I noticed looking through the forum pictures of grow areas. Do phrags need to be grown WET? :?

I noticed looking through the forum pictures of grow areas. Do phrags need to be grown WET? :?

Hi, Dan!

I moved your post to the Phrag Discussion, hope you don't mind. To answer your question, not all Phrags need to be wet. The long petalled Phrag species prefer to stay moist but not wet at all times.

no problem.

I noticed looking through the forum pictures of grow areas. Do phrags need to be grown WET? :?

Some do. But 'wet' is relative. And just like with any other reasonably diverse genus, some will want to be wetter than others. None of them are going to want to be wet in a way that encourages the growth of pathogenic fungi. So, soggy old potting mix is not a good thing. Soggy new potting mix may be ok... I've seen phrags grown in 'semihydroponics' (firstrays.com), phrags grown in complete hydroponics (in gallon jars of water), phrags grown in bark sitting in saucers of water (or not), and I've even seen them grown mounted (with a nice pad of sphagnum moss). Each way has its benefits and problems.

As a first pass, anything that has 'round' flowers wants to be wetter than the long petalled types. But there are probably exceptions. And some people grow all kinds in pretty much the same conditions. I'm one of those...

Does anybody have any experience in growing Phrags in Rockwool?

If so how wet do you keep the rockwool, I was told that I should sit them in a saucer of water...