Species phalaenopsis

[Nancy]

I bought two species phalaenopsis, P. pulcra and P. pallens. I was wondering if the culture for them has any difference from hybrid phalaenopsis culture in terms of light, feeding and temperature. They do not seem to be growing as well as my larger hybrids. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

[brookn]

Nancy, I know that my Pahl. bellina and my Penang Girl (venosa x violaccea sp?) likes to be a bit more moist than the rest. I have them in sphag. It was a tough decision for me, but I had heard that they (esp. bellinas) preferred it, and my other phals are mostly in bark. They are growing like crazy, and putting out all kinds of new growth, so it is working. Maybe I can find something about the two for you, I will do a search later. It would help if you could tell us what type of light, potting medium, are you using fertilizer...?

I am curious, would you share where you got your pulchra? I am hoping that you live in the U.S. of course (you can update your location using your user cp) I have been looking for one, did you get a good deal on it? You can pm me if you prefer. Thanks.

[Tobi]

Hi Nancy,
Here is a link to help you with your Phal. pulchra.

http://www.orchids.mu/Species/Phalae...hra/index.html

[tom499]

Phal. species usually prefer more vandaeous growing conditions, I have a Phal. cornu-cervi in a vanda basket, with its roots trailing down. water it daily, with medium light.

They'll be ok in a pot, just dont pack as tightly, and make sure the roots can dry out before the next watering.

[Nancy]

Thank you, Tom499. The plants are potted in bark with medium light. They seem to have problems with their roots. They are too small to put in baskets but I may repot them into clay pots with larger pieces of bark. I live in Middle River, Maryland and these were purchased at The Little Greenhouse.

[tom499]

They should be happy in bark let them grow till there nearly overflowing in the pot. Then when they get big think about putting them in wooden slat baskets or just a larger pot Baskets do take more effort, especially when you have many orchids (tires me out hehe )

I'm not great with places, but my guess is Maryland is quite warm, so they will dry out quite quickly, so they should be fine in pots. They like a slight boost in humidity compared to phal hybrids, if you have them in a greenhouse they'll be fine, but if indoors a humidity tray is a nice help

What kind of root problems?

[Nancy]

Maryland is having a warm spell right now, with days in the eighties and nights in the sixties. This will be changing soon. Maryland weather changes like the drop of a hat. Anyway, I think what I'll do is to pur a lot of crock in the pot and to make sure I don't bury them too deep. My mistake was thinking they are in small pots, so they must need frequent watering. I think I will move them up more to the level of the window so that they get more light. No greenhouse. I run a humidifier and I keep the humidity around sixty. My other phals seem very happy. Thanks so much for the advice and I'll do the best I can with it.

[brookn]

Thanks Nancy. With mine as it is small also, the sphag seems to keep it happy. If these plants have not bloomed yet, they are probably not mature enough to dry out too much. My bellina dries out between waterings, but for the most part likes to be a bit damp. A good person to answer questions about the Phal. pulchra would be Anton, as he grows it, maybe he will chime in soon..
http://www.karls-orchids.net/
Here is a good site about Phals.

Tom when you say vandaceous conditions, are you referring to the light levels also?

[tom499]

I would keep light levels at medium, semi shaded, depending how strong your sunlight is. And not always as warm temps, as they like a cooler spell induce flowering

My bad there, I should have been more clear

I guess it depends on the type of Vanda

[WIB]

It turns out that medium (at least soilless potting medium) drains better the taller the column of the medium. So putting a lot of crocks in the bottom turns out to work against drainage. Source: Jeff Gillman, The Truth about Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t, & Why. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2006.

[brookn]

Good call WIB, I don't use rocks in the bottom of mine, they are either all mix or have a couple styrofoam peanuts in the bottom.

Thanks Tom, I was pretty sure what you meant, but just in case...you never know how it might be interpreted, fried phals not good. lol