Plants
Jewel orchid
Ludisia discolor
EasyClosed jar only
A creeping orchid with velvet leaves and golden veins. Happy in shade.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 1,000 to 8,000 lux
- The brightness it grows well in.
- Humidity
- 60 to 90 % RH
- Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.
- Temperature
- 18 to 29 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 10 or above 35 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 0.65 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 1 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- fair
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- good
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- excellent
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- fair
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.08 ml/cm²/day
- Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.
- Leaf drop
- 3 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- yes
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 26.5 cm tall, 34 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 10 to 13 h
- Substrate
- Moist
What kills it
- wet soggy substrate (stem and root rot)
- cold below ~13 C
- mealybugs
Description
Unusually for an orchid, this one grows in soil and creeps along the ground. It copes with very low light and enjoys a warm, humid jar. Wet soil rots its stems, so keep the mix damp rather than soaked.
Also called black jewel orchid.
Estimated, where sources were thin: temp_lethal_c; growth rates; light_lux (NC State says part shade; Wikipedia says tolerates extremely low light).