Phaius advice

[fzzdk]

A local lady is selling off about half her greenhouse ridiculously cheap because she's getting ready to move (anyone roundabouts atlanta, i can hook you up!). i've gotten my dens stabilized, so i decided to pick one up.

we had a nice chat about my growing conditions, and she brought out a fair amount of orchids she thought would work with me (i live in a loft with huge west facing windows that get bright indirect light, never direct. temp between 68-75, maybe slightly colder near the window in the winter), and i ended up picking up a (huge!!) phaius hainanensis. i probably mispelled that, but it's an alba phaius. it completely dwarfs my two dens. the spike is about 3ft and the flowers are the size of the palm of my hand!

i'll attach some pictures in a minute because there's some leaf damage, which i read is common because of the thin leaves, and i found a roly poly (also called pill bugs or sow bugs) in the mix that may or may not have nibbled them, and i think it might be a good candidate for dividing and i need advice on all of that. but before i do that, does anyone have experience with these? mine's growing in a mix of potting soil and clay pellets and was sitting in water when i got it, which seems wrong to me because of the dens and their aversion to soaking in water.

i know out of all the people here with hundreds of orchids, someone has some advice on culture! :P

[fzzdk]

here's some of the damage. the first picture is definitely what i'm most worried about, as it's near the base of the flowering part. there are some dark spots on the leaves too, which is mold? i dunno! a lot of it seems to be mechanical? if anything looks horribly amiss, please tell me!

[fzzdk]

firstly, you can see i have 4 distinct areas of growth, the huge one, two small ones in the middle (one being just one shoot) and a clump at the other end. it's currently in about an 8" pot. should i worry about dividing it when i repot? and if so, where should it be divided?

the rest is just me showing off the pretty blooms :P

[turkeytaker]

The marks shouldn't be anything to worry about. Like you said, they look mostly mechanical...a lot like the ones my cat left on mine when she chewed on the base.

If you repot, you might just want to pull it out and see if it falls apart. The way it looks to be growing, it'll probably fall into, at least, two pieces. They're terrestrials, so they don't mind dirt and are HUGE water and fertilizer hogs. I plop mine into potting soil and water it every day during the summer. They grow like weeds!

I'm in the Atlanta area, too, and they really like it here. Good luck!

[fzzdk]

Originally Posted by turkeytaker

I plop mine into potting soil and water it every day during the summer. They grow like weeds!

it just blows my mind that an orchid could be that easy to care for. where are the special substrates and water requirements? and the ceremonial dances to initiate blooming?

it makes me wonder if it's really an orchid at all :P

[turkeytaker]

They're great, they really are. I just went and checked my remaining phaius (I fried most of my plants this summer) after looking at this thread, and it looks like it's spiking!

Mind you, the plant burned down to a brown fibrous base and now has a happy green shoot.

[pikevi]

Hello turkeytaker,

You helped me too when you answered fzzdk's query.

I picked up a small Phais tankerville last week. I had not seen or heard of it until I saw that at a show.

I did not realise that it is that hardy!

Hopefully it will grow well.

fzzdk: good luck with yours

[fzzdk]

thanks for the good wishes

it's nice to be able to come somewhere and ask questions and have them answered by people who take into account the climate where we're located. i'd read so much conflicting advice about phaius online before asking here.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Your plant looks great to me, far better than the Phaiuses I have under my bench that get everthing dropped onto. Damp is fine. Looks to me that a division into 2 would be good. Then put each half back into the same size pot.

[jerrymeola]

Phiaus care is unique that when the flower dies you can (suggested) to cut off all the leaves down to the bulb.

FZZDK if you look at the middle bulb with no leaves that is the cutting point for Phiaus after they flower. As long as the new growth is over 6 inches, then cutting the old growth will accelerate the the new growth. Old bulbs never flower and the leaves continue to deteriorate while taking nutrient and strength from the plant.

I have a commercial friend that has 40 acres of Phiaus and you never see a bad leaf, he just cuts them all off.

