# phragmepedium culture



## troy (Dec 7, 2014)

I'm new with phrags, I want to know that with the wet ones would it be good to flush rinse with ro water everyday maybe with a tiny bit of fertilizer few times a week? My humidity is high 70 percent 100 percent of the time. Thank you for any culture info offered


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## Rick (Dec 7, 2014)

I leave mine sitting in bowls or trays of water. I add water with weak fert every day to maintain a little water at all times.

It helps to use a high % of inert materials in the potting mix and/or seed with live moss. Even at low feed rates the bark or chc will disappear over a year or so and the plants need something to hang onto.


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## troy (Dec 7, 2014)

Thanks


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## troy (Dec 7, 2014)

You said sitting, how much of the pot is submerged?


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## Chicago Chad (Dec 7, 2014)

Troy I will leave about 1 to 2cm and allow it to be soaked up and stand without water for a day or so before refilling.


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## gonewild (Dec 7, 2014)

The only reason you might need to flush is if you have applied fertilizer in excess. Better to use light doses (correct dose) of nutrients every time you water.


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## Clark (Dec 7, 2014)

When it rains, put it outside.


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## mrhappyrotter (Dec 7, 2014)

Phrags will be happy with your care if you're topping off with RO water every day. To say that the wet growers enjoy constant moisture at the root zone is an under statement.

I leave water in the saucers (and often recommend it) because it simplifies watering for me. When I have time, I top off the water often, but when I get busy, it means I can ignore the phrags. For the most part, it's easy to determine when the phrags need water, it goes something like this ... "Has the water in the saucer dried up? If yes, then water. Otherwise, the plant can wait if needed."

Some people state that they've had issues growing their plants wet, but I've personally never had an issues that I could attribute to a wet root zone. Again, I'm discussing the water loving phrags. I do have some phrags with caudatum and its relatives that I grow and water like my paphs. For those, I'll sometimes leave a tiny bit of water in their saucers after watering, but if it isn't all soaked up and evaporated within 24 hours, I'll dump the saucer.

If you are going to grow your phrags sitting in water, you don't want to submerge the entire root system. In terms of how much water to leave, it's not particularly scientific for me, and falls anywhere from 1/4 (~ 0.5 cm) to an inch (~ 2.5 cm). I use the common clear plastic saucers for most of my plants, and even for tiny pots it's not an issue if the water fills the entire saucer.


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## Rick (Dec 7, 2014)

troy said:


> You said sitting, how much of the pot is submerged?



Both Chad and Mrhappyrotter would fit into what I do.

It depends a little on what type of substrate used. If you have something freshly potted up in leca you may have to run deep enough to actually have the roots in the water.

If the roots are already out of the bottom of the pot then just a constant 1/2 or 1/4 inch is fine.

If it gets sucked up to nothing for a day or so, no problem, just toss more in. 
I don't think you can overwater a phrag, but you can pollute them out with too much fertilizer without trying too hard.


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## phraggy (Dec 7, 2014)

In my own personal experience I don't think you can overwater phrags. They love fresh water and you cannot give them too much. They are not bothered about the compost you keep them in ---- they will grow quite comfortably in nothing but gravel. What you must remember is that RO water is dead water and will not benefit any plant. I would always mix RO with tap to give the water a bit of life. if you can put your phrags on a drip system and give them fresh 'good' water every day they will grow like mad with the addition of 'blood and bone meal ' (1 tsp per pot twice per year)
Good luck,

Ed


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## The Mutant (Dec 7, 2014)

Only have two Phrags and no real experience, but I have both of them standing in saucers with RO-water. I top it up and then water through the pots with RO-water + fertilizer about once a week (every other week if I'm feeling lazy). They're wonderfully easy and if it wasn't for the fact that they seem to get big and pretty fast too, I would love to have more of them.

Good luck with yours!


