Phrag. light and culture?
 

I looked at all my phrags today while making an update inventory.
Pretty lame, I realized that after nearly 8 years, I have only had 2
phrags bloom for me. Probably haven't been letting them have anough
light. I checked the forum, and you all are saying cattleya light.
There is no way I've been letting them have light at that intensity.

Do you all think it is too late in the season to move them to more
light? The temps have moderated somewhat into the mid 80's during the
day, down into the upper 50's to 60's F at night.

Most of them were bought as fairly small seedlings. How long should it
take for them to mature and bloom? They are growing and multiplying,
just not blooming. After looking at them, I'm pretty disappointed in
their (my) performance.

Either way, I'll give them one more year with more light in the future
and see if that helps.

The good news today was a catt that bloomed. Tim looked at it and said
he hadn't seen that one bloom before. He may be right, it had nubs at
the older leaves and one sheath that hadn't developed. Will post a
photo on Wed/Thurs after the colors stabilize a bit. Right now it has
dark purple petals, with a much darker purple lip. It's one of those
that I call urban sprawl, it wants to spread out and didn't bloom until
the last growth was at the far edge of the pot.

N.

Many orchids in the wild get more light in Winter because the trees overhead shed their leaves. But as it is cooler, their leaves can tolerate more light without burning. So give them more light all year round.

I recall a talk by Eric Christenson in which he describes the phrags he saw in full sun. Whilst I wouldn't go that far with cultivated phrags, mine get more light than my cattleyas. The leaves should be an apple green.

Weng

Phrag. light and culture?
 

Nancy,

One can move plants to brighter conditions at any time, just being sure to
transition them to avoid burning when you do so. Phrags, in particular,
seem to be constant growers for me, so I wouldn't worry about seasonal
changes. That might not be the issue though.

Glen Decker of Piping Rock Orchids, at a talk at SEPOS a couple years back,
mentioned that he grew most of his plants under 80% shade, and he's up in
upstate NY, which is not known for its super high sun intensity.

Depending on the hybrids you have, some might need to be pretty large before
they bloom - 12" or so tall, even with the leaves arched over they way they
do.

Another thing to consider is fertilizer - how much of what formula do you
use, and how often?

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Nancy G." wrote in message
ups.com...
I looked at all my phrags today while making an update inventory.
Pretty lame, I realized that after nearly 8 years, I have only had 2
phrags bloom for me. Probably haven't been letting them have anough
light. I checked the forum, and you all are saying cattleya light.
There is no way I've been letting them have light at that intensity.

Do you all think it is too late in the season to move them to more
light? The temps have moderated somewhat into the mid 80's during the
day, down into the upper 50's to 60's F at night.

Most of them were bought as fairly small seedlings. How long should it
take for them to mature and bloom? They are growing and multiplying,
just not blooming. After looking at them, I'm pretty disappointed in
their (my) performance.

Either way, I'll give them one more year with more light in the future
and see if that helps.

The good news today was a catt that bloomed. Tim looked at it and said
he hadn't seen that one bloom before. He may be right, it had nubs at
the older leaves and one sheath that hadn't developed. Will post a
photo on Wed/Thurs after the colors stabilize a bit. Right now it has
dark purple petals, with a much darker purple lip. It's one of those
that I call urban sprawl, it wants to spread out and didn't bloom until
the last growth was at the far edge of the pot.

N.

Phrag. light and culture?
 

Another thing to consider is fertilizer - how much of what formula do you
use, and how often?

Switched fertilizers this spring to a balanced urea-free formula
16-17-17
N 7% ammoniacal
9% Nitrate Nitrogen
P (P2O) 17%
K K2o) 17%
Sulfur 1.9%
Boron .015%
Copper .015%
Manganese Ch .03%
Molybddenum .011
Zinc .015

4T dissolved in a 6 oz bottle with about 1/2 t superthrive and water.
This concentrate is easy to dispense and doesn't precipitate at room
temperature. I then use 1 T. per 2 gallons of filtered tap water (not
RO) fed once a week. The rest of the water (usually every other
watering) has been with collected rain water when it was available.
There was a long dry spell when I ran out of the rain water.

Most are potted into deeper pots (some 4" some 6") with CHC, coir,
perlite (roughly 2-2-1). The chips were soaked and rinsed at least 3X,
the coir soaked. The pots were probably too big, and they have been in
them for more than 6 months. They are in trays to catch the run off.
The trays are actually marketed as 'shoe or boot trays', have a grid
pattern in them so that the pots are 1/2" above the collected water.
There is some browing of the leaf tips. Maybe a little more water in
the tray? A thorough flushing with rain water? Too much rain water?

They are set on a covered porch on the northeast side of the house.
Trees block most of the morning sun, it is bright but dappled. The
most sun comes from 10 am to noon, it is unshaded. Some (very little)
is available late afternoon when the sun comes past the corner of the
house. The biggest plants nearest the hand rail received the most sun.
They didn't seem to be adversely effected by the heat or intensity, no
burning or wilting.

If you are in sensory overload, the phrag that bloomed was in S/H. It
has been in S/H for a little more than a year, maybe 2. It was a Phrag
Inca Embers. It had 3 divisions when it bloomed, now is starting a
4th. I don't remember now how long I've had it. More than 2 years
anyway. Come to think of it. It had gotten separated form the rest of
the phrags when I moved them in last winter. All the others were in
the northeast of the room, it was in the southeast.