[fzzdk]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

Phiaus care is unique that when the flower dies you can (suggested) to cut off all the leaves down to the bulb.

just to clarify, are you saying it'll create another bulb just as huge as that one? that large bulb has more spikes coming up from the base (which i'm assuming are going to be leaves?) also, should i cut off all of the smaller leaves as well on the bulbs that aren't flowering?

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

FZZDK if you look at the middle bulb with no leaves that is the cutting point for Phiaus after they flower. As long as the new growth is over 6 inches, then cutting the old growth will accelerate the the new growth. Old bulbs never flower and the leaves continue to deteriorate while taking nutrient and strength from the plant.

are the smaller groups of leaves in the middle and on the other side old growth or new growth? the leaves on the opposite side haven't seen much change since i got the plant, but the ones in the middle seem to be shooting up new little tendrils? it's very confusing, because i don't know exactly what i should save and what i should discard when i divide the plant.

[jerrymeola]

Sorry I was not clear. It is so much easier to show when I am holding the plant with a hobbyist next to me.

The little green leaves about 2 inches in several parts of the pot are the start of new bulbs. They will quickly grow to flowering size (about 9 months).

The tall leaves on bulbs that have not flowered yet should not be cut. This is the strength of your plant.

My comment about 6 inch new growth was meant to be that in order to survive when cutting the old growth you need to have at least 6 inches of new growth. Large new growth like you have is even better.

You only cut the leaves on the bulb that has flowered, since they only flower once anyway. It is not necessary to cut the leaves if they look good and healthy, but they often deteriorate fast after flowering. Eventually they fall off, but look bad in the process and cutting them accelerates the growth of the new leaves.

[fzzdk]

thank you so much jerry! i really feel like i have a handle on how to proceed now. this particular type of orchid is so bizarre and backwards from the dens i have!

[snowballsarebad]

I thought I'd bump this thread, mostly for my own benefit, but also because others might be interested. It looks like there's some good info here on how to take care of Phaius. I'm considering getting one, and after reading this thread I'm even more convinced. They sound pretty easy to me. Those of you who have them, how are they doing? Do you remember how much you purchased it for? A local nursery has quite a few Phaius tankervilleaes in huge pots (over a gallon i think!), most have several growths, and they were all in spike with anywhere between 1 and 3 spikes. $40. Do you all think that's a good price for these things?

[jerrymeola]

Phaius run a range in prices. New Hybrids in 6 inch pots can run $25 retail and common varieties can be as cheap as $20 in three gallon pots. 2 inch pots can be bought very cheap and they grow fast.

they take a lot of abuse. I just froze mine to 25 degrees and had 30 mile an hour winds beating them up. They look terrible but show no sign of dying.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I would say that they probably need a lot more light than I was giving mine keeping them on the floor of my GH. I now keep mine in the cold frame for winter with something close Catt light, and outside during summer with a little higher than Catt light. But, this has had only one year of implementation so far, so will have to wait and see if I get better blooming this season. I would not throw away any old bulbs, as these will have enough energy in them to produce modest new plants.

Sow bugs: one orchid grower I know had a terrible infestation of sow bugs in her very large greenhouse, and wiped them all out with imidacloprid, Bayer Advanced Lawn ... in this case, but any of the Bayer products with imidacloprid would work if you mix up enough to soak the mix, just don't use one with fertilizer too, as you want to do fertilizing in an appropriate way for orchids, not petunias.

[salar]

It took some searching, but eventually found the advice I need on Tankerville.
it seems they need different conditions in captivity to the ones growing wild on mt Kinabalu
borneo. In a border at mountain Lodge they have bulbs 6 inch diameter!
super site, thanks, Salar england.

[Stitz]

Salar,

From your description of the psb size, it is possible that you have Phaius wallichii. For many years, wallichii was considered a separate species. Then, it was considered tankervilliae for a few decades. It seems that the distinction is being noted again.

That's fine with me as I have one of both! The pattern of growth is basically the same.

--Stitz--