I don't think it wants to be forced into dormancy. What people do with microminis when they get that tired ratty look is to carefully snip off all the growth and let the plant send up new shoots. I have my plant in a 2" pot inside a community tall dome. It reseeded into neighboring pots, so now I have a few pots going. I think my plant needs a haircut too. It looks pretty sad. The problem with letting the plant dry out completely is that that may kill the tubers. Keep it lightly moist and when you see new growth, give a light feeding--then see what happens and let us know. This is still a fairly new plant and we are all learning its tricks and foibles. In nature it grows on a shady vertical rock, in a dense colony. I don't know if it was only found on one rock or if it grows in a number of locations. I suspect it is pretty rare in nature. It is related to little S. concinna, which has not been found in nature since its original introduction.

Jon

Jon,

Thank you. That sounds rather simple and IÂm glad I donÂt have to let them go totally dormant.

I have noticed one rather odd thing about this plant already. I raised these from seed. At first, they grew just fine. Suddenly, they all seemed to stall before their first flowers. They just sat there. They didnÂt look like they were going dormant, but they also werenÂt growing any new leaves either. I tried more light and less light, warmer and cooler. Nothing made them do anything. Out of desperation, I decided to repot. After that they took off, started growing like crazy and havenÂt stopped blooming. I have no idea if the repotting was the trick or not. It just seems odd that is when they decided to kick it into high gear.

Kevin

Maybe they ran out of food? Do you use a packaged potting soil--they often contain fertilizer? Or, it may have been one of aeration in the mix. When you repotted the plants suddenly were in a lighter airier mix. In nature they grow on a vertical rock face, which I think must have a covering of mossy soil. The soil being what has decomposed from the plants themselves--really a remarkable habitat. The slide I saw was shown at a convention by either Alain Chautems or Mauro Pexioto. I suspect you might find photos at Mauro's site,

Jon

That's very interesting. I probably used my own mix, but I do fertilize on a regular basis - very weak though.

The aeration theory has a lot of merit, in my opinion. Maybe that is one of the key things to growing these? I'm really happy you mentioned that and the info about what conditions they grow under in nature.
I never would have thought of that. Thank you.

Kev

I've got mine in a giant "brandy snifter" (a snifter in shape only-- I doubt anyone would want THAT much brandy!) There's also a S. pusilla & an Elaphoglossum peltatum (tiny fern) in it. Last summer, while in the midst of remodeling, the snifter got knocked down behind some displaced furniture, and got really dried out before I found it. The S. pusilla was fine with its rest. The Elaphoglossum limped back, but I thought I'd lost my Rio das Pedras. Pretty soon volunteer seeds started germinating, and I had several. Then, completely unexpectedly, the parent plant re-appeared!
Mine's in a really open mix, about 90% shredded cypress. I did wonder whether it might prefer a more alkaline mix, but since it's doing well, I'm leaving well enough alone. Mine doesn't die back and rest (other than the afore-mentioned accidental time) but it does stall between bloom sessions.