# anitum culture



## Justin (Jul 25, 2015)

there has been some recent discussion of how to grow anitum. i was just repotting mine so thought i would share.

i grow it in Phal light levels in a mix of 50% moss and 50% small fir bark with extra perlite in an air cone pot. the medium is kept very moist almost wet at all times. i feed w/ 1/16 tsp/gal miracle gro 30-10-10 every watering. (i am going to cut this back even further). the roots don't keep active tips but note the roots stay fat and firm in conditions that would rot most other paph roots to mush. i think the air cone pot helps. it is a slow growing plant.

for me adductum is grown about the same. adductums just get top dressing with the moss although I do water them very frequently to keep them wet as well. they likewise prefer low light and fertilizer.


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## orchideya (Jul 25, 2015)

Thank you for the tips on culture Justin. Your plant looks great.
I am pretty much following the same rules for my seedlings, hopefully will keep them alive


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## Justin (Jul 25, 2015)

seedlings from flask are more susceptible to rot though, so that is the only thing to be more careful of. also very low light and low feeding for seedlings.


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## SlipperFan (Jul 25, 2015)

Thanks for the tips!


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## Paul (Apr 30, 2016)

Hi, 
I find my plant's leaves tends to be more and more bright in color, whereas it should be much darker. The roots are OK and still growing. I try to grow it with good shade and humid. I have no explanation why it was growing well and now it's not as good as before. 
deficiency of something? excess?
I have tried urea fertilizer recently with no sucess. same thing with my regular ammonitrate based fertilizer.


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## Justin (May 2, 2016)

is the big growth already bloomed?

it sounds like you are doing everything right. Mine likes to be very low light and the roots kept very moist at all times. I use urea 30-10-10 at about 1/16 tsp per gallon every watering. my tapwater has a decent content of Calcium and Magnesium.


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## Brabantia (May 2, 2016)

Justin said:


> is the big growth already bloomed?
> 
> it sounds like you are doing everything right. Mine likes to be very low light and the roots kept very moist at all times. I use urea 30-10-10 at about 1/16 tsp per gallon every watering. my tapwater has a decent content of Calcium and Magnesium.


This is around 95 ppm of nitrogen. Is this quantity not a little bit to hight?


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## consettbay2003 (May 2, 2016)

Brabantia said:


> This is around 95 ppm of nitrogen. Is this quantity not a little bit to hight?




I think 25ppm N is more accurate.


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## eggshells (May 2, 2016)

At what rate of fertilizer are you giving it Paul?


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## Camellkc (May 2, 2016)

Paul said:


> Hi,
> I find my plant's leaves tends to be more and more bright in color, whereas it should be much darker. The roots are OK and still growing. I try to grow it with good shade and humid. I have no explanation why it was growing well and now it's not as good as before.
> deficiency of something? excess?
> I have tried urea fertilizer recently with no sucess. same thing with my regular ammonitrate based fertilizer.



I notice that the leaves of your anitum is in light green color. I don't know whether the leaves were used to in dark green, and you have changed the environment. If not, nutrient deficiency or too much light in my opinion.

I share my anitums/adductum for your comparison, please -


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## Paul (May 3, 2016)

Hi
I'm fertilizing at 0,2g/l of powder + I add a small amount of kelp extract (once or twice a mounth)

Maybe on time too much light and the leaves will remain like this? but what about the growth rate that suddenly decreased?


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## Bjorn (May 4, 2016)

Anitum/adductum is still a mystery to me......But then, I try to grow them from flasks...... I believe that there is something that we miss about theiir culture, some micronutrient perhaps???


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## Dandrobium (May 4, 2016)

I have a compot of 4 tiny seedlings. I keep them shaded by a large Colmanara and let them get close to dry before watering. In the last couple days, I moved two to S/H to increase my odds that some will survive. The roots on the two I transferred did not look the best. No active tips unfortunately. The one with the long withered root unfortunately had it break off (maybe too dry?) during repot. I assume this was root burn and not rot, but I'm not sure.
I'll be keeping the remaining two in compot a little more damp than before to prevent this root burning. 
60% humidity, lots of air, 65F-high 80s, lots of morning sun are my conditions. I've been using straight rainwater on these seedlings. The LECA was soaking in kelp extract + humic acid mixture for days before potting up.
This seems to be a tough species, especially from flask, so I'll be happy if _any_ survive.


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## Ozpaph (May 8, 2016)

everything Ive read says wet, wet, wet and high humidity. That might be an issue for you Dandrobium.


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## Paul (May 9, 2016)

Bjorn said:


> Anitum/adductum is still a mystery to me......But then, I try to grow them from flasks...... I believe that there is something that we miss about theiir culture, some micronutrient perhaps???




Because I use kelp extract, no risk of any micronutrient deficiency. But it could be more complicated if one element in excess stops another major one (N or Mg for example). Or Maybe I just have to give more fertilizing? Or more heat? It's still very wet at roots and in the air. 
Maybe it needs mychorryze in the pot to grow well? I also think there are some clues missing. I try with a flask too.


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## Bjorn (May 9, 2016)

Paul said:


> Because I use kelp extract, no risk of any micronutrient deficiency. But it could be more complicated if one element in excess stops another major one (N or Mg for example). Or Maybe I just have to give more fertilizing? Or more heat? It's still very wet at roots and in the air.
> Maybe it needs mychorryze in the pot to grow well? I also think there are some clues missing. I try with a flask too.


