# Phrag. Green Hornet



## The Mutant (Oct 6, 2012)

:rollhappy:

I'm, by pure luck, accident, miracle, getting a division of this, according to me, gorgeous Phrag. which I haven't been able to locate at any European vendor so far.

Well, the thing is, I'm new at Paphs, but when it comes to Phrags I'm more like completely lost.

What I think I know is that they usually seem very, very thirsty, but that's how far my knowledge goes.

What I would love to know are light and temperature requirements, and also if I can plant it in my usual mix of bark/sphagnum/perlite? I have a nasty feeling that my light levels will be too low...


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## Shiva (Oct 6, 2012)

I find phrags much easier to grow than paphs. Your mix seems OK. Phrags like temperature below 27°C with a drop at night. Mine has so many roots that I have to grow it in water. Watering from above simply won't reach all of them. As for light, they are very tolerant of low light but grow best at a slightly higher level than most paphs.


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## The Mutant (Oct 6, 2012)

Thanks for the info. 

It sounds like it should do okay in my conditions then, if I put it together with the multiflora Paphs that require a higher level of light than the rest of the bunch.


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## Cheyenne (Oct 7, 2012)

Was this after the post where you said you weren't getting any more orchids? Like I said good luck with that. oke:

I like growing phrags they grow faster (usually) than paphs, so they bloom more frequently. They will do good in a variety of light, but like it was said will grow and bloom more in higher light. You don't have to worry about rotting there roots as much like paphs. So make sure to give them enough water and good clean water. If you give them poor water, water with clorine or let them dry out to much they will get burnt leaf tips. And so a new genera in your collelcion begins, good luck.


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## Susie11 (Oct 7, 2012)

Good luck with it. I have loads of Phrags. and they all seem to do well for me in rockwool or a basic bark mix. I have a besseae var flavum currently in spike for the first time for me so I am happy happy happy about that. I find them easier to grow than paphs as mine are always putting out new growths so they are fairly easy to grow. Before long you'll have loads.


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## The Mutant (Oct 8, 2012)

Cheyenne said:


> Was this after the post where you said you weren't getting any more orchids? Like I said good luck with that. oke:
> 
> I like growing phrags they grow faster (usually) than paphs, so they bloom more frequently. They will do good in a variety of light, but like it was said will grow and bloom more in higher light. You don't have to worry about rotting there roots as much like paphs. So make sure to give them enough water and good clean water. If you give them poor water, water with clorine or let them dry out to much they will get burnt leaf tips. And so a new genera in your collelcion begins, good luck.


Yup, but if you check the answer to you in the thread, you'll see it won't be lonely on its way here. 

But this one was actually a very happy surprise and not ordered, but rather part of a payment for a Phal. 



Susie11 said:


> Good luck with it. I have loads of Phrags. and they all seem to do well for me in rockwool or a basic bark mix. I have a besseae var flavum currently in spike for the first time for me so I am happy happy happy about that. I find them easier to grow than paphs as mine are always putting out new growths so they are fairly easy to grow. Before long you'll have loads.


I think that most of the Phrags have very stunning flowers and have been thinking about getting one for a while, but I haven't taken the step until now. I'll see if this will be the only Phrag in my collection or if it'll have any buddies later on.


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## The Mutant (Nov 13, 2012)

*Watering question*

So, I've now had my Green Hornet for a while and it's not doing that great. Its oldest fan is dying and on the second oldest, all the lower leaves are wrinkly, particularly towards the stem. All the leaves have burnt tips, except on the two newest leads.

I think a lot of this has to do with the repotting and the humidity levels, which are too low, but I can't help wondering; is it possible to keep Phrags too wet? I've no idea how moist the substrate should be when it's time to water again, but I don't have to water more than once a week... tops. So, should I make some more holes in the pot to let more air in, or is it fine like this? It takes such a long time for the substrate to go from wet to reasonably moist, that I worry about root rot...


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## monocotman (Nov 13, 2012)

Mine ( besseae and kovachii hybrids) are all kept sitting in about half an inch of water year round and love it.
No root rot. Don't be afraid of giving them plenty of water. 
They're completely different to paphs in this respect.
When I repot it is clear that some of the roots sit totally submersed year round and they're fine.
David


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## Carkin (Nov 13, 2012)

Sounds like you may be keeping it a little too dry. 
For my conditions I water my Phrags twice a week. I am a windowsill grower and I try to keep my humidity around 50% but sometimes it gets lower. I will spray the top of the medium (CHC, bark, sponge rock, charcoal) every other day to keep it from drying out too much.
What are your growing conditions like?


