Habenaria medusa is endemic to Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi Borneo, and is occasionally also found in Laos and Vietnam. It is an earth species that grows under trees at an altitude of 100-1000 meters...
Habenaria medusa also called as The Medusa-Like Habenaria, Fimbrorchis medusa, is a species of the genus Habenaria. This species was described by Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Kraenzlin in 1893.
IDENTIFY HABENARIA MEDUSA
Habenaria medusa is endemic to Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi Borneo, and is occasionally also found in Laos and Vietnam. It is an earth species that grows under trees at an altitude of 100-1000 meters.
It is a medium sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial with 4 to 5, lanceolate, acute, sub-cordate basally, up to 15 cm long leaves.
The Medusa-Like Habenaria blooms in the spring and summer on a terminal, to 40 cm long, many flowered inflorescence. The flowers are about 3.5 cm in diameter, quite prolonged and can last up to 2 months.
HABENARIA MEDUSA CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Habenaria medusa does not like much light, and grows well under 15000-23000 lux. The ideal photoperiod is 12 hours.
Temperature:
During the growth phase (from the outlet of the jet to the surface until the death of the stem), the ideal temperatures are 19-25 ° C during the day and 16 ° C at night. In winter, during the resting phase, temperatures must be 15-16 ° C.
Humidity:
The Medusa-Like Habenaria needs the average humidity of 65-80%.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Habenaria medusa is cultivated only in pots. The pots must have enough space for the multiplication of the tubers. As a substrate, the ideal mixture consists of: perlite (40%), fine bark of 3-6 mm (20%), sand (10%) and generic soil (30%). The tubers must be planted with 0.5-1 cm of depth, otherwise the stems will struggle to reach the surface and will run the risk of high rot.
Watering:
During the rest period this orchid does not get water; the substrate where there are tubers is slightly moistened. In spring, when the new jet reaches the surface, it starts slowly with watering; however, it get water with such caution, only along the edges of the vase, and the water must not touch the jet in any way, otherwise it will rot. The substrate during this period must remain moist but not so much, and the next watering occurs when the substrate has dried almost completely. Only when the rosette of leaves has formed does it begin with the most abundant watering; the substrate must always remain very wet. When the stem dies in autumn, the watering is suspended, the substrate is allowed to dry completely.
Fertilizer:
This plant is only fertilized during the growth phase, using 1/4 of the dose indicated on the vial of a special liquid fertilizer for orchids once every 2-3 weeks. The fertilizer is added to the watering water.
Rest period:
After flowering, when the inflorescence is dry, the leaves begin to turn yellow, and this is the sign that from now the plant will accumulate the nutrients in the tuber, producing others (and then dying the present one). When the stem of the plant is completely dead, the tubers must be checked. If the tuber who has just finished the season died without multiplying, it means that something went wrong in cultivation. If it has multiplied, but the new tubers are smaller, something needs to be improved (and attention to the following season, these "weakened" tubers will not be able to multiply if conditions are not perfect). If the new tubers are the same size or even larger than the mother tuber, the cultivation has been successful! The extracted tubers are placed in a handful of substrate that must be kept just wet (not to let them dehydrate) and so they pass the resting phase that lasts until spring. The conditions of the rest are: temperatures of 15-16 ° C, total absence of fertilizations and light evaporations of the substratum 1-2 times a week to keep it slightly moist. In the spring the tubers are planted in the pot and the cycle begins again.
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