I have bought a psychopsis papilio with 4 pseudobulbs. Can you give
me advice to cultivate and make to bloom?

Thanks
Ana

Hybrids made with papilio, such as Butterfly and Kalihi, grow very well for
us, but we've found that the straight species has a little trouble
tolerating our extreme heat.

The hybrids do very well for us in the brightest section of our cattleya
zone, in either slat baskets or treefern pots for maximum drainage [as
compared to the plastic pots that most of our catts live in]. Our potting
mix for them is about 50% lava rock, 25% charcoal, 25% coco-chips. I think
that if we mounted them, we could probably put them in the vanda zone.

Good growing,

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Ana" wrote in message
om...
I have bought a psychopsis papilio with 4 pseudobulbs. Can you give
me advice to cultivate and make to bloom?

Thanks
Ana

(Ana) wrote in message . com...
I have bought a psychopsis papilio with 4 pseudobulbs. Can you give
me advice to cultivate and make to bloom?

I find that Psychopsis papilio grows very well in pure long-fiber
sphagnum moss. I grow smaller plants in clay pots, and larger plants
in wooden baskets. The moss is kept constantly moist with water that
is very low in mineral content. Give the plant moderate light
(somewhere between phalaenopsis and cattleya conditions) and warm
temperatures.

P. papilio definitely seems to be the easiest of the Psychpsis species
and is less susceptible to rot than other species or hybrids. With P.
kramerianum, for instance, mounting on cork works better than pots in
my emvironment.

Nick
--
myrmecodia-at-yahoo-dot-com (but don't bother emailing, this account
is clogged by spam)

On 12 Nov 2003 18:20:14 -0800, (Myrmecodia)
wrote:

I find that Psychopsis papilio grows very well in pure long-fiber
sphagnum moss. I grow smaller plants in clay pots, and larger plants
in wooden baskets. The moss is kept constantly moist with water that
is very low in mineral content. Give the plant moderate light
(somewhere between phalaenopsis and cattleya conditions) and warm
temperatures.

How do you repot without significant root damage? I find it difficult
to extract the old sphagnum from the small, fairly delicate roots.

deg

Dewitt wrote in message . ..
On 12 Nov 2003 18:20:14 -0800, (Myrmecodia)
wrote:

I find that Psychopsis papilio grows very well in pure long-fiber
sphagnum moss.

How do you repot without significant root damage?

Carefully...

But seriously, I find that sphagnum lasts a very long time if you
water with mineral-poor water and do not allow the moss to dry out
completely. Wet-dry cycles seem to cause very rapid breakdown. If
the moss looks good, I just drop the plant into a larger pot and pack
fresh sphagnum around the root ball. If the sphagnum is deteriorated,
I wait until the plant is iniating new roots and then gently pick away
the strands of sphagnum until the roots are relatively clean. When
potted in sphagnum, the plants seem to grow new roots rapidly, so some
damage doesn't seem to be a problem.

I see that my experience with Psychopsis is completely different than
Kenni Judd's. Psychopsis papilio grows like a weed for me, but
hybrids like Psychopsis Mendenhall can be relied on to rot almost
every new growth. Perhaps it has something to do with our different
cultural regimens.

Nick
--
myrmecodia-at-yahoo-dot-com

Hi there Ana, in one word, patience! *g*
I have three of these, one since '95 & have not repotted since?
It hangs up high in a plastic pot sitting in a wooden basket, in a high
light breezy spot
in my greenhouse. It is close to the swamp cooler, have not moved it as it
is always
in bloom. I fertilize with GroMor Urea freem, at quarter strength & flush
once every other
month.
Cheers Wendy
"Ana" wrote in message
om...
I have bought a psychopsis papilio with 4 pseudobulbs. Can you give
me advice to cultivate and make to bloom?

Thanks
Ana

Xref: kermit rec.gardens.orchids:51853

On 13 Nov 2003 08:11:54 -0800, (Myrmecodia)
wrote:

How do you repot without significant root damage?

Carefully...

But seriously, I find that sphagnum lasts a very long time if you
water with mineral-poor water and do not allow the moss to dry out
completely.

Here I've been letting my Psychopsis Mendenhall dry out to avoid rot
problems. . .

deg