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## TDT (Nov 14, 2012)

I'm also a windowsill grower and except for my phrags with caudatum in their parentage, I sit mine in rainwater or RO water, about 1-2 cm as a result of spraying into the pot every morning, or every second day. About once a month they take turns going to the kitchen sink for a good soak fully submerged in rainwater or RO water if I have it, otherwise just tap water. Sometimes if I'm puttering, i'll take them to the tap and let the water run through the pot for 3-4 minutes (I imagine a river running past the plant, all that air moving with the water!). 

A really good info source is www.slipperorchids.info
Look up the parent species of your plant and there are great descriptions of their habitat!
Have fun!


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## The Mutant (Nov 14, 2012)

Carkin said:


> Sounds like you may be keeping it a little too dry.
> For my conditions I water my Phrags twice a week. I am a windowsill grower and I try to keep my humidity around 50% but sometimes it gets lower. I will spray the top of the medium (CHC, bark, sponge rock, charcoal) every other day to keep it from drying out too much.
> What are your growing conditions like?


It's either wet, or sopping wet so it does want to be even MORE wet than that? I think I need to readjust my thinking when it comes to this fellow...

I'm also a windowsill grower with the same problems when it comes to humidity levels. It's only thanks to the humidifier that I can keep it at 50-60%. When I can afford it, I'll get a better humidifier so I can keep the humidity levels at a more fixed level at 60% (can't try to go higher since I don't want problems with mold or similar).

I have sphagnum on top of the substrate to try to keep the moisture more even in the pot, and I spray this sphagnum at least once a day. 



TDT said:


> I'm also a windowsill grower and except for my phrags with caudatum in their parentage, I sit mine in rainwater or RO water, about 1-2 cm as a result of spraying into the pot every morning, or every second day. About once a month they take turns going to the kitchen sink for a good soak fully submerged in rainwater or RO water if I have it, otherwise just tap water. Sometimes if I'm puttering, i'll take them to the tap and let the water run through the pot for 3-4 minutes (I imagine a river running past the plant, all that air moving with the water!).
> 
> A really good info source is www.slipperorchids.info
> Look up the parent species of your plant and there are great descriptions of their habitat!
> Have fun!


I practically live on that site, but that still doesn't help since it doesn't translate to how to care for it in a pot on a windowsill. I prefer reading/hearing how others treat their orchids instead. 

Since I can't collect rainwater and can't afford to buy an RO-filter, I use tap water. The tap water is perfectly okay to use I believe, but I don't know if maybe the Phrags might be more sensitive than Phals and Paphs are.


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## Carkin (Nov 14, 2012)

The Mutant said:


> It's either wet, or sopping wet so it does want to be even MORE wet than that? I think I need to readjust my thinking when it comes to this fellow...
> 
> I'm also a windowsill grower with the same problems when it comes to humidity levels. It's only thanks to the humidifier that I can keep it at 50-60%. When I can afford it, I'll get a better humidifier so I can keep the humidity levels at a more fixed level at 60% (can't try to go higher since I don't want problems with mold or similar).
> 
> ...



I am not sure if this is something that you want to do but for my first Phrag I potted it in a clear container so that I could watch the roots. I was so afraid of root rot and I found it hard to imagine that Phrags would do well with as much water as I read they like. So the clear pots let me see the root growth and lo and behold they were LOVING the water! That gave me the confidence to know how much to water to give. Now I just keep my other Phrags in the regular black pots.
Humidity sure is a challenge for us windowsill growers but on the plus side an experienced Phrag grower told me that he found that his Phrags actually did better in the house because of the cooler temps.
I have read that sphagnum on the top of the pots isn't great because it doesn't encourage the roots to go deep and keeps the plant too wet at the base, so I stopped doing that but you may have success with it.
I do beleive that Phrags are quite sensitive to water quality. I use R/O water with about 10% well water added. So far no brown tips on the leaves. Hope that helps!


