# Hardy's paphs in sunny Indonesia



## hardy (Jan 23, 2010)

Hi,

I'd like to share some pics of my plants. Most of them are loosely potted in
the fiber of the fern Asplenium nidus, in clay orchid pots. The plants are 
watered and fertilized everyday, and simply protected from rain and strong
sunlight. I'm very lucky that most of them thrive in such simple conditions.

View of the paphs from my house:






Albino maudiae seedlings two yrs from flask, they have been very vigorous
but no flowers yet:





Ang-thong alba seedlings, eighteen months out of flask:





Very pretty bloom, but rather cupped:





But this plant is so vigorous, there's a bloomstalk and three new leads from
this growth. Still way to go ^^





My two other brachys - niveum and concolor. These have grown so well I'd 
like to challenge myself with bellatulum next time 










Hope you like the pics. I've been having a good time spending the holiday at home


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## noel (Jan 24, 2010)

hahaha,when are you 'mulih/pulang'?
so nice to see your paphs back isn't it....
i experienced the same thing too....
so nice to see how they're doing when we left them....


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## NYEric (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for sharing, looking good!


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## hardy (Jan 24, 2010)

Thank you, Eric 

Noel, yes, it's good to be back with my family and pet plants. But I lost so
many cattleyas and dendrobiums when I was away. Luckily all the slippers 
survived.I'll be back to Taipei end of February. Are you gonna be back for ur
hols too?


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## noel (Jan 24, 2010)

i was at my home last christmas
and i bought few more plants...
yes,i do lost quite a number of plants like phal gigantea and few other phals(succumb to rot)and few(4)slippers(2 due to root rot,and 2 others because of afternoon sun exposure...it's because of the suns rotating shift that those two got exposed...)


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## JeanLux (Jan 24, 2010)

Wow, you do have a very effective growing space there!!!! All of your plants look very, very healthy!!!! every day watering and fertilizing :drool: ! Looks like being ok for your environment!? Jean


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## paphioboy (Jan 24, 2010)

Wow... You are an inspiration...  :clap: :clap: All of them look fantastic. I've been using asplenium roots as medium too, but I guess plastic pots cause the medium to remain too wet. I'll try again with clay pots.


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## Bolero (Jan 24, 2010)

Plants look great, you probably have the perfect environment for them.


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## biothanasis (Jan 24, 2010)

Excellent!!!! Very good growing!!!! :clap: So superb plants!!!!

paphioboy you can open holes to the side of plastic pots too...!!!


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## paphioboy (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for the advice, Thanasis, but I think I'll try hardy's method.  I've only been having root problems with Maudiae/mottled leaf types, where I usually use more moist media. I think clay pots with 100% fern root will allow the roots to breathe more while retaining moisture.


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## paphioboy (Jan 24, 2010)

Angthong alba... :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:


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## orcoholic (Jan 24, 2010)

They really look healthy. Nice.


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## etex (Jan 24, 2010)

Great growing!! All your plants look fabulous!!


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## goldenrose (Jan 24, 2010)

:clap::clap::clap: Great job! I rather like simple!


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## hardy (Jan 24, 2010)

Thank youu  



noel said:


> i was at my home last christmas
> and i bought few more plants...
> yes,i do lost quite a number of plants like phal gigantea and few other phals(succumb to rot)and few(4)slippers(2 due to root rot,and 2 others because of afternoon sun exposure...it's because of the suns rotating shift that those two got exposed...)



Ah, shifting sunrays, yes, too strong light is a killer. I lost most of my 
cattleyas and dends to root rot. To avoid root rot in the paphs, you may 
want to try Asplenium fern root (have you tried)? 


To paphioboy: Thanks 
Btw, I tried to use the fern roots in plastic pots before, it works if I watch 
the watering closely. But when I use clay orchid pots (with side holes), I get 
wonderful results with daily watering and fertilization. I water copiously with 
1/10 recommended strength orchid food, i.e. 1g/10L. But I need to make sure 
the fern is not packed too tightly.

It's counterintuitive to water so much at first, but I found out later that they 
do so much better with the current regimen. For the refeence of others, my 
area has a temperature range of 13-29C, with daytime average of 25C and 
nightime average of 20C. About 30% natural light and there's almost 
constant breeze around the plants. Watering is done early in the morning so 
that there's no stagnant water by nightime. Humidity is very high (mosses on 
pot surfaces) and apparently the plants are mycorrhizal (some seed 
germination on pot surfaces).

I've tried different variables with varying success (e.g. bad luck with coconut 
husk, sphagnum; fertilization and watering frerquency) but I'm lucky that the 
plants love the current set of variables ^^

Thanks again


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## paphioboy (Jan 25, 2010)

Interesting, thanks for sharing..  May I ask how do you treat the asplenium roots before use? I heard its best to boil them to get rid of microorganisms and pests. I usually sun dry before use. But the disadvantage with asplenium root is that lots of weeds and ferns will grow and overtake the paph..


