Wintering P. Moranensis

Gordon Wells (wells@ic.upc.es)
Wed, 31 Jan 1996 16:45:47 UTC+0100

I'm a bit confused about exactly how P. Moranensis
should be treated in the winter. Mine, which I bought
this summer, gradually started losing all its large
leaves in the fall, and since December only had
those small, pointy, and very thin-looking leaves
in the center. It's planted in a peat/sand/perlite
mixture with a thin layer of sphagnum on top, and I
keep it indoors (19-25 oC) in filtered-light.

My question is, just how dry should it be kept during
the winter ? Most books (Slack, Lecoufle, Cheers) say
to just reduce watering. However, many on this list
have said to let it dry out *completely*. I decided
to try letting it dry completely, but after a few weeks
it looked as if even the few tiny leaves it had left were
also drying out and dying off, so I started just barely
moistening the soil every week or so just in case. Now
these leaves have all started turning black from the
base upward and dying - which I assume means that the whole
works has rotted. Should I really have kept it completely
dry for the whole winter ? Any reliable info would be
greatly appreciated.

Gordon Wells
Instituto de Cibernetica
Diagonal 647, planta 2
Barcelona 08028
SPAIN