Immature growths on Pleurothallis

I've seen new divisions of pleurothallids do this, usually when they don't have good roots. They are like juvenile growths that remain small and the plant will usually revert to normal growths after awhile. If you can check the state of the roots under some of that moss you might learn something. I don't see a lot of healthy mature roots. It might be time to remount or pot it.

 

I had forgotten about it until Marni's comment but I had something similar happen with Pleurothallis dilema. I remounted it and used good quality sphagnum and it reverted back to producing normal leaves that matured properly. The original mount didn't seem bad but it looked like sheet moss or some poor quality product was used in the mounting. Also, in my case, the leaf tips on the mature leaves were browning and dyeing.

FYI, in my situation, the stunted leaves are still on the plant and look healthy but look like they should be on a seedling.

 

This also grows very well potted. You might check for bush snails (very, very tiny). As Kelly says, good quality moss. It makes a world of difference. I've started using coconut fiber instead of moss over the roots of mounted plants because even good moss goes bad too fast.

 

Sorry to hijack this thread, but ....
Marni, I used to use coconut fiber a lot more than sphagnum moss but it seems less available now. I see it on eBay in little ziploc bags but I used to find it in larger quantities and cheaper. Do you have a good source? I questioned John at Calwest and he agreed that it was difficult to find and they didn't carry it.

 

When I talked to Jon a month or 2 ago he said he was looking for a source. I've recently gotten some from Botanica in Montana that was very good quality. No big gobs of coconut shell to pick out. It is on their website. It comes in 1 gallon ZipLock bags and seems to be of varying weights. Rather than feeling cheated by the 1/2 weight bags I looked at the quality and the price for the total quantity I bought and will order again. It isn't so inexpensive that I will be potting things in it, but for now that's OK. I have another source I am going to check into. If that pans out I'll try to remember to put it up here.

 

Lots of nice roots. I hope the remounting does the trick.

 

Steven, The mounted ones with coconut are mixed in with all the other plants so are on the same watering cycle. The coconut seems to hold a bit less water than fresh moss and plants seem to be doing fine. As the moss ages, degrades and starts growing thick sheets of other moss on top of it there is too much moisture and not enough air. My reason for switching is the long term results. I will know better in 6 months or so.