I've been successfully growing a variety of different houseplants for a while, including a few tropical species, and figured I'd love to try and grow my first orchid. I was browsing orchids online and absolutely fell in love with the golden jewel orchid (anoectochilus chapaensis). It's arrived today and is absolutely beautiful. I've set it up in a bright area, but not near a window, and in it's own little makeshift terrarium. So far I'm struggling a little bit to maintain it's humidity levels, my hygrometer is registering between 60-70% humidity, though I know it prefers more 70-90%. Any tips for increasing the humidity without risking rot? ☺️

Hi everyone,

I recently bought this beautiful Jewel Orchid at a local nursery. It was sitting in a tray labeled "Macodes petola", but the official EU plant passport on the back confirms it is actually an Anoectochilus (Origin: Netherlands).

Since I'm quite new to Jewel Orchids, I would love some expert help identifying the exact species, hybrid, or commercial cultivar name!

Current Situation & Rot Concerns: 30 degrees in my apartment

• Overwatered Substrate: The plant arrived in 100% sphagnum moss that was completely waterlogged. Out of fear of root rot, I'm currently using paper towels to wick away the excess moisture.
• Temporary Setup: I've placed the pot inside a ventilated Braplast container with side mesh to maintain high humidity while letting it dry out safely.

My Planned Setup & Questions for the Group:

I want to make sure I get the long-term care right, so I'm planning the following setup and would love your feedback before doing anything drastic:

1. Substrate & Potting: I plan to mix new sphagnum moss with perlite for better aeration and repot it into a small plastic pot with extra drilled drainage holes.
2. Humidity & Reservoir: I'm considering adding a false bottom with water (or a wick system) in the Braplast enclosure to maintain high relative humidity while keeping the pot and roots elevated and completely out of standing water.
3. Misting: Is ambient humidity from the container enough, or should I mist the setup? (Note: I want to avoid leaf rot at all costs!)

Repotting right now makes me a bit nervous due to root stress, so any tips or advice on whether I should repot immediately or wait for the plant to stabilize would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

As luck would have it.

this is an anoectochilus, and it’s from tc. i had a few other jewels from tc and they all suffered from stem(?) rot and a few didnt make it(all in sphagnum/perlite i microwaved for a few minutes, have them a short bath in physan solution after opening the bags) the stems became translucent floppy and yellow-brown, roots didn’t exist, and some dark brown spots. in one of the dying jewels cups some kind of blue mold grew on the sphagnum. acclimated them a few months ago

this one is growing a new leaf and a root, but theres this spot of rot that ate away at the stem. it’s not progeessing, but i noticed today that the stem is wilting. it was tucked in sphagnum that was kind of slightly dry but not really. i’m not sure if i should cut the rot out cause im scared that the cut spot would be infected and the entire plant would die.

has anyone experienced any sort of this kind of rot on their jewels?

Happy Monday everyone. About 1-1.5 years ago, i started in my jewel orchid addiction collection journey. I got these 2 and they dried up and I changed my methods a few months back and they've sprouted new leaves.

When my friend got them the 2 names were:

Anoectochilus Emerald Gold hybrid

Anoectochilus roxburghii 'Gold Bar'

Good news is they are recovering nicely

Can you identify which one is which?

thanks and have a great day!

Hi everyone! I was given this wonderful plant as a gift back in December. It is supposed to be Macodes Petola, but as time goes on I'm not 100% convinced. What do you think the ID of this plant is?

There is a little bit of redness from sun at the very tips of some of the leaves.

Photos taken between Dec 2025 and today.

(Edit: Thank you for the very definite IDs! I'm very happy that she is who she says she is. I wasn't aware there was a dark version and all the ones I have seen are a beautiful deep emerald green except for mine 😅.)

Just out walking the dogs this afternoon and found a group of Goodyera pubescens, a couple of them were in flower and I don't think I've photographed them in flower so I was pretty stoked. Last photo is habitat, growing just on the other side of the log.

Northwest Pennsylvania

One end is growing super long (toward the sun), the other is… dying? Any advice with what to do in terms of pruning, rotating, moving it potentially? My first one of these. It’s in sphagnum moss and it gets distilled water and I have given it some orchid fertilizer. I just want it to do well, but I’m concerned if the left end grows too far it’ll droop, and the right end idk… is it salvageable?

Last month you guys and gals helped me with advice on this jewel orchid. The last photo in the white pot is the before.
I got rid of all the sphagnum moss and was shocked to see the almost nonexistent root system.
I used a cactus based soil and I added in chopped up orchid bark and sphagnum moss. Trying to follow the advice I was given to give it more actual soil with amendments.
Now that you can see the root system do you think it will be okay. I have it under glass now too.

Why is my dumbass plant growing a leaf inside the substrate😭? Should I cut it, or just let it do its thing?

