Re: paphs and phrags

Ted wrote: 
I bought a paph and a phrag last spring.  Both stopped blooming in
August.

I was told to water them so that the pot is left standing in about a
half centimetre of water, and then not water again until the day after
the standing water had disappeared.  The paph, Paph. Magic Lantern
(micranthum x delenatii), appears to be very happy with this treatment,
and has, within the past month, produced a nice little new growth.  The
plant itself is a modest size with only half a dozen beautifully
patterned leaves.

The tag on the phrag is very hard to read, but it looks like Phrag Mam
*** Clements.  It does not seem to like this culture.  It has two new
growths that appear to be happy, but all but two of the leaves from the
old growth are brown, and one of the remaining two appears to be on its
way out.  From the old growth, only one leaf is a healthy green color.

This phrag is clearly trying to grow out of its pot, with the growth
that had bloomed being about 1 cm above the substrate (looks like
either bark or small coconut chips), and the two new growths about 1 cn
higher than that still.


And here I would have thought the opposite would have happened. I would never leave a Magic Lantern standing in water. But, if it is working for you, don't stop. I would worry that as the mix breaks down, this will stay too wet. If it were my plant, I'd lose the saucer, or at least dump out the saucer immediately after watering. And water the plant using the 'finger' test. If it feels soggy, don't. If it is starting to approach dryness, do.

Phrags tend to climb, which is what you are seeing with the MDC. In general, phrags are supposed to like to be kept wetter than paphs. In practice, you can usually treat them pretty much the same. A lot of people grow phrags sitting in saucers of water. Different people have different approaches to dealing with climbing. If the rhizome is long enough, and a bit flexible, you can pin the new growth down with a bent piece of wire. If not, you can repot the plant, and set the base of the newest growths at 'ground level', burying the oldest growth a bit. Or put the plant into the pot at an angle (leaning). If it isn't due for repotting, you could put a little sphagnum moss around the base of the plant, to encourage new root growth.

I wouldn't worry too much about the oldest growth losing leaves, if the new ones appear happy. Phrags do that. It might be a sign that the plant needs repotting. This is a pretty good time of year to repot phrags, might as well.

--
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 1) There is always room for one more orchid
 2) There is always room for two more orchids
  2a) See rule 1
 3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
    orchids, obtain more credit
	
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