Phrag kovachii S/H [semi hydro]

[dash3echo]

I've got a Phrag. kovachii coming in next week...expensive plant to be "testing" with...but i have yet to have an orchid not thrive in s/h...

Anyone have any experience growing this phrag semi hydro?

[madphrag]

If it were me, I certainly wouldn't start experimenting with this one. I'd stick with conventional growing methods for Phrags and maybe pick up a few less expensive specimens somewhere to work with. As far as I know, the jury is still out on the optimum conditions for kovachii. Patience!

[plantloverlisa]

I only have one Phrag., a pearcei, and it just makes sense to me that as long as you have new roots growing so they can adjust to new medium they would do fine. After everthing I have read about getting started in s/h it seems to be the big mistake people make including myself.

[dash3echo]

It's not really "starting" experimentation per say...I currently grow all of my plants semi hydro... over 90 in total, including: Paphiopedilum sanderianum, Gloria Naugle, Michael Koopowitz, villosum, Phrag. Memoria Dick Clements, Rossioglossum, Neofinetia falcata, over 15 Catts & hybrids, 10 phals, 5 Coelogyne, Catasetums, Cycnodes, Psychopsis and so on.

I have heard that Phrag kovachii likes more lime, was curious if anyone else had grown it semi hydro themselves and what they had done to make the plant thrive.

[Ray]

...so supplement your feeding with calcium.

Whatever culture you're using has little impact on how and what you feed the plants. They need what they need, irrespective of how you give it to them.

[Brooke]

I have two kovachii hybrids and the one with bessae named Fritz Schomburg I almost killed in s/h but I've found other bessae offspring that didn't appreciate the constant moisture. Those I grow even without the saucers and they now do great.

I was too afraid for my other hybrid Suzanne Decker to try s/h but it does grow sitting in a saucer.

You are familiar with the s/h method and if the kovachii doesn't like it, you will know and have time to switch to a different method.

Brooke

[dounoharm]

i would hold off the s/h till the plant starts responding to reg culture...the shock of being boxed and transported is enuf for a fragile plant like that....my opinion is to wait...

[Ray]

FWIW, I have all of my phrags, species and hybrids, in semi-hydroponics, and they are all doing quite well. That includes besseae and some kovachii hybrids (Fritz Schomberg and Peruflora's Cirila Alca - which some feel is actually the same hybrid).

I'm not saying it is incorrect - I can't say for sure either way - but I do question the advice of getting a new plant established in traditional culture "first" before moving it to S/H culture. It seems to me that the plant will need to go through some sort of adjustment phase when first acquired and potted up, and done correctly, neither culture should be more stressful to the plant than the other. To get it established in one method and then change it again doubles the stress on the plant.

[BluPeaches]

I have quite a few phrags and I have them all in S/H except 3 that I just received but will be repotted soon. They are all doing very good, growing new leaves and roots. Most of my phrags consist of besseae and kovachii, species and hybrids.

[Brooke]

Ray have you successfully grown a Phrag. caudatum in s/h?

Brooke

[Ray]

Sure have, Brooke. The one I had was kind of "blah" colored, so after a few years, I culled it from the collection, but it grew quite nicely for me.

I think where folks get led astray is in forgetting that "semi-hydroponics" does not define orchid culture completely. It is really nothing more than a different way to deliver water and nutrition to the plant. Your other conditions - light, temperature, humidity, and air movement, and how they vary daily and seasonally - play a far more important role in successful culture than does the semi-hydro part.

[Brooke]

Ray I hope you chronicled the acceptance and bloom of the caudatum in s/h - it would make a good article for Orchids magazine.

I guess you could describe the color as "blah" because it is yellow/green/tan. I think the long "mustaches" are the feature of this species, not the color.

Brooke

[orchids4me]

Very interesting thread
Thanks for posting it. Ray I'm with Brooke you should chronicle the one in s/h she's refering to for an article. This is the only one in my collection that doesn't have a saucer of water, so this is very interesting to me and I'm sure others will be also.
Thanks you!
Emmaye

[Bolero]

I certainly wouldn't be using a plant like that to experiment with. Until you are sure you can afford to lose the plant I would stick with a standard mix.

[Ray]

While I agree that the cost of such a plant might prevent it from being a "guinea pig" for a novice, for an experienced s/h grower, it should be a "walk in the park".

I moved a flask of Fritz Schomburg seedlings into s/h pots directly from flask, and they are doing quite well.

At Brooke's unknown urging, I acquired another caudatum and moved it into S/H about 6 weeks ago, and it looks pretty good, so far.

[Brooke]

Nope didn't urge you particularly since you had already grown a caudatum in s/h, why do it again?

I know you hate it when someone says something negative about s/h but I can only report what happened to my plants, in my greenhouse. If the poster is asking about a particular orchid and I've had experience with it, I feel free to give my experience - good, bad or indifferent. I also offer no opinion when I have not grown something.

Brooke

[koshki]

Dash3echo...welcome to Orchid Geeks!

And how is your p/k doing? Would love to see photos!

[dash3echo]

Doin' ok so far. It had two new growths starting when it arrived. One aborted...or stalled. I haven't seen much for root growth yet. I'll post pics when I get a chance...I'm pretty sure it'll be at least a year before i get a flower though.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Brooke

Nope didn't urge you particularly since you had already grown a caudatum in s/h, why do it again?

Well, I got another one because I wanted a better one, and you merely gave me the excuse! (I was trying to be complimentary! Anything that encourages the acquisition of more orchids IS good, isn't it?)

I know you hate it when someone says something negative about s/h but I can only report what happened to my plants, in my greenhouse. If the poster is asking about a particular orchid and I've had experience with it, I feel free to give my experience - good, bad or indifferent. I also offer no opinion when I have not grown something.

Brooke

There you go assigning incorrect attributes to me again... I absolutely do not "hate" when someone says something negative about S/H culture, as that tells me that either they don't know what they are doing, so aren't soing something right, or there is a specific mismatch under their growing conditions that they either cannot or do not want to address, which is apparently your situation with Phag. caudatum.

There are some things I DO dislike (besides negative assignations by folks who really don't know me):

• One is the continued repetition of myths.
• Closely related is an insistence upon absolutes, or maybe it's an assertion of "fact" that is really a supposition based upon incomplete information - "That plant cannot be grown in S/H" being one example, although "That plant is easy in S/H" is almost as bad. In both cases, there is no mention of the other, likely more critical cultural parameters that are important to success. And for the record, my dislike of absolutes is not limited to semi-hydroponics. If there is one thing I have learned in my growing experience, it's that orchid-growing contains a large dose of "it depends..."
• A third peeve is folk's insistence that "semi-hydroponics" completely defines orchid culture; it doesn't. It merely defines the use of inert media and a way to deliver water and nutrients, and does not mention any of the other critical parameters, such as light, temperature, humidity, air movement, etc.

Brooke, please understand that my reason for participating in forums is my love of orchids, the desire to share what I know so others might be more successful with them, and to learn from others to improve my own growing. No ulterior motives, which you apparently think I have.