# Phrag. Fritz Schomburg



## PeteM (Dec 3, 2021)

(besseae x kovachii)

I picked this up from Woodstream in Jan. 2020 at the last in person paph forum I attended. I had to search for a previous thread where I posted pictures of the roots establishing in grodan cubes. (the thread was easy to find since I was incorrectly spelling grodan 'growdan'). The plant spiked last year but quickly aborted. I was happy to see it pull through its first full bloom this week. The tags on the petals are unsightly, and I'm not sure if that is caused by genetics, first bloom shortcomings or the use of too much vitamin b stimulant in my fert? this has never been totally clear to me and the answer is probably d.) All of the above. My phrags are all on the same fertilizer regiment and I have 2 more first bloom seedling kovachii hybrids in spike, TBD. 

Aside from the tags on the petals, I am enjoying the wide flat full look.. and the color while it lasts. Many of these kovachii hybrids look so perfect the first few days of opening.. then everything just starts twisting, turning and color fading as the flower continues to expand. It is grown in a small aircone pot peanuts in the bottom and a perlite and grodan small cube mix. I have experimented with grodan over the past 2 years across all the orchids in my collection and with phrags specifically, I will be moving to plastic 1 gallon net pots and keeping a perlite/grodan mix with styrofoam peanuts in the bottom. For my conditions, the results produce multiple growths and all the roots stay within the moss buckets. So far everything I have tried, even the kovachii species are quickly taking off after establishing. 

Sorry for the over exposed pics. I tried overcast skies and natural sunlight but the colors still seem a bit hot to me. 

enjoy.


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## tomkalina (Dec 3, 2021)

That's a nice one; good form and color. I'd grow it on and bloom it a couple times to see if it still has these deformities.


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## monocotman (Dec 3, 2021)

That is a lovely clone!


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## NEslipper (Dec 3, 2021)

Beautiful, it reminds of the Fritzes that Orchids Limited made using a tetraploid besseae. Do you happen to know if Woodstream also used a tetraploid besseae for this cross?


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## abax (Dec 3, 2021)

I won't look at the "horns", however, I love the color and nice wide petals. I think it might
improve with care and a bit of aging.


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## PeteM (Dec 4, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> Beautiful, it reminds of the Fritzes that Orchids Limited made using a tetraploid besseae. Do you happen to know if Woodstream also used a tetraploid besseae for this cross?


I’ve got an email out to Bill at Woodstream to see if I can find more info on the parents.


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## Cearbhael (Dec 5, 2021)

Can I ask what temperature you chose to grow Fritz Schomberg at? I lost one last summer and was told it was too hot a summer for it. I have no way to mechanically cool them.
Also any recommendations on how to cool my Kovachii primary hybrids in the summer to come?


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## Greenpaph (Dec 5, 2021)

Excellent!


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## abax (Dec 6, 2021)

Cearbhael you might try a cool mist humidifier placed behind a small fan blowing
across the growing area for the kov. Works for me.


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## PeteM (Dec 6, 2021)

Cearbhael said:


> Can I ask what temperature you chose to grow Fritz Schomberg at? I lost one last summer and was told it was too hot a summer for it. I have no way to mechanically cool them.
> Also any recommendations on how to cool my Kovachii primary hybrids in the summer to come?



Cearbhael, you are on the right track. I don't let my grow space get over 78-80F in the summer months specifically because many of these hybrids and the species sulk in these warmer day temps when combined with high light.. they kind of yellow out a bit from my experience. In my grow space this summer I never went over 80 in the basement.. mostly because of the cooler basement environment, even with the windows open. But during heat waves.. when I get close to 80, I turn on an evaporative cooler, where the kovachii and hybrids are positioned on the table closest the cooler. Night temps in the summer never are able to get below 70F.. Still working on a solution for this issue. I would like to get down to 65.

This summer/fall, I tried to hand off a Phrag. Eumelia Arias in spike to a local Aroid grower.. was her first phrag. She made the mistake of putting it into an Ikea wardian case and it quickly aborted. I did tell her Phrags do really well in cooler temps and to keep it cooler, specifically our indoor house winter temps in the Mid Atlantic region of the eastern US are ideal. Previously, I've had lots of success growing these all year indoors under lights in a bedroom. A couple things you can try if you can't mechanically lower the temp. Not sure how much over 80 you are.. but 1) bring the phrag to a different grow space for the summer, a cool bright area in the house. If you can't do this and your grow room is exposed to 80+ , reduce the light... move the plant away from the source. Water it every evening with 'tap temp cold water', Ideally you want the best water.. run water through the media to cool the roots. Another thing you can do is try to keep the phrag in a shallow tray of water and replace the water and clean the tray weekly. 

