Last year Eric Christensen did a presentation for our orchid society and he had an interesting speculation. He thought that the best way to grow a P caudatum was to put the pot it is growing in, say 4", inside a much larger pot, say 10", with wet sphag inside the larger pot. He said that he thought that the key to growing caudatum was to keep the roots cool and that the wet sphag would insulate the pot with the caudatum in it. Has anyone else heard this or is there anything about the natural areas caudatum grows in to support this vs. any other phrag? What have you found to be the keys to growing caudatum?

I have tried this with another orchid, Eriopsis biloba, which I have heard always grows in moist areas and since I did this the growth has exploded.

Eric Christensen admitted that he does not grow any orchids so he doesn't have 1st hand experience with this method.

Thanks,
Travis

Here is a link to information on growing caudatum from our sponsor Orchids Limited. http://www.orchidweb.com/OrchidOfWeek.aspx?ID=449

Wow nice long petals on that phrag!

I grow mine warm with very bright light, lots of humidity and air flow. I grow it on the moist side and not too wet. Also, be careful the long petaled species are very prone to bacterial rot, so provide constant air flow 24/7.

Hi Travis - it is as you say trying to make a more its natural growing area as these plants do live with constant water seepage around their root system - i did try it for awhile as we here in west aust have have very different growing conditions the hot dry summers are quite different from where they came from - but i found the spag went green and slimly to me this meant fungus growing area - the one thing that i did discover was one important word was left out -that was 'running 'water the seepage in which most of them grow is moving water .so now i stand them on a felt mat which is damp and in hot weather run water through them 2 sometimes 3 times a day ,they also have a fan 24/7 on them in hot weather.this helps in drying them out so they don't stay wet
i found "the phrag web" vey helpful as they have habitat section on all their speices listed -as someone else mentioned they are Very prone to getting rot in the crowns so be careful not to keep as wet as other phrags
i think this is one of the most interesting things about growing orchids finding out where they are grown and trying to get it right in your own area -
happy growing

This species like to be on the dryer side, I keep it a little on the moist side, so do not grow this species too wet or the roots will rot very quickly. Air flow is very important and I cannot emphasize that enough.

Here is a link to mine in bloom earlier this year. Click HERE (http://www.slipperorchidforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8217&highlight=caudatum).

My caudatum is in semi-hydro and grows like crazy. The expanded clay wicks quite a bit of moisture and I suppose that helps keep the roots cool as it evaporates. The benefit over moss is that it doesn't rot and the media is always fresh.

The plant has had a couple spikes going strong for about 5 months now, so it seems to be working.

Dave

Are the long pettaled phrags very slow growing, or are they like normal phrag growth speed? Which is the fastest out of popowii, warscewiczianum, or caudatum? Which one is the easiest to grow? Thanks!

I'm still trying to work through this renaming process I have several different types and they are all different I've posted a few pictures so you can see the biggest is giantuim -it seems to be a fast grower - the last picture are my exstaminodiums (they took 5yrs from flask to first flowering )
Itried to sort out a map for them but as you can see if you look at south america they grow so widely. so confusion is still in my green house -so if anyone else has pictures of the varitey could you let us see some please .
Thanks Billie

This species like to be on the dryer side, I keep it a little on the moist side, so do not grow this species too wet or the roots will rot very quickly. Air flow is very important and I cannot emphasize that enough.

Here is a link to mine in bloom earlier this year. Click HERE (http://www.slipperorchidforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8217&highlight=caudatum).

Peter your caudatum is really nice! I'll get one someday when I have enough courage to try a phrag. LOL

Are the long pettaled phrags very slow growing, or are they like normal phrag growth speed? Which is the fastest out of popowii, warscewiczianum, or caudatum? Which one is the easiest to grow? Thanks!

Hi Nick,

All the long petaled Phrag species are very slow growing. The hybrids however grow much faster and easier to grow like Phrag Grande (caudatum x longifolium).

My caudatum is in semi-hydro and grows like crazy. The expanded clay wicks quite a bit of moisture and I suppose that helps keep the roots cool as it evaporates. The benefit over moss is that it doesn't rot and the media is always fresh.

The plant has had a couple spikes going strong for about 5 months now, so it seems to be working.

Dave

Dave,

What exactly do you mean when you say semi-hydro? I'd like to try that for mine. Thanks in advance!

Dave

Dave,

What exactly do you mean when you say semi-hydro? I'd like to try that for mine. Thanks in advance!

Dave

Here is what I do it seems to fit the semi hydro theme

Firstly I use pots with no holes in them or pots with clip on saucers and burn holes about 1 inch above the bottom of the pot or just above the ones saucers on that type.



Secondly I use a 50/50 bark perlite mix as the media.


for larger pots (14 inch +) I have indvidual drippers going to each pot
Thats it I just grow them right alongside my paphs which are watered with rain water with a constant supply of very weak fertiliser

Some people use Hydroton, or expanded clay pellets, as a media for semi-hydro. You can purchase these at a hydroponics retailer or online. Then do the same as mentioned before; use a pot with no holes and puch holes in it a couple of inches up from the bottom. This keeps a constant pool of water in the bottom of the pot that is wicked up by the media. I have heard that you have to flush the pots often with water to avoid the buildup of salts.

Travis

I have an 'Audry' which had crown rot. I decided to play with that one. I cut out the rot, drenched the whole center of the plant with Dragons Blood, and I mean drenched, and set it aside.

I noticed the old parts still looks rough, but hasn't grown or died. It is putting out a new growth. It may never amount to much but I wanted to learn. I still have 2 more Audry looking good.

Dave,

What exactly do you mean when you say semi-hydro? I'd like to try that for mine. Thanks in advance!

Dave

Hi Dave.

Semi-hydroponics was developed by Ray at First Rays Orchids. His web site has lots of information on how to do it. I use the expanded clay pellets he sells, but there are others like Hydroton out there. There is a resevoir of water at the bottom of the pot and the clay wicks moisture through the entire pot. The main reason it works so well is there is always plenty of air getting to the roots and the media can never break down.

Most Phrags grow like crazy in s/h. My multifloral Paphs also do very well. I've had mixed results with Maudiae Paphs so most of them are back in conventional media.

Dave