# Phal. gigantea



## Shiva (Dec 24, 2009)

I bought a Phal. gigantea from Krull-Smith last year along with a violacea var. coerulea. Gigantea came with three leaves (one flipped over) and it has now two good leaves. Lots of new roots but nothing else has happened. Violacea made a dime size new leaf and stopped. Now that leaf is just about gone. The heart of the plant looks ok and it seems to have good roots too. The temps in my phal house go from 18C at night to 28C during the day. I have two 400 watts hps and several red and blue DEL lights mounted high. Artificial daylight has been gradually increased from 12 to 14 hours in the last month and a half. Humidity is over 60%. Question is, what must I do to get gigantea and my violaceas to grow?


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## cnycharles (Dec 24, 2009)

umm, I have to do some math to see what those temps translate to (there is an app here somewhere...). gigantea is a slow grower normally, and if it was in a more 'tropical' environment at krull-smith, both plants may be rethinking their priorities a bit. they both also come from environments that are very uniform year-round in the amount of light they get, the amount of moisture they get and even the average day, night and differential between the two, all year long (very stable). the temps look okay though 64F(18c) is at the bottom of their limit, really so if they are as wet as they normally would like to be in nature (wet with tons of air movement especially for gigantea) and get down to 64 that may check them just a little. 

I have plants mostly under lights here in upstate ny (part of the temperate cloudy region of the world), and things did better when I set my lights to 16 hours and left them there. there is some sunlight getting in but the lights are on before and after the sun has shown itself. both like tons of humidity, so though I know over 60 is good for canada in winter (and here as well) getting it alot higher with lots of air movement will greatly increase that as well. I had read that gigantea liked shade, but then read in the baker's culture books that it grew in the tops of trees in it's area, so for a phal it could take a fair amount more of light. of course that's a fair amount for a phal and not a catt, but they can handle year-round brighter conditions than most phals (without any direct sunlight) and having longer daylength on your lights will increase the total volume they are getting and equal that. giganteas are also supposed to be touchier with chemical fertilizers, i've read about using weaker and fish emulsion types of fertilizers (natural types) to the leaves. 

most people here that have posted their success with violacea live where it is pretty humid and gets lots of air, and of course warm. you might want to check out your water, and also what type of media you are using. I had switched alot of things into chc's and for a while things were looking okay but then many aren't. (salts) you don't mention what they are potted in and the water type.

if you up the light a few more hours and raise the humidity a bit more and have solid air movement and everything else is where it should be (and you do fertilize) then they should start growing. if not, maybe they are still sulking or something else is contributing

http://www.orchidculture.com/ is a great site for purchasing and downloading very detailed culture sheets, based on meteorological information from at or near the sites the orchids grow at. there are free ones you can download and check out, they are very eye-opening!


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## Shiva (Dec 24, 2009)

Thanks cnycharles. Violacea grows in sphagnum in a small teak basket. Gigantea is in a bark mix in a plastic pot. I use mainly rainwater or RO water with very occasional tap water. Most other species phals grow well, including other violaceas and bellinas. I'll try an early morning spray on gigantea. There are many roots outside the pot and it may help. I'll also keep increasing daylength lenght, since the lamps help heat the room anyway. I use fertiliser on a regular basis, but less in winter. Finally, I got the same problems with F and C, but in the reverse order.


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## Paphman910 (Dec 24, 2009)

Both Phal gigantea and Phal violacea are very slow growers especially Phal gigantea so that is one of the reason why they are so expensive. Their leaves can get really big and they like to be mounted so the leaves can hang. It also prevents rot in the leaf axil since water don't get trapped if it is mounted. 18 C is a bit too cold for them. They like at least 20 C year round with constant air movement and high humidity. I suggest that you put them no more than 3 feet below the HID.

Paphman910


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## Yoyo_Jo (Dec 24, 2009)

A good _approximation_ to convert temps in Celsius to Fahrenheit is to double the Celsius temp and add 32.

To go from Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit temp and divide the remainder by 2.


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## SlipperFan (Dec 24, 2009)

The temps look good to me. I've not grown gigantea, but I've found that violaceas seem to like a little more water than most other Phals, at least when they are growing. Have you tried mounting one?


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## Shiva (Dec 24, 2009)

SlipperFan said:


> The temps look good to me. I've not grown gigantea, but I've found that violaceas seem to like a little more water than most other Phals, at least when they are growing. Have you tried mounting one?



Yes! But it would have required enough humidity to rot the house down. And heating my g/h to accomodate such plants would be ruinous where I live.


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## SlipperFan (Dec 24, 2009)

Shiva said:


> Yes! But it would have required enough humidity to rot the house down. And heating my g/h to accomodate such plants would be ruinous where I live.



Actually not necessarily. Soak a very large clay pot in water, then set it in a pan of water. Hang the mounted plant on the inside of the pot and spray the plant nearly every day. The clay pot soaks up the water in the pan and releases it locally. I've had success growing mounted plants this way for several years. You can see it posted here: http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1004&highlight=megathread&page=19


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## JeanLux (Dec 25, 2009)

After I killed my first gigantea as descibed (rot in the leaf axil) I got another one just 3 years ago, and I confirm: it is a very, very slow grower!!! Jean


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## valenzino (Dec 25, 2009)

Gigantea is qite a slow grower,usually 1 new leave a year.Opposite everyone knows,gigantea is not a really hot growing Phal,is more intermediate.I've seen them growing in the jungle in Kalimantan on mountains and the night was cool(12-14 C°).
Opposite,violacea is extremely hot grower.I've seen them growing in a marsh near Pontianak,and was really hot(nearly 40 C° and nearly 100% humidity) and near sea level.
The 2 plants likes a little more light than the other phals.


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## Ray (Dec 25, 2009)

How big is that gigantea?

You can expect the thing to have leaves somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50cm before it blooms.

"Gigantea" refers to the leaves, not the flowers.


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## Shiva (Dec 28, 2009)

Thanks everybody. Even though I read they were slow growing, I didn't think it would be this slow. So I will have to be extra patient for this one.


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