This may be silly, but I couldn't find an answer in the old threads.
Can you pot a phrag in the same CHC mix as your would use for paphs? Is there anything I should add to tweak the mix? I checked Antec's CHC article and at the end, I think it recommended straight #3 diatomite for phrags.
Thanks in advance,

I grow all my Paphs and Phrags in regular bark/stone mix and they love it.

Howdy Marcus, at the greenhouse we use 2 different types for the 2 major type sof phrags. For the dryer phrags(not sitting in trays of water) we use a CHC mix with spongerock(big), both small and large pieces of CHC and some charcoal. For wetter types we use big and small bark, spongerock(big), and charcoal. It is all up to you. If I were to use it at my house I would probably go CHC, for its watering ability, and let them sit in a tray of water if it is a non-caudatum type phrag. My home mix is CHC mostly small pieces of CHC(bigger pots get more big pieces of CHC), spongerock(big), charcoal, and Hyrdroton(leca).

:lol: TADD, I am not lost to the darkside. I just want to know what to pot my sclimii wilcox (Cardinale) in. It came in bark, but I have mold problems with bark and my watering.

My phrags seem to love a bark mix - I have most in bark/charcoal/perlite, but I do have some in diatomite/chc/perlite/charcoal (my paph mix), and they like that too. I don't set any (except ecuadorense) in water.

Marcus,

I use the same type mixes as Tadd! Go figure! :poke:

I use bark mix for both but I add some grow cubes to my Phrag mix.

Marcus
I don't think phrags care what they are potted in as long as it doesn't run the pH up >7. I use CHC based mixes (like Tadd's), but I also add in some sphagnum moss. I have also had plants in straight sphagnum, or clay pellets. Allot of my phrag pots get covered in live moss after a while, and when I poke around in it there are allot of roots in it.

I have grown phrags in modifications of my paph CHC mix...the main difference being the addition of NZ sphagnum, which the paphs don't get...but I haven't been impressed with the results. Phrags do OK...the grow, they bloom, but not with the same vigor that they show in a bark mix. So, I now grow all my paphs in my standard phrag bark mix...bark. coarse perlite, NZ sphagnum...almost equal proportions....but slightly more bark, slightly less sphagnum. Take care, Eric Muehlbauer

terrestrial phrags like that cardinale wilcox will go crazy in semi-hydro. or basically any mix that stays WET long enough, with a little bit of air in it.

Hello,

I used , 6 parts of bark ; 1 part sandy; 3 parts sphagnum, somebody put 1/2 part of charcoal and stones covered with live moss !!! The most important is water with rain water or RO water however pure water everyday

Yes, definitely wet...........and I also forgot to add that most phrags seem to thrive in a thoroughly rotten bark mix...unlike paphs, which are repotted yearly, even in CCH, I repot my phrags only when I have to. I am continuously amazed at how I can take a phrag out of a pot that it has been growing in for 3, even 4 years, and finding almost no medium, just solid roots. Take care, Eric

Thanks everyone. I think I will try semi-hydro.

Semi-hydro works ok for most people.

I haven't had as much luck with it in the greenhouse as I would have liked. It could be that I repotted into that mix in the middle of January, which isn't an optimal period of root growth in my greenhouse... The plants seem to be struggling a bit. Plants that were already established in semi-hydro before they went into the greenhouse seem to be doing well, however. I'm still playing with it, because I'd really like to go to a completely rock based medium for a lot of things in the greenhouse.

My standard phrag mix is identical to my paph mix. 2:1:1 CHC:Spongeroc:Charcoal. Which is the same stuff that I grow cattleyas and most everything else in. Again, I'm still learning to grow in the greenhouse. I found that it was perfect for the winter and spring, but it dries out too fast in the summer for both phrags and paphs. It might be better now that I'm watering more. If I stick with the CHC mix, I'll add something more moisture retentive for the next repotting cycle, or use a finer coconut husk (small instead of medium).

The big surprise for me this summer is how well the plants in 'mississippi mud' are doing. My phals, which I almost pitched because they were so awful, are growing like absolute weeds. Huge glossy leaves. The paphs and phrags in mud are also doing quite well. This is almost good enough for me to switch to mud for everything, but the true test of any mix takes at least a year. Winter might just kill everything in mud, in my cool damp dark conditions. Plus I'm not sure that people will buy plants in mud...

I'm also trying a few phrags in wood baskets. Long petal types. Seems to be ok so far... I'm not convinced that this will work in the long haul, and wooden baskets are way too expensive for commercial production, but it is kind of an interesting idea.