Urgent Psychopsis Mariposa Repot

No videos for ages and now two in a few days! 🤣

As you'll see, this plant was in a state. It hasn't looked great since I got home from hospital but it has been deteriorating faster recently so it really did need to be prioritised. Psychopsis can be a tricky plant to keep but I've learned a bit about the likes and dislikes of this particular hybrid over the last.few years. The literature says they love moisture but, like so much in the books, that isn't the whole story. They do like to be more moist that many orchids but they don't like to be wet - especially the pseudobulbs. Get pseudobulbs consistently damp, say partially buried in the media, and they'll turn black in no time. Even the roots, which are more tolerant, like to go through a watering cycle, although it's wet to damp rather than the more common wet to dry.

I've kept it in a mix of bark and moss up to now but getting the mix of moss and bark right is difficult. The media needs to be ready for watering every 7-10 days and that means you have to play tunes with the amounts given depending on the weather. In cooler periods a trickle will do. In warmer weather it might need a drench twice a week. This time I'm trying a medium (up to ~10mm) bark from Burnham Nurseries and a terra cotta pot in the hope that it will give a more consistent drying cycle.

Fingers crossed!