# Pics of phrag addiction !



## Gilda (Oct 17, 2008)

Eric, your not alone There are others..14 in bloom in the sunroom, some underlights or in other windows. These are in my "grow room" and are my prized ones or are in spike and too big to be anywhere else ! I am finding this year , that I am seeing blooms every 6 months !! They stay in bloom so long that the new growths mature and bada bing they bloom again !! Lots of spikes as you can see from the pictures. My grow room faces N. ,so you will see some at the top near the glass, one layer of shade cloth in the winter, 2 in the summer+some lattice. Lots of air movement ALL the time.


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## philoserenus (Oct 17, 2008)

wow... now only if my phrags are listening to me... since you're so successful, a Q for you. if daytime temps are still summerlike while nighttime drops are still greater than 10 degrees, will that hinder spiking?


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## Gilda (Oct 17, 2008)

philoserenus said:


> wow... now only if my phrags are listening to me... since you're so successful, a Q for you. if daytime temps are still summerlike while nighttime drops are still greater than 10 degrees, will that hinder spiking?



I don't think so, but I'm no expert !  Mine have experienced the "normal" swing of summer and fall temp swings that we have had . 80's during the day to upper 50's at night, and they are still spiking !


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## NYEric (Oct 17, 2008)

hahahaha! Looks like my living room except mine are all angling toward the window side!


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## Renegayde (Oct 17, 2008)

Gilda...WoW....those all look awesome!!!!.....question though LOL how do you get in there to water them all? looks like it would be hard to make sure they are all getting water since the ones on the table in the one pic look like a dense forest of growth

Todd


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## Gilda (Oct 17, 2008)

Renegayde said:


> Gilda...WoW....those all look awesome!!!!.....question though LOL how do you get in there to water them all? looks like it would be hard to make sure they are all getting water since the ones on the table in the one pic look like a dense forest of growth
> 
> Todd



I have water access in the grow room and a small hose wand the easily gets between the pots. There is "some" room in between the pots that I can access with the wand. I also have a step stool for the ones on the shelf..hose reaches there too ! I am a stickler about water dripping on the phrags though and am very careful or try to be . 

Oh , and in the last pic where you see the red crate, that "tray" actually is on wheels and I roll it out when I want to water the ones on top or in the back. I have an identical one on the right side( my genius of a hubby created these, so I could have 4 more sq. feet of growing area !!) HA! HA! little did he know he created a phrag monster !!:rollhappy:


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## SlipperFan (Oct 17, 2008)

I echo: WOW, Gilda. That is most impressive.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Oct 17, 2008)

Awesome! They all look so happy & healthy. Looking forward to bloom pictures from all those spikes!


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## swamprad (Oct 17, 2008)

Oh, wow, what fantastically beautiful plants! (Where are the blackened leaf tips that I know so well, lol??) And what an inspiration that you are in Tennessee, too, there is hope for me!! Seriously, a fine collection, thanks so much for sharing! Most of my phrags are in bloom right now, but badly in need of repotting, which will have to wait until the blooms fade. I am growing them under t5 fluorescents (very bright) and so far so good.


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## SlipperKing (Oct 17, 2008)

Nice show Gilda. Now I know where to go when I need advice! I have a Q now: what's in the wire basket with the moss??


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## goldenrose (Oct 17, 2008)

:clap::clap:OMG!!!SUPERB!


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## JeanLux (Oct 18, 2008)

Gilda said:


> ... I am a stickler about water dripping on the phrags though ....



Beautiful plants, fine green foliage without any bad black or white spots!!!! Great growing!!! Jean


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## KyushuCalanthe (Oct 18, 2008)

What a beautifully grown collection! Thanks for the look.


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## biothanasis (Oct 18, 2008)

WOW!!! Great arrangement Gilda!!!!! Well done!!!


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## Gilda (Oct 18, 2008)

SlipperKing said:


> Nice show Gilda. Now I know where to go when I need advice! I have a Q now: what's in the wire basket with the moss??



