Just got a new paph and iti is in diatomite. Its a seedling. How often should I need to water.

Hi Dan - is it in straight diatomite? I have a besseae in straight diatomite and I try to water it every other day, but being that you have a paph and not a phrag, I'm not so sure your paph would need that much watering.
Hopefully someone with more expereince w/ paphs in diatomite can weigh in and give you some advice.

Well, it depends. If the pot has holes in it on the bottom, water it every day. If it is a pot with the resevoire, and a hole on the side, water it every few days. Also, the diatomite size makes a difference. If it was the fine or extra fine, space out your waterings another couple days. If it was the large or medium, stick to the plan. I have a supardii I have been working with, and it loves diatomite, and gets a few drops of water every few hours.

I would probably switch it to something I was used to working with. Unless you want to experiment.

Rick makes a good point - I have to say, I decided to experiment w/ diatomite on my kinda trashy un-named besseae in diatomite - not something I treasure. It seems to like it so far, but I wouldn't put anything valuable in straight diatomite quite yet.

Rick makes a good point - I have to say, I decided to experiment w/ diatomite on my kinda trashy un-named besseae in diatomite - not something I treasure. It seems to like it so far, but I wouldn't put anything valuable in straight diatomite quite yet.

My report on diatomite:

A friend of mine who was recently laid off needed to keep his plants in my greenhouse for a while. So they all got shoved in, willy nilly. Way too crowded, some pretty abused, and I didn't do anything special for his plants that I wasn't doing for mine... Also, I haven't gotten my good water out in the greenhouse yet, so I'm still using well water, so some leaf tip burn was inevitable. He is a big media experimenter, always trying new things. Some were planted in diatomite, some in coconut mix, some in clay pots... Some in horse manure, which is supposed to be good (but isn't. Stay away from that stuff - at least in my greenhouse).

So, after about 6 months, there is some interesting results with the diatomite. He came over a few weeks ago and we repotted all of his slippers. All of the phrags (a couple dozen) planted in straight diatomite in 'semihydro' pots looked pretty good. The rest of the phrags, potted in various other media, not very good at all. I wouldn't say any were 'pristine', but they weren't when they got to my house, either. The only problems with the diatomite that I saw were 1) Plants tended to grow 'up', out of the mix (which they do anyway, but this was more pronounced), 2) the top of the diatomite was black and slimey, although after the first half a centimeter or so it wasn't so bad. That is mainly a visual problem, it just looks bad, I don't think it hurts anything.

Anyway, to address point 1, I tucked a little sphagnum moss around the top of each pot. That also might address point two...

Also, I have several cycnoches (and intergenerics) that I received from Fred Clarke in a diatomite/coconut mix. Not sure the ratios (3:1, maybe). Those plants are going gangbusters... I'm becoming more and more tempted by diatomite, now if I could find a good cheap source for it I might try some more things.

Rob

Hi All,

If anyone is interested, I had moved what was left of a paph emersonii into S/H using diatomite a few months ago. I checked the plant today and found that there were 3 or 4 great big fat roots growing down into the diatomite and some almost into the water resevoir at the bottom. A new growth with 2 leaves is coming along nicely. I had issues getting this plant going for the last 6 months in coconut chips and decided to try diatomite and it looks like it will do great now.
I also have a Ho Chi Minh in S/H using diatomite and it is growing fat roots also.
I had tried the leca pebble but found that the top level always dried out to quickly and new roots aborted from the plant ( the below level roots were pretty good). The diatomite seems to stay moist even all the way to the top.
I currently grow under HPS and fluorescent lights, 40 - 55% humidity and temp range of 60 - 80 F.
So far, so good is my experience with diatomite. I love to see the fuzzy roots snaking all around the pot.

Congrats, Ray! Good job!

Hey Ray,

What size of of diatomite are you using? And how deep are your pots/reservoirs? I moved some phals into S/H using hydrotron LECA. They do Ok, but I'm nervous about putting paphs into it using LECA for the same reason you mentioned (aborted roots). Do you think S/H with paphs using LECA would be better if I decreased the distance from the resevoir to the surface? I have some medium diatomite I would like to use.

I have a Phrag longifolium in S/H with LECA and it loves it. I'll post pictures this week of its roots in the Phrag picture area

Do you have any pictures?

Kyle

Hi Kyle. I tried the same thing you're thinking of...increasing the reservoir height but I didn't find it helped...the top two or three pebbles always stayed too dry and once the paph roots hit it, they stopped.
Funny that the phals I have in they hydroton leca love it it...guess it has to do with those big roots. They just grow down around and fill-up the container.
I'm using what I bought as medium size but it has quite the mixture of sizes in it. I've never seen the large or small so I'm guessing this is medium size.
I grow in the deli take-out containers (in-laws own a restaurant), about 6" tall and about 4.5" wide.
The reservoir is about 1 1/2 or 2 inches deep.
I'll try to take some pictures but I'm pretty crappy with a camera. :(

I have a couple paph concolors in Prime Agra and they seem to be doing well. I find the Prime Agra LECA does keep moist to near the surface but it was only available from www.firstrays.com and is too expensive for me to buy in quantity.

Hopefully, this growth situation keeps on going.

Thanks for the info Ray - My besseae still doing fine in straight diatomite. I
may put more phrags in it eventually....not sure yet.

Hey Kyle. I tried posting a link in the paphs pictures section....because I couldn't figure out how to get the image as part of the posting thing working.
The roots look kinda slimy now but I just watered. Once the roots dry out a bit, they go fuzzy as the hairs stand-up.
You can see the a root tip almost growing into the water reservoir at the bottom.

I divided a bessae and put one in a CHC mix and 1 in diatomite. The one in diatomite is growing MUCH better than the CHC. I also have a Phal venoso thriving in diatomite. I love it...can't overwater it!