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Orchid Idiocy

seedjar

Let's positive thinking!
OK, so on a compulsion today I bought a Paphiopedilum and Oncidium. But, I managed to grab the two pots with care instructions/pedigree information missing. The Paph is kind of varigated, with light green and dark green spotches. The Oncidium looks like every other Oncidium I've ever seen. Any help? Can I put them on the sill with my Phaleonopsis? Advice on acclimating? Right now I've left them in the cellophane bags they're in - I'm going to give them a day or so in my aparment before taking them all the way out because it's a little drier here than most homes.
Anyways, thanks in advance,
~Joe
 
The Paph needs about the same amount of light as the Phalaenopsis. The Oncidium can take a lot of light. If you're worried about low humidity, you can place the pots on a tray with water and rocks. My plants are outdoors, so I can't tell you much about growing indoors, but you can try here: http://www.orchidlady.com. Welcome to the obsession.
 
Thanks for the tips. Will the Paph be OK with cool nights? Is Paph the Lady's Slipper orchid? I've got a good place for the Oncidium, right in the middle of my tallest light rack. I don't think that humidity will be an ongoing problem - I just have a particularly dry home and didn't want to shock the poor things any further, after they endured a two hour car ride from my home town. My Phals do fine in my humidity, but I have lost other new orchids after exposing them to a little too much cold or dryness in getting them home, so I just want to hedge my bets. They were fine in the cellophane bags at the store, so I'm sure they won't mind the bags for a day or two longer up here.
As for the obsession, I'm not very new. It's just that my last roommate used to take care of my orchids along with his as he knew them better, but managed to kill almost all of them one fall when he misjudged the nightly lows over an extended weekend - one survived, and my neighbor gave me two more, one of which succumb to mites. So those are the two Phals I have today. I haven't really had the chance to learn much about them, or any other genera for that matter. :) But I'm finding orchids are getting cheaper and cheaper lately, and now that I have a whole apartment full of grow lights there are plenty of places for all the new plants I find.
Thanks again,
~Joe
 
Cypripedium are the lady slippers, Ok, Paphiopedilum are lady slippers too.
 
Don't forget about the Phragmepediums, and the mexipedium. There is one more, but the name escapes me now. Those are alos lady slippers. There is only one Mexipedium, and its a mini little thing. The molted leaf Paph you described I have been told does good in paph light, and in fact when I went to one of the growers GH in my OS his GH was dark compaired to mine. I grow things bright with alot more light than most people. The guys GH I visited had 25 and 55 % shade cloth along with shade paint on the back half of his GH. I wouldn't recomend that low. I hear Paphs and other slippers are sensative to mineral buildup in the pots, but are not as bad as CPs in that they need the fertilizer. They are accualy a terestrial orchid, but don't go planting them in dirt you will kill them. They like to stay moist, but also like an open mix. Phrags can sit in a tray of water and be fine, but not paphs. I would say just to be on the safe side do not let it get colder than 55 degrees F. Thats a general rule of thumb for alot of orchids in cultivation, UNLESS you know it to be a cool growing type. There are some of those kinds in the paph species, but if you bought it at a store that puts a plastic bag around the baby then its almost safe to say that it will be fine as long as it doesn't go below 55. You do know that your Phal needs to be chilled down to 55 to get it to spike in the winter right? I am not sure what causes a paph to spike, but I have one I got from lowes that is in flower now after being stuborn for me. They DO NOT like to dry out completely, and will suffer if they do. Unlike many other orchids that like to dry out before watering. Remember Paphs are technicaly a terestrial and occasionaly a lithophyte with some species. There are ALOT of slipperheads over at the orchid source forum.

Once you get more comfortable growing slippers and don;t mind spending 30 to 40 bucks for a seedling you need to get ahold of a Paph rothchildianum. Its not a beginer paph by no means, and can take ALOT of time to get it blooming size. We are talking 7 years from starting the seeds till first bloom in most cases and thats grown in ideal conditions. Its just that this is the granddaddy of all paphs and a really large flower. Oh Its also a multi floral paph too not a sequential or solor flowerer. It also take more light than the molted leaf one too.
 