Those are my armeniacums and micranthums..after seeing someone(can't rem. who) grow a fantastic micranthum this method I thought I would give it a try. The moss lined basket has bark mix in the center. This method allows the stolons to wander where they want to and you sre suppose to only have to add mix as it breaks down.
My plants seem to be doing much better after switching to this method, but it's only been 6 months or so.


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## e-spice (Jun 9, 2009)

I missed this post so better late than never I guess. Great looking phrags! Mine are doing much better but yours look great! I'm looking to try "barko" soon.

e-spice


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## SlipperKing (Jun 9, 2009)

I might as well add to this thread too! Gilda, how are your wire basket armeniacums and micranthums doing?? Are ant of the stolens pocking out of the sides?


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## Gilda (Jun 13, 2009)

SlipperKing said:


> I might as well add to this thread too! Gilda, how are your wire basket armeniacums and micranthums doing?? Are ant of the stolens pocking out of the sides?



Rick,
I have one stolen poking out the side on one of the larger baskets. I will try and get a pic. They have faired better with this method of growing but they sure are slow growing ,and I wonder if I will ever see a bloom !! Are yours going gang busters , stolens ?


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## Gilda (Jun 13, 2009)

e-spice said:


> I missed this post so better late than never I guess. Great looking phrags! Mine are doing much better but yours look great! I'm looking to try "barko" soon.
> 
> e-spice



Yep, better late than never .  I think you will see good results with your phrags with "barko".


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## Rick (Jun 14, 2009)

Very awesome growing Gilda!!

Do you ever spike your water with Epson Salts?

I finally got around to moving my armeniacum into a basket ( I think 12/08). When I took it out of the pot there were already a few pot bound stolons that have continued to grow, and a few new ones now too. Growth is looking pretty good with this plant right now.


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## Gilda (Jun 15, 2009)

Rick said:


> Very awesome growing Gilda!!
> 
> Do you ever spike your water with Epson Salts?
> 
> .



I just did an Epson Salt watering today  but have not been a regular user . I read quite a bit about it while delving into the fertilizer issue . I had heard a few people say they used it but not a lot.
How often do you use Epson Salts...once every 3 or 4 months or more often ?


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## Rick (Jun 15, 2009)

For a couple of months now, I've been spiking my weekly fertilizer mix with 1/4 tsp/gal of powdered lab grade MgSO4. I've been spraying the whole plant and not just pot watering. I think Antec Bob is a big proponent of foliar feeding. I've seen some pretty obvious greening up with allot of plants, but I've made a couple of other positive observations that are promising for helping other problems in my culture. This is usually the time when I see cases of Erwinia with attempts to add new growths. My wallisii is adding growths without any signs of Erwinia so far. I haven't had a single case so far entering summer. Also allot of moss was getting overrun with blue green algae, and that seems to be abating. It also seems like the leaf spotting on my indoor pleurothallids and phrag leaf tip burn is way down in incidence (definitely no new cases). I'm also seeing much better growth of leaves and roots of my Barbata group as a whole than I've seen in a while.

I found several horticultural articles that said that Mg works synergistically with phosphorous. So the plants can really boost metabolism and carbohydrate production. So more/better flowers and improved disease resistance?!?! I threw all that bone meal all over the place winter/spring, but since starting the mag sulfate campaign things are going great guns.

The same articles also point out that Mg is inhibited by several metals in fairly low concentrations. Namely aluminum, zinc, copper, and manganese. I've read that even high calcium and potassium could slow down Mg uptake.

I know with all the oyster shell and bone meal I use will have plenty of calcium available, and when I'm using Keiki Pro they are getting a zinc spike, and with Superthrive I use potash to raise the pH (a potassium boost).

Anyway it seems like I've tipped the balance to Mg in my culture, and I'll keep up what I'm presently doing as long as growth continues at this rate.


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