Lepanthes calodictyon is native to Ecuador and Colombia; its habitat is the pre-montane and montane woods, this species is located at an altitude of 700-1400 meters...
Lepanthes calodictyon also called as The Beautiful Net-Patterned Leaf Lepanthes, Stelis calodictyon, is a species of the genus Lepanthes. This species was described by William Jackson Hooker in 1861.
IDENTIFY LEPANTHES CALODICTYON
Lepanthes calodictyon is native to Ecuador and Colombia; its habitat is the pre-montane and montane woods, this species is located at an altitude of 700-1400 meters.
It is a miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with clustered erect ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3, obconical, acute, ciliate lepanthiform, 2-4 cm long sheaths and carrying a densely patterned, satiny, pendant, broadly ovate top, sub circular, obtuse or shortly apiculate, 2.5 cm in diameter leaf that is lime to emerald green and red in color with a congested, fasciculate, subsecund, shorter than the leaves.
The Beautiful Net-Patterned Leaf Lepanthes blooms from one to several flowered inflorescence that can occur at any time of the year with very small flowers that open in singly in succession. The flowers are 8mm in diameter, and quite complex in their structure. They are not long-lived, stay open for up to 4 days.
LEPANTHES CALODICTYON 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:
Lepanthes calodictyon loves light, and tolerates the direct sun on winter mornings, but in all other time the direct rays must be lightly shielded. The light intensity must be 15000-23000 lux, the ideal photoperiod is 12-13 hours. If the orchid lacks light, the new leaves become pink.
Temperature:
It is an intermediate thermal requirements species. Temperatures must be constant throughout the year and stay on 22-23 ° C during the day and 15-17 ° C at night.
Humidity:
The Beautiful Net-Patterned Leaf Lepanthes suffers from dry environments, so air humidity should not fall below 60% if the orchid is grown in pots and under 80% if it is bare-rooted.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Lepanthes calodictyon can be put bare root, with a layer of sphagnum moss alive around its roots. If instead it is grown on a window sill, it is advisable to keep it in pot, in the sphagnum and perlite substrate in the proportion 1: 1. This orchid does not require frequent repotting, and when making it, care must be taken not to disturb the roots too much. In the period when night temperatures exceed 15 ° C, it is possible to place it outdoors, in a bright place but protected from direct sun, but only with the condition of maintaining high humidity.
Watering:
It gets water regularly throughout the year. The substrate must never become dry, so the watering is carried out as soon as it is noticed that the substrate has dried out but before it becomes dry.
Fertilizer:
This orchid is fertilized every 4 waterings with 1/4 of the dose indicated on the vial of a suitable liquid fertilizer for orchids. For the bare root specimens 1/8 of the dose is used. Before fertilizing the orchid, it is necessary to water it to avoid the burns to the roots reported by the harmful contact of the fertilizer with the dry roots.
Rest period:
Lepanthes calodictyon has no rest period. After the maturation of the new stems, they develop the inflorescences on the same stems and begin to produce other new stems. In ideal conditions this species has almost continuous blooms. The inflorescences develop from the base of the leaf and produce one flower at a time, lengthening with each successive bud.
COMMENTS