I do add kelp myself, but do not think that it warrants micro-deficieny-free plants even then  I like the stuff though.....
No, I mix up my own fertiliser with an increased amount of micros and with different proportions in the micro-range. My last batch lasted all last year until now, but I am not 100% happy with it so I have changed it somewhat now. More Fe and more K last time it was fairly low on K with a N:K:Ca:Mg of approximately 17:1.5:2.5:5.5:2 Now it is slightly changed to 16:1.5:5:5.5:1.8
What concerns the micros, I have increased the Fe from 0.09 to 0.18. So let us see what happens to the green, as some of my plants have been a bit too pale to my liking.
I am speculating whether or not to try to add a hefty amount of sodium, but for now I stick to these adjustments.


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## Dandrobium (May 9, 2016)

Ozpaph said:


> everything Ive read says wet, wet, wet and high humidity. That might be an issue for you Dandrobium.



Higher than 60%? Maybe I could get them closer to my humidifier pipes. I bagged the 2 in S/H and they seem to be doing ok, no apparent change or leaf drop/wilt. Maybe I'll bag the compot as well. Thanks!


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## troy (May 9, 2016)

Anitum culture....... aahhh patience!!! Hahaha


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## SlipperKing (May 9, 2016)

Here's mine. From the black line to the tip of the leaf is what was sticking out of the crown when I got this plant 12/3/15. Seems to grow pretty quick so far.


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## Dandrobium (May 10, 2016)

Thats some decent growth Rick! What growing conditions do you give it? Is it grown in straight LF sphag?


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## SlipperKing (May 10, 2016)

Dandrobium said:


> Thats some decent growth Rick! What growing conditions do you give it? Is it grown in straight LF sphag?



Yes straight sphagnum always very wet in a wood basket.


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## Dandrobium (May 17, 2016)

SlipperKing said:


> Yes straight sphagnum always very wet in a wood basket.



Thanks for the insight Rick. I may try that if the existing compot mix doesn't work out. I'm having a bit of success with the semi-hydro method. One of the two in S/H (and bagged, not shown) is putting out a new leaf and root! 





This actually saved me on a sanderianum seedling that I couldn't get to root for the life of me until I bagged it in LECA. I should say that these plants are on a heat mat as well...


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## SlipperKing (May 29, 2016)

Plants are interesting survivors! 

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## SlipperKing (Jun 29, 2016)

Back then





Now






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## Justin (Jun 29, 2016)

Looking great rick! Mine is in mostly sphagnum in a slotted pot so i think they like that combination of always wet with some air.


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## Happypaphy7 (Jun 29, 2016)

So, not even a half leaf growth in the past six month is considered good???

I think I would get very frustrated!!!

Nevermind, I didnt see the black line in the photo earlier. lol
Still slow, but I have certain things that are even worse. haha


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## SlipperKing (Jun 29, 2016)

Happypaphy7 said:


> So, not even a half leaf growth in the past six month is considered good???
> 
> I think I would get very frustrated!!!
> 
> ...


Dude, that's one to one and half inch of growth in just over a month for a plant called anitum. Seriously?

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## Ozpaph (Jul 3, 2016)

good idea, rick.


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## Rick (Jul 4, 2016)

Justin said:


> Looking great rick! Mine is in mostly sphagnum in a slotted pot so i think they like that combination of always wet with some air.



Rick is also low fert/ low K and either citric acid or lemon juice addition

The low fert rate may be a given for these two species at this point. I think this was also covered in a thread started by Polyantha a year or so back. Below is from Polyanthas thread from July of last year.


The pot measures 11cm in diameter, the leaf span is 55cm.
I grow under lights, very blueish light with 4 T5 bulbs @ 80W and 3 250W HQI for 2-3h a day in summer.
Temp 18-22°C in winter and 25-30°C in summer (daytime).
Watering is the most important factor for anitum. Keep it wet, not humid, wet. All my anitums stand in a tray I fill at 1-2cm, let it dry for 1-2 days (after all the water evaporated) and refill it. So it is actually very easy to water them correctly from the bottom.
Fertilizer is also a critical factor, since anitums tend to stop their root growth when you fertilize them. I only fetilize 4-6 times a year with a 1/4 diluted fertilizer and that is enough for anitum to grow perfectly. When I started with anitum 9 years ago, that was the main problem for me and I didn't want to accept that the plant did not grow as fast because I overfetilized it even with 1/4 concentration every other week. When fertilizing only a few times a year you can use a 20-20-20 fertilizer or similar with different N forms and let anitum take what it wants. (And please don't mess up the thread with fertilizer theory etc.etc. That's the way I do it, it is working well for me and might not be the only way to go.)


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## ehanes7612 (Jan 8, 2017)

I think this is why I do so well with anitum hybrids..very little fertilizing and low humidity...and watering every two days...want to try anitum species


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## valenzino (Jan 9, 2017)

I think anitum needs a bit more acid substrate than others of same group...I seen many plants grown very well in taiwan and they used small grade orchiata mixed with coconut husk also very small graded... all other Paphs were grown in other substrates...only those were grown that eway... opposite i used to do.The plants were the best i ever seen perfect and multigrowth!!!(and really tooooo expensive other 300$ a plant in Taiwan...
)


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