Dracula / monkey-faced orchids

[mark smyth]

Has anyone tried to or is growing Dracula / monkey-faced orchids? How easy are they?

[SteveC2]

Difficult!  Think high humidity, heavy shading, high air movement, specialist greenhouse.
A friend of mine specialised in them, I think that she had the national collection, but when she brought plants to shows the flowers usually gave up before the day was out. Not one for the house in my opinion, but of course others may disagree!

[GordonT]

Hello Mark and Steve,

I would agree with the assessment that they are difficult in a household situation, though I knew several expert growers when I lived in Vancouver. My efforts to grow Masdevallias (the more temperature tolerant cousins of Dracula) always ended in the plants vanishing into the pot... the environment I had for them was either too warm, too dry, or the air too still for survival. They also didn't enjoy being watered with tap water.The folks I knew grew them beautifully in a greenhouse designed for cool growing orchids- complete with an evaporative cooler, plenty of fans for air movement, and the structure was built from corrugated fibreglass panels, so the light was very diffuse. The Draculas were all potted in net pots, and hung from the rafters. How I thought I could give them a fighting chance in an 10th floor flat in the city is anyones' guess. Here is a link with information that might be helpful.

 http://www.mountainorchids.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=2&chapter=1

[mark smyth]

Thanks. Just a thought but I'll not bother

[Maren]

Wise decision, Mark. As a BOC orchid judge, I have seen thousands of orchids at shows, but never a Dracula, they just cannot tolerate changes in conditions. But I have heard many a story about them, size, number of flowers, length of flowering time etc. etc., just like going fishing.