Bulbophyllum reticulatum

This is one of the most difficult bulbophyllum species I've ever encountered because it is highly unpredictable! I could do everything I can think of to get its growing conditions right such as using forest humus such as that found in its habitat and giving it plenty of cool shade and it would still die off slowly. On the other hand, I could also just hang it up without any media at all but a misting of water daily and it would keep all its leaves for a very long period. It's as if it chooses whether to live and grow or to die slowly, regardless of how well we care for it. I've got a friend who got tired of losing somany he just hung them up tied to fern tree pieces and let nature take its course and they are all thriving! He's also got some growing on his trees (with mossy trunks) in his shady garden. But when I tried tying it to a piece of fern tree, it died after a few months!


Side view

And now I've got two pots which are flowering or spiking. The one pictured above used to be part of a clump that looked similar to this one:


But it slowly dropped all of its leaves till only this was left!


I did not even have to pull this out of its pot, I simply lifted it out as all its roots have died away.It is probably flowering as a last farewell! Imagine, all the buds had big beautiful leaves just a few months ago! They can be healthy for a few months and then just suddenly begin to die off for no apparent reason.


This one I am experimenting with a different way of planting, by using only pieces of fern tree and the chopped fiber in a long pot and without any other media. After removing it from its original mount to place it in here, it started to drop a few large leaves and now it is producing 4 or 5 spikes. There are also new leaves and new growths on the rhizome. I just hope no more older leaves are shed. Hope I get some success, otherwise I'm going to try and tie it again to fern tree then hang it above a small pond or something.


Flower buds - the buds are sometimes attacked by bugs which bore a small hole in the developing buds. This causes the bud to turn a deep red and drop off. I checked on one suchbud and found tiny bugs (larvae?) inside.