Phrag Sorcerer's Apprentice 4n

[oncidiumlover]

I recently purchased a Phrag sorcerer's apprentice 4n at the local orchid show. It got it's first bloom a couple of days ago. It's my first phrag. I've been watering it about every four days, fertilizing every other watering. It sits in water in a clear plastic pot liner. It's potted in a medium reddish bark and pearlite. I'm not sure if I'm watering it enough, and I'm not sure how to tell.
I've read threads where people water them everyday, and now I'm afraid that I'm letting it get too dry. It's in a five inch pot, I run over a quart of water through it when watering. the bark on the top definately feels pretty dry the next day.
My house is usually between 65-68F and the humidity is between 30 and 40 percent. It sits in an east window.
It's so beautiful, I wouldn't want to hurt it by drowning it, but I don't want to starve it either.



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[janet_a]

i'm no expert, but if it's sitting in water, then i don't think you need to water as frequently as you are. the plant *will* grow roots down into the saucer. (then around the suacer. then they will crawl out of the saucer and go exploring, if one of my phrags is any example..)

if it were mine, i'd put it in the sink once a week and give it a really good drench, then leave it sitting in a puddle the rest of the time.

[myorchid]

I agree with Janet. I have this Phrag and I water mine well once a week but the other times I make sure it sits in water. It has grown roots out of the pot and into the water and I had to repot it last year into a gallon size pot cause of so many roots!

I have mine potted in a plastic pot and then sit it in a ceramic pot with about 1 inch of water in the bottom all the time.

It does great!

[Brooke]

When it is time to repot you might consider using a smaller bark mix (seedling mix) or if you can't get the smaller mix, use sphag with the larger bark. I would also recommend putting sphag around the base of the growths now. Phrag roots are hairy and when dried out, they lose some (most) of their ability to absorb nutrients.

This Phrag is one of my favorites. Be prepared for it to bloom for a l-o-n-g time, for the spike to get very tall and maybe even branch for you. Your newest growth may be blooming before this spike is finished.

Brooke

[oncidiumlover]

Thank you all so much! I feel much better now that I'm not starving them. I was so excited when the bloom opened, My honey and I just stare at it all day long!!
Brooke, is the sphag that you buy in a bag at home depot okay, or should I go to nursery,although, if I remember correctly, I think my nursery might have the same thing?

[kmarch]

You've got a fantastic nice big Phrag there! I love this cross!

It's not likely you're over watering this guy and you could even take the pebbles out of the tray so it sits down a little deeper in the water. That's how I grow my phrags. It does sound to me though that you're fertilizing heavily. If you're watering every 4 days and fertilizing every other watering you're fertilizing almost every week. Maybe consider taking the pot out of the tray when fertilizing so that the excess drains away and it's not sitting in fertilizer water. Keep an eye on the leaf tips for fertilizer burn. I'm typically really light on the fert and most of my orchids don't get fertilized at all so I might be a little on the cautious side in this area.

[oncidiumlover]

Thank you, I'm super excited about it!
I was going with the fertilizing weakly weekly, but I'll switch to biweekly, don't want to over do it. The leaves already had slight burning at the tips when I bought it, I thought maybe from being so dry at the Orchid show where I purchased it, it was bone dry when I got it home.
I've been taking it out of the saucer and to the sink to water it, otherwise the tray overflows. The tray just has fresh water in it that I add to daily.
I'll take the rocks out so it can sit down lower in the water.
Kmarch: what type of orchid is your avatar?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by oncidiumlover

Kmarch: what type of orchid is your avatar?

My avatar is Paph Rory Jones 'Kevin's First' AM/AOS.

[oncidiumlover]

How long does a single bloom last on these? I'm so upset, I just knocked the first bloom off when I bumped it with another orchid, I'm so clumsy!! Luckily there's two more buds, one ready to pop!

[Jirel]

That's a gorgeous plant!

[flowerchild]

Very pretty Phrag, I may have to add that one to my wish list.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by oncidiumlover

How long does a single bloom last on these?

A single Phrag flower will only last a couple of weeks but most phrags (caudatum group and xerophyticum excepted) another flower will follow. With species like longifolium and some of its hybrids, they can bloom sequentially for a year or more.

One thing about Phrags that usually shocks new phrag growers is that for some reason phrag flowers stay fresh and new looking then suddenly drop off. You'll go to bed or go to work and the flower will look almost as new as the day it opened and the next time you see it it will be lying in the pot or on the table next to it, still looking fresh. This sometimes startles growers new to phrags. They think they've done something wrong or harmed their phrag. They haven't. I suppose phrag flowers subscribe to the rebellious youth adage that says, "Die young and leave a good looking corpse." Icky, but that's what phrag flowers seem to do.

[oncidiumlover]

Thank you, I can stop mentally abusing myself now for being so clumsy. I feel much better now. I can''t wait for the next bloom to pop, the first one was so beautiful, it made my day so much better to come home from work and stare at it!

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by oncidiumlover

Thank you, I can stop mentally abusing myself now for being so clumsy.

Yes please do. One time I was helping my orchid society set up for a show. One vendor brought in this enormous, STUNNING Phrag Norimont. It had 6 or 7 flowers, all huge. It's was one of the most impressive phrag displays I'd ever seen. The next morning I arrived ot judge the show and over night all but 2 of the flowers had fallen off. One of the 2 flowers left was facing backward. Just overnight it went from being a shoe-in for the Phrag trophy, a candidate for best in show, and a candidate for an AOS award to not even getting a third place ribbon.... It's just what Phrags do sometimes.