Still open to suggestions. Many thanks,
Nancy

Phrag. light and culture?
 

Full disclosu I do not have any Phrags. However, a friend who does *very*
well with them does a double pot deal. She grows them in clay, and places
the clay pot inside another, larger clay pot, surrounding the inner pot with
damp spaghnum moss. It's sure working for her! As far as light, she gives
them brighter than Phal but less than Catt light. She fertilizes everything
the same way, including the Phrags. (475 plants, all ferted by hand with a
hose.)

I've been threatening to get one. Now I will do it.

Diana

"Nancy G." wrote in message
oups.com...
Another thing to consider is fertilizer - how much of what formula do you
use, and how often?

Switched fertilizers this spring to a balanced urea-free formula
16-17-17
N 7% ammoniacal
9% Nitrate Nitrogen
P (P2O) 17%
K K2o) 17%
Sulfur 1.9%
Boron .015%
Copper .015%
Manganese Ch .03%
Molybddenum .011
Zinc .015

4T dissolved in a 6 oz bottle with about 1/2 t superthrive and water.
This concentrate is easy to dispense and doesn't precipitate at room
temperature. I then use 1 T. per 2 gallons of filtered tap water (not
RO) fed once a week. The rest of the water (usually every other
watering) has been with collected rain water when it was available.
There was a long dry spell when I ran out of the rain water.

Most are potted into deeper pots (some 4" some 6") with CHC, coir,
perlite (roughly 2-2-1). The chips were soaked and rinsed at least 3X,
the coir soaked. The pots were probably too big, and they have been in
them for more than 6 months. They are in trays to catch the run off.
The trays are actually marketed as 'shoe or boot trays', have a grid
pattern in them so that the pots are 1/2" above the collected water.
There is some browing of the leaf tips. Maybe a little more water in
the tray? A thorough flushing with rain water? Too much rain water?

They are set on a covered porch on the northeast side of the house.
Trees block most of the morning sun, it is bright but dappled. The
most sun comes from 10 am to noon, it is unshaded. Some (very little)
is available late afternoon when the sun comes past the corner of the
house. The biggest plants nearest the hand rail received the most sun.
They didn't seem to be adversely effected by the heat or intensity, no
burning or wilting.

If you are in sensory overload, the phrag that bloomed was in S/H. It
has been in S/H for a little more than a year, maybe 2. It was a Phrag
Inca Embers. It had 3 divisions when it bloomed, now is starting a
4th. I don't remember now how long I've had it. More than 2 years
anyway. Come to think of it. It had gotten separated form the rest of
the phrags when I moved them in last winter. All the others were in
the northeast of the room, it was in the southeast.

Still open to suggestions. Many thanks,
Nancy

Phrag. light and culture?
 

Weng wrote 'Apple Green' and I have heard the correct green described
many times but 'Apple Green' is best. I have on occasion bought a
Granny Smith apple just to gauge my plant's color as that has been hard
for me to visualize. I sneak around when making the color test as it
would look strange holding out an apple to an orchid but it shows me I
still don't have them in enough light!
Joe T
Color Blind in Baytown

Weng wrote:
Nancy G. Wrote:

Do you all think it is too late in the season to move them to more
light? The temps have moderated somewhat into the mid 80's during the
day, down into the upper 50's to 60's F at night.
N.
Many orchids in the wild get more light in Winter because the trees
overhead shed their leaves. But as it is cooler, their leaves can
tolerate more light without burning. So give them more light all year
round.

I recall a talk by Eric Christenson in which he describes the phrags he
saw in full sun. Whilst I wouldn't go that far with cultivated phrags,
mine get more light than my cattleyas. The leaves should be an apple
green.

Weng




--
Weng

Phrag. light and culture?
 

On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 18:20:14 -0400, "Diana Kulaga"
wrote:

Full disclosu I do not have any Phrags. However, a friend who does *very*
well with them does a double pot deal. She grows them in clay, and places
the clay pot inside another, larger clay pot, surrounding the inner pot with
damp spaghnum moss. It's sure working for her! As far as light, she gives
them brighter than Phal but less than Catt light. She fertilizes everything
the same way, including the Phrags. (475 plants, all ferted by hand with a
hose.)

I've been threatening to get one. Now I will do it.

Diana

We grow them all in semi-hydro. Some of ours are bigger faster than
Chuck Ackers says his get. We have bloomed seedlings from him before
he did. Semi-hydro gives the Phrag the water it wants access to.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/orchids

Phrag. light and culture?
 

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Full disclosu I do not have any Phrags. However, a friend who does
*very* well with them does a double pot deal. She grows them in clay, and
places the clay pot inside another, larger clay pot, surrounding the inner
pot with damp spaghnum moss. It's sure working for her! clip

If you live in the southern US or where it gets hot and stays that way for
months, keeping the phrags cool is the most important thing. This double pot
method is good for evaporative cooling of the roots. Until I put mine in
front of the evaporative cooling pads in the gh, repotted into CHC in clay
pots and put the pots in containers that hold about an 1" of water, my
phrags just survived. This year (I posted these earlier) I had Phrag
longifolium and Phrag Grande bloom for the first time. And they put on great
new growth they way they're supposed to! Now it's Phrag Cardinal-Schlim X
besseae's turn. It's getting close. Good luck.
Gary