Mastersianum 2nd year

I think color is pretty good, and already starting new growth for next year.

I love that one, and with such a nice tall spike.

Beautiful! Great growing..

I love this. Mine is hanging on...

The pouch color is soooo nice and I happen to love violets as well.

It looks great! The plant looks really healthy. How long is the leaf length? It looks pretty big (or the basket is pretty small). It's going to take a long time for mine to be that size.

Strong plant and blooming! I can see some roots peaking out of the basket!

Excellent!

naoki said:

It looks great! The plant looks really healthy. How long is the leaf length? It looks pretty big (or the basket is pretty small). It's going to take a long time for mine to be that size.

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Thanks Naoki

That's a 4" basket. The leaf span is 14" (7-8" leaves).

The first time blooming was under 3 years out of flask, so they aren't necessarily slow growers.

SlipperFan said:

I love this. Mine is hanging on...

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Good. The others that I had in pots are putting on new roots and getting new leaves. I'm expecting them to take off this summer.

A large Beauty :clap: !!!! Jean

Stunning flower and superb culture.

Rick, that is a stunning bloom, well presented on a good long and strong stem. Another example of your basket culture, it is really working well for you, bravo!
There is something about the combination of the chestnut brown tones of the petals and pouch, contrasted against the green of the dorsal that is very attractive, and all in such a well glossed package!

great flower and great culture

Congratulation Rick for the culture and very nice flowering.
A question remains however in my mind: is it possible to cultivate such a beautiful plant feeding 2 to 3 times per week with a Nitrogen level at 5 ppm? May be is that the effect of your mineral substrate (inert = it is not consuming a part of the Nitrogen fed)?

outstanding flower and plant. Definitely you found the key in the culture of this species.

Thanks for sharing. I think this is one of the most beatiful mastersianum I´ve seen. Just perfect.

Brabantia said:

Congratulation Rick for the culture and very nice flowering.
A question remains however in my mind: is it possible to cultivate such a beautiful plant feeding 2 to 3 times per week with a Nitrogen level at 5 ppm? May be is that the effect of your mineral substrate (inert = it is not consuming a part of the Nitrogen fed)?

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Thank you Brabantia.

I have stuck with the 5-10ppm frequent feeding (sometimes every day) strategy for almost a year now, and things are doing nicely regardless of potting strategy. That very large Maxilaria I posted gets the same as everything else, and blooming didn't skip a beat. There may not be much mix left in that pot, but I know the last time I repotted I used CHC, and not an inert substrate.

There are two compensations I've incorporated into my program in that overall I water more, and I have been adding a Mg/PO4/SO4 supplement with the K lite (to add 2-3ppm of those three items).

I know everyone is scared of watering heavy in winter and causing root rot, but this winter I had very good root growth with a heavier watering regime while keeping the total EC down to less than 100uS/cm and the low K diet (even in potted systems with bark or chc based mix).

There are 2 ways to look at the inert substrate question. 1 result is that it does not consume the nitrogen (if retained in the first place). The other is overall retention of water (with nutrient) is greatly reduced (and getting closer to the mounted condition with no substrate at all). I tend to think that the later condition is the case, so overall a pot with organic media is going to expose the roots to a lot more nutrient than a basket with inorganic media.

That goes back to my original premise that much of our cultural problems are induced by feeding too much. Whether that causes direct toxicity to the plant or causes detrimental pot conditions with indirect negative effects will probably be debated till the cows come home.

A great plant and a beautiful species. Do you find this is less prone to clumping than others eg your wardii?

That is impressive! Both flower and plant!!

Stone said:

A great plant and a beautiful species. Do you find this is less prone to clumping than others eg your wardii?

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These are a few years younger than the wardii so a bit early to tell.

This particular plant added 2 growths since the first flowering on a single growth. Some of the others from this flasking also have started a couple new growths.

The mother plant (deceased before getting the seedlings from flask) would put up 2-3 growths per year, and then loose roots and the original growth before blooming and start over. It only bloomed succesfully once on a much smaller growth than any of these guys are blooming on. It was a real desperation plant from the start, and I was lucky to get a bloom I could breed it from.

Also interesting is that the seed/capsule is developing on these new plants without manual polination.
The seed from last years blooming has germinated (and pretty decent germination rate), and the first bloom flower I posted earlier this year from a sib is carrying a swelling good looking capsule.