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## The Mutant (Nov 16, 2012)

Carkin said:


> I am not sure if this is something that you want to do but for my first Phrag I potted it in a clear container so that I could watch the roots. I was so afraid of root rot and I found it hard to imagine that Phrags would do well with as much water as I read they like. So the clear pots let me see the root growth and lo and behold they were LOVING the water! That gave me the confidence to know how much to water to give. Now I just keep my other Phrags in the regular black pots.
> Humidity sure is a challenge for us windowsill growers but on the plus side an experienced Phrag grower told me that he found that his Phrags actually did better in the house because of the cooler temps.
> I have read that sphagnum on the top of the pots isn't great because it doesn't encourage the roots to go deep and keeps the plant too wet at the base, so I stopped doing that but you may have success with it.
> I do beleive that Phrags are quite sensitive to water quality. I use R/O water with about 10% well water added. So far no brown tips on the leaves. Hope that helps!


It's potted in a clear plastic-pot so that's okay. I felt like I wanted to be able to keep an eye on the root development. 

I have the sphagnum on top on the substrate on all my Paphs, and now my Phrag, because otherwise the substrate gets bone dry in top of the pot, while it's still too moist in the bottom. I'm going to make more holes on the sides and close to the bottom on all my pots, so they dry out a bit quicker in the bottom.

The problem with my Phrag is that one of its newest leads is growing above the rest of the plant, so I've sort of built a little mound of sphagnum reaching up to it and surrounding its base. It was like this when I got it, but I'm not satisfied with this solution, so I'll probably try to push it deeper into the pot (which will probably be as impossible as it was when I got it).

Yeah, I've read that Phrags seem more sensitive to water quality, but I don't have any other choice than to use tap water.


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## NYEric (Nov 16, 2012)

The Mutant said:


> The problem with my Phrag is that one of its newest leads is growing above the rest of the plant, so I've sort of built a little mound of sphagnum reaching up to it and surrounding its base. It was like this when I got it, but I'm not satisfied with this solution, so I'll probably try to push it deeper into the pot (which will probably be as impossible as it was when I got it).



That's known as stolonous growth. I have a *LOT* of phrag besseae hybrids and that is a big problem. You can put a little plastic basket filled with sphagnum around the growth until it has roots then you can divide it. Also, you can spray the new roots a few times a day if possible. 
Good Luck. :wink:


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## The Mutant (Nov 17, 2012)

NYEric said:


> That's known as stolonous growth. I have a *LOT* of phrag besseae hybrids and that is a big problem. You can put a little plastic basket filled with sphagnum around the growth until it has roots then you can divide it. Also, you can spray the new roots a few times a day if possible.
> Good Luck. :wink:


Thanks Eric! I must say that I find the thought of having a baby Green Hornet very appealing, so I'll try doing as you suggested.


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## The Mutant (Nov 26, 2012)

Okay, I don't know if it's because I have increased the watering or if it just has established itself after moving here, but there are small explosions of new root tips in the pot!  It had one heck of a root system when I got it, but no growing tips as far as I could tell, so I like this sign.


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## Carkin (Nov 26, 2012)

Yaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! :clap:


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## The Orchid Boy (Nov 26, 2012)

Just got through reading the thread. Hoping to get a Phrag. pearcei ASAP. It will be my first phrag. I just might try it on hydroponics and water with distilled water. Congratulations on the new root growth!


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## The Mutant (Jan 20, 2013)

NYEric said:


> That's known as stolonous growth. I have a *LOT* of phrag besseae hybrids and that is a big problem. You can put a little plastic basket filled with sphagnum around the growth until it has roots then you can divide it. Also, you can spray the new roots a few times a day if possible.
> Good Luck. :wink:


And here it is! The runaway fan has now moved to its very own pot. It practically exploded roots when I did as you suggested and I couldn't wait any longer since the silly roots started to grow upwards since they didn't fit in the pot.

I hope I didn't remove it prematurely from the mother plant and I hope it'll continue growing as well as it has. I'm spraying the substrate daily with purified water so it doesn't dry pout too much. I had the bark soaking in purified water for 24 hours before potting it, but it still dries out super fast.


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## NYEric (Jan 20, 2013)

Should be OK, keep watering it and get a liter of distilled water to mix with your tap water.


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## Rick (Jan 20, 2013)

Yup

Lots of water.

I think the parents of green hornet are pearcei and longifolium? Needless to say that in the wild these two species often grow stream side with their roots constantly wet. During heavy rains they can end up completely underwater.

These species and their hybrids are great candidates for semi hydro culture. As noted by several (and myself) I keep a tray of water under these guys pretty much all the time. 

With K lite you shouldn't have troubles with leaf tip burn or root rot.


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