Just bought two besseae hybrid seedlings; Phrag Tara (Don Wimber 4N 'Rachel" X Phrag Mem. D'ck Clements 4N 'Katherine') and Phrag Rachel Kirk (Don Wimber 4N 'Rachel' X besseae 'Castroville') from Orchidview in SC. Any suggestions on culture? I have one other Phrag, Noirmont, that I bought in bloom last year and it is now reblooming in my small greenhouse on the San Francisco Peninsula. TIA

Good luck!
These shouldn't be too difficult I'd imagine - please let us know how you grow though- what medium, sunlight, lighting, etc. That will help us understand.

Welcome to the forum Ted!!! :D

Hi Ted!

Welcome to the forum! Those hybirds should be very easy to grow.

Go easy on the light for Phrag Tara , these seem to take a lot less light than my other Phrags
Basically my Phals can take more light , i killed 1 earlier this year because i didn,t realise that the plant
was yellowing from to much light .I thought it was a problem with s/h.
It is happy under the bench in my g/h with no direct sun @ all , after i put it there the leaves
atarted to green up & it,s starting to leaf.

As mentioned above, I have only one other phrag, Noirmont. Of my 260 orchids, 210 are cattleya alliance plants plus I have 40 paphs and 10 others. I grow in a 10 X 15' 30+ year old redwood greenhouse that runs due east to west with full sun from sunrise to two hours before sunset. The paphs are in a separate area that is pull down shade inside the house. An evaporative cooler enters the GH just below the paph section to create a microclimate 5 to 10º cooler than the catts which I grow at 80 to 85+º. I use a catt mix of 80% coir, 10% perlite and 10% diatomite. The paph mix is 25% fine fir bark, 25% medium fir bark, 30% medium grade perlite and 10% charcoal plus 10% diatomite. I have yet to repot the mature Noirmont I bought one year ago. Light levels vary during the year. Catts get up to 4000 fcs, maudie paphs 600 to 1,000 and solid strap paphs up to 1,500 fcs. The Phrag Noirmont has been grown very bright, up to 3,000 fcs, during the late spring and early summer. The GH plastic roof cuts sunlight ~ 50% and from July 1 to late August the GH is covered with 45% shade cloth. I subscribe to the total daily lumen approach for paphs and as bright as each catt likes until it turns too yellow-green then I find a shadier place in the GH for it. My water is R/O and the fertilizer is MSU for R/O for the paphs. I have enough Jerry's Gro for the catts to last until November or December, then I'll need to find something to replace it. There is ample air circulation.

My big question is do these two new phrags need care similar to the Noirmont, or more like paphs or what? All suggestions are appreciated.

I would grow them right next to your Noirmont and I think it should be fine. If it gets too bright for them, then just move them to a more shaded area.