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## troy (Dec 7, 2014)

Alot of phrag enthusiests here awesone, I've just neglected my interest, I repotted it in the same pot in a mix of 1/4" fir bark & orchiata clay pellets, crushed rock, small orchiata - charcoal & perlite


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## abax (Dec 7, 2014)

I don't leave my Phrags. sitting in water, but water through Orchiata and
chopped sphagnum every other day or so depending on weather. I tried
the sitting in water and it just didn't work for me. I use rainwater and a
pinch of K-lite maybe once a month. I have very high humidity in my greenhouse and over-watering anything in there will cause rot quickly. My plants don't grow particularly fast, but they're very healthy.


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## Alex (Dec 8, 2014)

Rick, it sounds as though you continuously add small amounts of food to a tray of stagnant water without flushing. Did I read that right? Wouldn't it build up to excess at some point?

Cheers,

Alex


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## NYEric (Dec 8, 2014)

You can overwater Phrags. It kills the roots. Water often and feed weakly. How much light and heat are you giving it?


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## NYEric (Dec 8, 2014)

BTW it's Phragmipedium


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## troy (Dec 8, 2014)

I water twice a week and feed once with ro water with very low number fertilizer direct morning light for 1.5 hours then shaded light. Night temp 55-60 day 68-70 always 70 °/. Humidity I think it's gonna bloom, fingers crossed


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## Jenn4a (Jan 28, 2015)

phraggy said:


> In my own personal experience I don't think you can overwater phrags. They love fresh water and you cannot give them too much. They are not bothered about the compost you keep them in ---- they will grow quite comfortably in nothing but gravel. What you must remember is that RO water is dead water and will not benefit any plant. I would always mix RO with tap to give the water a bit of life. if you can put your phrags on a drip system and give them fresh 'good' water every day they will grow like mad with the addition of 'blood and bone meal ' (1 tsp per pot twice per year)
> Good luck,
> 
> Ed



Just curious, does this count for Caudatums too? I don't leave mine sitting in water. My Caudatum and Caudatum hybrid are in a mix of mostly LECA, and I only use RO water. (I have softened tap water) I also use diluted seaweed extract with the RO water sometimes. I know this might not be significant, but my tap pH reads: 7.5, and my RO has given readings from: 6.50- 7.10

Sorry if this was already mentioned, I' haven't read the whole thread yet.


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## troy (Jan 28, 2015)

Jenn 4a Your soft water is that way from salts, salts are detrimental to slipper roots, ro water is good, I would use bottled water in place of your tap if it is hooked up to a softening system


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## Jenn4a (Jan 28, 2015)

Whenever I water any of my orchids, I've been using the RO that's built in right by the kitchen faucet. The problem is, I think it needs to be changed out. It's been a couple of years since it was last messed with, and it only puts out about 8oz of water before it starts tapering off; it didn't used to do that. The kicker? The knob to turn off the water in the house isn't working. (It turns and turns but the water doesn't shut off) so it'll have to be turned off by the main before the knob/lever is fixed. 

I ordered a TDS meter with amazon prime, so I'll compare the tap and RO when it comes. I don't really have bottled water, but I'll get some if my RO isn't safe. 

Thanks.


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## troy (Jan 28, 2015)

Where I'm at a gallon of ro water is 37 cents affordable for 100 plants


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## troy (Jan 28, 2015)

37 cents for ro refill, I didn't specify that


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## PaphMadMan (Jan 28, 2015)

pH of RO water is pretty much irrelevant as long as it is low TDS the way it should be. It won't have a significant effect on final pH of a solution made with it or on organic media.

Soft water from typical home systems recharged with salt (sodium chloride) replace calcium, magnesium, some other divalent cations with sodium. They do not reduce TDS or do anything to get rid of carbonate. Calcium and magnesium in any fertilizer would be precipitated by the carbonate. Plants need calcium, magnesium etc. but do not need a significant amount if sodium, so softened water is just about the worst thing you can do to your plants. Just say no!

It may be possible to recharge your softener with potassium chloride instead, at significant increased expense. It would still have all the other problems associated with softened water, just no sodium.


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## Jenn4a (Jan 28, 2015)

Thanks! I'm sorry, I've read not to use softened water (especially with phrags) but I didn't know the details on why, other than the sodium content isn't favorable. 

Will the softened water affect my RO water quality? I don't really know that much about reverse osmosis.


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