My Phals flower two or three times a year on my kitchen window sill. I crop the stalks as soon as I see bud drop and they come back a few months later. At night in the winter the apartment gets down to the low sixties, and I guess the sill is a few degrees cooler. The plants get indirect northern light from that window and seem to do fine. The Paph was in spike when I got it - hopefully the flower will survive! Thanks.
~Joe
 
seedjar:you will probably loose some flowers from abiotic shock.
 
Nooooooooooo!
Oh well. :)
~Joe
 
Yup thats the bad thing about moving a plant before the buds are almost fully developed there is a chance of bud blast. If the bud is almost developed the chances are less, but still possible. I have some plants that do it when I move them in from the GH to the living room for display. So I have been trying my hardest to leave them in the GH till the flowers start to open, but its hard sometimes. Yes Joe when you cut the spike back to just above the first dorment node it normaly restarts a flower cycle. If the plant is health this is fine. I do it all the time., but once the spike quits in order to almost garentee a spike the next year from the newest mature leave the best regimen I have been told is to chill it to 55. Some will spike with a temp drop less than that, and I have been told that all they need is a 10 to 15 degree night temp drop to start to spike. So there are many ways to do it. The 55 degree thing was told to me by a guy who rents out his phals during the masters to pay for his heating bills the following year. So he has to time his spikes so they are blooming during that week, and thats what he told me to do to get phals to spike. He said once he sees spikes forming on his phals he bumps the temp back up to a night time temp of 60. GL and glad yours is blooming well for you. It sounds like you have a handle on it. Phals were my enemy when I started groing orchids. I killed so many of them, but kept the hard plants alove. Go figure.
 
  • #10
No problems yet. I actually think I have a chance of keeping them - I managed to repot both my Phals while they were in bloom without losing any buds (they had climbed almost completely out of their pots.) That was almost a month ago and the oldest spike just started to drop this weekend. I actually like orchids for their interesting foliage, as I'm a fan of succulents; that they have spectacular flowers is just gravy to me. As far as I'm concerned, the plants can flower any time they like, so long as they don't die. Thanks for the tips though.
Have a good one.
~Joe

PS - Josh: looking over your earlier post and had a few questions... Did you mean to say that Paphs are intolerant of fertilizer? And what kind of watering would you recommend, if not the tray? I was figuring on doing both the Paph and Onc by soaking every week or so with my Phals and Tillandsia.
 
  • #11
Well there are some people who grow phrags in trays with running water flowing through the trays. Paphs would not do well in trays like that. Some people also grow phrags sitting n about an inch of water. Paphs would rot that way too. I don;t know how intolerant paphs are of fertalizers to be honest. I just know that over at another site someone had made a mistake of watering his paphs with fertalizer mixxed for his other orchids and about killed them. I assume it was too strong and burned the roots. My paphs get the same fert as all my other plants, but I don;t fert regularly, and I only use 1/4 strength orchid fert. You can soak them to water thats fine. You just can't grow them sitting in water as some people do with phrags. I didn;t mean to confuse you. I have heard that Paphs and phrags along with Masdis and Draculas like nice clean water like CPs. I water everything with rainwater most of the time except when I need to do a thorough water like today then I use the hose because its much easier. I hope this clears things up for you. If not ask and I will try to clear up what I know.
smile.gif
 
  • #12
Paphs can be fed, I feed mine 1/4 strength every other watering. I keep the soil moist but not soggy. I do NOT sit in in water like a VFT though. My Supersuk "Eureka" AM/AOS x Raisin pie "Hsinying" x Sib is in bloom and has been for 2 weeks now.

Tom
 
  • #13
I never said you couldn't fertilize a paph. I was told they were sensative to over fertilizing.
 
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