Pterostylis curta 'Mello Spirit' - Tuber

Pterostylis is a great beginner's plant for people wanting to dive into Australian terrestrial orchids. They like much more water than most Aussie terrestrials, so they'll thrive with your "typical orchid watering schedule" as long as their medium drains well enough. They also do well in lower light, reducing the intense brightness that other genera require.

Most Australian terrestrial orchids are SUMMER DORMANT - yes, summer, not winter. This makes their need for slightly cooler temps (<75 F) while growing much easier to maintain (we grow them in the same location that we grow our Habenaria during the spring and summer). They like bright light and can have dark and/or yellowing on their leaves as a result (look up in situ pictures - those leaves do NOT look so happy, but, wow, do they flower well!). We water 1-2 times a week to keep the medium slightly damp during the growing season.

These can be a little challenging to grow, but that is almost entirely because of the medium. They grow best in an extremely well-draining, mostly-inorganic medium that has some sort of healthy fungal and/or bacterial microenvironment to help aid the plant's growth since they have a very unimpressive root system. At RustyExotics, we have a special medium containing inorganic components and composted, inoculated organic components to provide the microbial load these plants need. This medium works very well for many of our Australian Terrestrials, so we ship all these DORMANT tubers IN THE POT CONTAINING OUR SPECIAL MEDIUM to ensure these will grow well if given proper water and lighting.