Plants
Tailed orchid (miniature Masdevallia)
Masdevallia spp.
DemandingClosed jar only
A tiny cool-growing orchid with tailed flowers. Never let it dry or overheat.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 10,764 to 21,528 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
- 12.7 to 22.2 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 5 or above 29.4 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 5.5 to 6.5 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 0.3 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 0.2 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- good
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- fair
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- fair
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- poor
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.04 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
- 1.5 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- no
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 17.5 cm tall, 10 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 11 to 13 h
- Substrate
- Moist
What kills it
- drying out
- sustained heat above ~27-29 C
- high-TDS water
- warm nights with no cool drop
Description
It comes from cool, misty mountain forests and has no fat stems for storing water, so it cannot handle drying out. Above about 29 C, or in dry air, it drops leaves and collapses. Keep the jar cool and humid.
Also called kite orchid.
Estimated, where sources were thin: temp_lethal_c (AOS: tolerates 29 C day only with cool nights); growth rates; ph.