Jewel Orchids

Jewel Orchids are a little different than normal orchids in their care. They are less fussy, so I generally treat them like normal house plants. Their root system are more like orchids and less like house plants, they are thick and stores water. With all orchids, you want to ensure a healthy root system so flushing is very important as you don’t want these to develop fungal infections or bacterial infections.

Orchids are very resilient plants and will not show active signs of decline right away until all of their roots are rotted and they’ve used up all of their reserved resources. With the 6 jewel orchids I’ve transitioned and what I’ve read about from other folks experiences, these are not hard to transition, as the roots are easily cleaned. However do keep an eye on the roots for signs of decline and rot. Although my experiences were not successful (see update below), I’ve seen many with successful transitions to LECA. Terrestrial orchids don’t do very well in my environment apparently.

Update after 6 months in LECA: Most of my Jewels did not show active signs of decline until it was too late. I believe the roots do NOT like the constant level of moisture. I was able to save a macodes petola and place it into my terrarium. I have another small macodes petola still in LECA and forming fuzzy roots - and I will observe this one closely. I moved my ludisia discolor back to an aroid mix. 3 other Jewels perished in the name of science and experimentation. RIP little jewels.

I’ll be experimenting again once the weather is warmer so I can provide a consistent humid and warm space for the jewels to develop LECA roots. I’ve seen it done - nothing long term yet - so more to come on Jewels.