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Old 10-12-2005, 01:24 PM posted to rec.gardens.orchids
OrchidKitty
 
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Default Doritis Potting Medium?

I'm a windowsill/lights grower. I've got Dts. buyssonia growing in
semi-hydro in a deep pot and Dts. pulcherrima in both bark and
semi-hydro. They are happy. The buyssonia has 7 pairs of leaves--looks
like a Vanda. One of the pulcherrimas took a blue ribbon at a show this
year.

That being said, I've killed Doritis in moss, and I've killed them in
short pots. My experience is that they like loose media and tall pots.
They like having their media flushed regularly. I grow mine warm, but
I'm not sure that's the only way--it just works for me.

Unless the plants are in rotting media, I'd wait until spring to repot
them. Let them get used to your environment before you stress them by
repotting them.

BTW, have you seen these plants in bloom? The first Doritis I bought
were based on photos I'd seen in catalogues--photos of just a few
flowers. What I didn't know until my pulcherrimas bloomed is that they
flower like delpheniums--there's a long spike (my last one was about 3
feet long) with buds. Then the flowers open consecutively and die,
beginning at the base of the spike. So you get six or so flowers
blooming at a time, but never the whole spike at once.