hill Gardens,
does as well...
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