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jan 25, 2010)

hardy said:


> Ah, shifting sunrays, yes, too strong light is a killer. I lost most of my
> cattleyas and dends to root rot. To avoid root rot in the paphs, you may
> want to try Asplenium fern root (have you tried)?



Interesting choice for growing paphs. So I'm guessing this is a local medium of choice? I'm sure that folks in virtually any other part of the world don't have access to A. nidus roots, at least not enough to grow their orchids in it! Osmunda root was a common substrate years ago in the northern hemisphere.

Question - do you use the root in chunks or do you rip it up fully first?


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## hardy (Jan 25, 2010)

KyushuCalanthe said:


> Interesting choice for growing paphs. So I'm guessing this is a local medium of choice? I'm sure that folks in virtually any other part of the world don't have access to A. nidus roots, at least not enough to grow their orchids in it! Osmunda root was a common substrate years ago in the northern hemisphere.
> 
> Question - do you use the root in chunks or do you rip it up fully first?



Well, not really, at least in Indonesia people use various sorts of potting 
materials for paphs. In one nursery practically the entire collection is planted 
in coconut husk chunks or a large epiphytic moss singly used, in another rice 
hulls mixed with compost are used. Treefern is also very common, sometimes 
with broken bricks added. Actually Asplenium roots is not so commonly used. 
I've tried the different kinds of potting media myself or got them in the pots 
of newly purchased plants. These does not really work in my growing 
environment, Asplenium root is so much better.

Since sphagnum is not widely available here (and often outrageously 
expensive), Asplenium fernroot is a preferred substitute, commonly used for 
air layering or for growing aroids. Some nurseries use it singly for phals. As 
with treefern, it is also also jungle collected. It is abundant in the tropical 
rainforest, even as north as Taiwan the young leaves are eaten as 
vegetable. But I've never seen the roots used for orchid medium in Taiwan.

The Asplenium roots come in large chunks containing lots of debris and soil. 
After boiling for ten to twenty minutes, much of the debris is dislodged, then 
I rip it into small pieces by hand, then wash it to cleanse it further.



paphioboy said:


> Interesting, thanks for sharing..  May I ask how do you treat the asplenium roots before use? I heard its best to boil them to get rid of microorganisms and pests. I usually sun dry before use. But the disadvantage with asplenium root is that lots of weeds and ferns will grow and overtake the paph..



Yes, I always boil the fiber for at least ten minutes before use.


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## SlipperKing (Jan 25, 2010)

Fantastic growing, most unique media you have.


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## paphioboy (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks, hardy..  I personally find asplenium quite tedious to rip apart, especially when you get to the core.. I have a plant of coelogyne pandurata mounted on the core.. hehe

Tom, asplenium is practically a weed in the tropics. The spores germinate very easily and grow very quickly. Large plants are often found alongside wayside trees or in fruit orchards, along with other more common epiphytic species like cymbidium finlaysonianum, bulbo medusae and hoya. Paph parishii is said to grow in association with asplenium in-situ. Sometimes the plants get so heavy until it falls from the tree branches. That's how I get mine..


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jan 25, 2010)

paphioboy said:


> Tom, asplenium is practically a weed in the tropics. The spores germinate very easily and grow very quickly. Large plants are often found alongside wayside trees or in fruit orchards, along with other more common epiphytic species like cymbidium finlaysonianum, bulbo medusae and hoya. Paph parishii is said to grow in association with asplenium in-situ. Sometimes the plants get so heavy until it falls from the tree branches. That's how I get mine..



I can imagine. These birdnest Aspleniums are rarities this far north with A. antiquum still being found in a few areas in Kyushu, Shikoku, and parts of Honshu. A. nidus is a rarity growing only on the southern islands south of Kyushu. Japanese people eat the new croziers too!


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## Choodles (Jan 25, 2010)

hardy said:


> and apparently the plants are mycorrhizal (some seed
> germination on pot surfaces).



Where is the mycorrhiza coming from?


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## SlipperFan (Jan 25, 2010)

Interesting set-up and growing media/methods, Hardy. I could only dream of being in a climate I could grow like that.


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## hardy (Jan 26, 2010)

Choodles said:


> Where is the mycorrhiza coming from?



I guess it came naturally with some of the plants. Quite a number of my 
paphs were purchased as jungle-collected plants that were newly established 
in the nursery.

A related old thread: http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10908

To paphioboy: True, the larger the chunks the more difficult it is to rip apart.
I never use large chunks though, they stay too wet for too long.


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## Choodles (Jan 26, 2010)

hardy said:


> I guess it came naturally with some of the plants. Quite a number of my
> paphs were purchased as jungle-collected plants that were newly established
> in the nursery.
> 
> A related old thread: http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10908


Spontaneous seedlings- now that's too cool! I've only seen that once before. Thanks for the info and the links.


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## hardy (Jan 26, 2010)

You're welcome, my pleasure


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## paphioboy (Jan 26, 2010)

Hardy, any updates for the seedlings..?


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