My current winter temps in the winter are hitting 75-78F during the day and 62-65F at night. This is ideal for me as I also grow vandas and seem to be able to keep vandas and phrags happy at the same time. Hope this helps some, the forum is a great resource for searching.. I know of a few people on here that have been in the same position as you, including myself. 

Pete


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## PeteM (Dec 6, 2021)

abax said:


> Cearbhael you might try a cool mist humidifier placed behind a small fan blowing
> across the growing area for the kov. Works for me.



This is also a great solution.


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## Cearbhael (Dec 7, 2021)

PeteM said:


> This is also a great solution.


I was planning to maybe put a cool mist humidifier in front of a fan between the fan and the Phrags! I had heard of people putting a bowl of ice in front of a fan to act as a makeshift air conditioner! What is the advantage of putting the humidifier behind the fan instead?


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## NYEric (Dec 7, 2021)

Yay besseae hybrids! Thanks for sharing. Nice roots. Yes, the parentage can tell you why it has horns as that only shows up in a few besseae parents.


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## Cearbhael (Dec 7, 2021)

PeteM said:


> Cearbhael, you are on the right track. I don't let my grow space get over 78-80F in the summer months specifically because many of these hybrids and the species sulk in these warmer day temps when combined with high light.. they kind of yellow out a bit from my experience. In my grow space this summer I never went over 80 in the basement.. mostly because of the cooler basement environment, even with the windows open. But during heat waves.. when I get close to 80, I turn on an evaporative cooler, where the kovachii and hybrids are positioned on the table closest the cooler. Night temps in the summer never are able to get below 70F.. Still working on a solution for this issue. I would like to get down to 65.
> 
> This summer/fall, I tried to hand off a Phrag. Eumelia Arias in spike to a local Aroid grower.. was her first phrag. She made the mistake of putting it into an Ikea wardian case and it quickly aborted. I did tell her Phrags do really well in cooler temps and to keep it cooler, specifically our indoor house winter temps in the Mid Atlantic region of the eastern US are ideal. Previously, I've had lots of success growing these all year indoors under lights in a bedroom. A couple things you can try if you can't mechanically lower the temp. Not sure how much over 80 you are.. but 1) bring the phrag to a different grow space for the summer, a cool bright area in the house. If you can't do this and your grow room is exposed to 80+ , reduce the light... move the plant away from the source. Water it every evening with 'tap temp cold water', Ideally you want the best water.. run water through the media to cool the roots. Another thing you can do is try to keep the phrag in a shallow tray of water and replace the water and clean the tray weekly.
> 
> ...


I am in central MN and summer temps often rise above 80. Last Summer it was in the 90’s way too often and it would persist for up to 5 days! My Phrag Fritz Schomberg turned yellow then brown and the plant expired. Amazingly the roots are still alive. I was told to treat the remaining roots and the rhizome like the rest of the Phrags and maybe a new growth could sprout. I am not holding out a lot of hope but have committed to 1 year. My winter temps are between 70 and 65, on the main floor. Between 60 and 50 on the second floor. During the summer it can be quite warm. Inside temps upstairs are usually from 65 to 85. Main floor drops into the 50’s if it is a very cool night. We can have summers where the outside temps rarely are hotter than 85 and the night temps will consistently drop into the mid or low 50’s. My home will remain in the 70’s during the day due to mature tree shade. Unfortunately heat waves are always a threat


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## PeteM (Dec 11, 2021)

Still holding its shape surprisingly well more than a week out. Took this image today.


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## Cearbhael (Dec 11, 2021)

Oh My! What a beautiful bloom!!!


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## abax (Dec 11, 2021)

Cearbhael, placing the cool mist humidifier behind the fans allows the fan to blow the
mist over the Phrags. If you're in doubt, try it both ways and keep a check daily on
the use both ways. My humidity stays at 70%-90% with three humidifiers in a 12' X 48'
greenhouse. Keeps temps. down and air moving 24/7.


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## monocotman (Dec 12, 2021)

Fantastic bloom!


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## eaborne (Dec 12, 2021)

Gorgeous color!


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## PeteM (Dec 12, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> Beautiful, it reminds of the Fritzes that Orchids Limited made using a tetraploid besseae. Do you happen to know if Woodstream also used a tetraploid besseae for this cross?


Just heard from Bill: The cross is originally from the Orchid Zone: besseae ‘Mega’ x kovachii ‘Leonardo Andre’ FCC/AOS.


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## NEslipper (Dec 12, 2021)

Thanks for the update, it looks fantastic!


PeteM said:


> Just heard from Bill: The cross is originally from the Orchid Zone: besseae ‘Mega’ x kovachii ‘Leonardo Andre’ FCC/AOS.


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