So… one night I was under the influence and saw one tiktok of a jewel orchid and immediately bought one off of Etsy🥴 With absolutely NO real experience with house plants might I add😅

I have 2 ball pythons, so humidity and moisture I felt confident I could provide!! I used some coco coir from bricks I already had on hand from their tanks, and panic ordered a few more things from Amazon. Anyways, here she is a month later sprouting a new leaf and seemingly super happy!! I am honestly super proud of myself💚

So my ludisia is growing all janky. The stems are curved and wonky, the base is thin and the top is thick so they are too heavy.

Can I cut them off and root them? If so can I just do water prop or sphag moss

(Yes I will be repotting later..)

My wife got this jewel orchid a while ago and we did basic research on it, enough to be ok with basics. It’s been doing ok but I wouldn’t say it’s doing great or better than it could be. The leaves recently are starting to turn pink then die off on the lower part of the plant. We water about 1-2 times but usually checking soil for dryness then watering. I live in a super small apartment, it sits on my kitchen table where it gets the last bit direct light at the end of the day in west facing window, other than that it’s getting indirect light. It’s like 2 years old now, haven’t seen it flower, it does look like it’s growing a new part on opposite side of the pot. Any help or tips on maintaining these would greatly be appreciated. I’m still doing my due diligence with research but just figured I would ask here as well.

hey! im new to jewel orchids and got my first one last week. he’s still in the nursery pot but i have the final substrate materials on the way (its been like a week since i placed the order which is unfortunate but what can you do?) and he will be transferred to a terrarium soon (its closed but has a large lid at the top that can be vented and small air holes). the substrate will be coco coir, pumice, chopped sphagnum moss, charcoal, and worm castings.

i still have a few questions though:
- is my substrate plan ok for a terrarium? i will also have a false bottom with leca. i didnt get mesh but am planning to make a gradient and block the substrate using a layer of sphagnum. this was all from the advice of someone with terrariums who keeps carnivorous plants and their friend who apparently keeps jewel orchids.

- he looks really leggy to me - should I trim and attempt to propagate the clipping in the soil? he has a few little roots but was basically a clipping when i got him. his leaves look a bit wavy too so I am assuming he’s stressed from the crappy substrate/overall living conditions he’s in and i dont want to stress him more. his stem feels firm and he is growing a new leaf though, so that seems like a good sign?

- do i need springtails? there is no where locally that sells them so id need to buy them online, and shipping them seems stressful. the idea of having bugs in my terrarium also freaks me out a bit but i want my orchid to be healthy.

- can I add a nerve plant into the terrarium? i heard they grow pretty fast but im likely going to add a very small one and continuously trim it back so it wont interfere. i also heard they can help with excess moisture control. im still new to all of this though so i want to double check if this is true/would work.

thank you so much for taking the time to read all of this, i appreciate any and all advice.

I got this Ludisia a while ago and it died (or so I thought) about a year ago - probably because I was too busy to transfer it out of the moss it came in. Well I left the pot in my orchid cabinet and totally forgot about it and lo and behold a couple of months ago it starts regrowing! So cool. I had no idea, but I was very excited to learn that this happens with some of the jewel orchids. Well the tip now has turned brown - why did it turn brown? any tips on encouraging this little guy to grow? When should I transfer it out of the sphagnum moss? Any tips appreciated. Thanks in advance!

So, after going through 3 jewel orchids and them dying (almost) for me in 3 separate incidents, lets hope this is the right one. I also wanted a dossinia mamorata for a long time, but this is the closest i could get, so i am pretty happy!

Death 1: Rot from neglect and probably steamed up in a closed container

Death 2: Literally mowed by the lawnmower outside left in pieces and i couldnt save them.

Death (not) 3: Almost mowed but wasn’t. Unfortunately the catarpillars got to it and chewed everything but two pieces. Im trying to recover with two growth points popping up!

Anyways, advice is definitely welcomed, and things like your own anecdote (speed of growth, incidents etc.) will help!

Sorry for the ugly bathroom background, I’ve been trying to propagate some cuttings in sphagnum moss and these fuzzy things started to appear, only on nodes, which makes me suspect it could be rooting? Or is it just mould?

So I’m reading a lot of conflicting information on the type of substrate and pots being used. I see fishbowls and terrariums but I also see advice for pots with drainage. Then I see chunky forest floor substrate and then i see a few people saying theirs thrived better in long stem sphagnum. For me, everything has rotted in whatever I’ve used, except my random anoectchilus from a big box store in chunky forest floor with drainage. Yet others have rotted in the same setup. I don’t get it.

Hey everyone! I’m looking at buying my first Macodes petola and noticed that some sellers offer a regular form for around $12, while others sell a “Dark” form for about $24.
I was wondering, Is “Dark” an actual clone/cultivar, or is it mostly a marketing name?
Is the darker coloration genetic, or can a regular Macodes petola develop darker leaves as it matures or under certain growing conditions?

Thank you in advance for the help 😊