# Multifloral culture



## swamprad (Jun 18, 2008)

My paphs have grown beautifully under fluorescent lights. Parvis, brachys, and Maudiae types, that is. But I've recently acquired several multiflorals from an elderly grower who is having to drastically downsize his collection.

So multifloral paphs...I need some advice.

Will they grow and bloom under flourescent grow lights? Or is it time to get into T5 fluorescents, or HID?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!!


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## Mrs. Paph (Jun 18, 2008)

I grow under lights, and Addicted Phillip is the only multi I've had long term. It blooms, but there's a two year wait in between. I would assume that light is one issue, and indoor room humidity the other. The wait isn't enough of a bother that I would hold back getting a multi if I saw one that struck my fancy, but if you can upgrade your current setup now (or just add additional lighted areas and keep the others for lower light plants) then go for it! Others will have more advice on what lights to upgrade to I would think


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## swamprad (Jun 18, 2008)

My humidity, thanks to my trusty humidifier, is between 50% and 60%...


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## Rick (Jun 19, 2008)

swamprad said:


> My humidity, thanks to my trusty humidifier, is between 50% and 60%...



I think that's too low for most of my multiflorals, and definitely for sanderianum.

Lowii and parishii are known to bloom under lower light levels (but not in my GH, the lowiis are doing good in Catt level light for me).

My sanderianums grow much better under low light conditions than my other multi's (but not bloomed yet), but do poorly with less than 70% humidity. Supardii are near them, but a bit brighter.

Roth, philipinnense, kolo, stonei like Catt light levels at a minimum, and you may consider metal halide or similar if you want to grow these under lights.

Wilhelm likes bright light, but cooler temps, so I grow them with many of my phrags.


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## Leo Schordje (Jun 19, 2008)

*under lights is different than greenhouse*

A couple points rather than a coherent response. 

Compared to Maudiae types generally multiflorals want more light, coarser, more open potting mix, more air movement, temps above 60 F at night, more humitidy, and more time. Most want some extra calcium in their potting mix (oyster shell, limestone or horticultural pelletized lime)

I have succesfully bloomed Paph rothschildianum and philippinense under 4 tubes of plain old cool white fluorescent shop lights. The trick is you can make up for lower light intensitities by increasing day length. To do it I used 18 hours of light, 365 days of the year. Paphs are not at all day length sensitive for bud initiation. (some Catts and some Oncidium are day length sensitive) It is a waste of electricity to go with day length longer than 18 hours, at least according to a Weyerhauser study in pine trees. 

I have successfully bloomed sanderianum under 430 watt HPS, and it actually was off to the side, not in the higher light area, so I think you could bloom a sanderianum under 40 watt shop lights. I grew under shop light only for over 15 years. Brighter lamps have their advantages, today I use 40 watt shop lights, 430 Sun-Agro HPS, 250 wattt MH and one 1000 watt HPS. Each area has benefits and draw backs. If I were to do it again, I would skip the 1000 Watt HPS as a waste of electricity. 

Humidity - 50% is about all I shoot for, it is not ideal, but it seems to be high enough that if I keep good air movement, and don't dry them too hard between watering I get good enough growth. You have to be realistic in working the compromise between growing your plants and peeling the paint off the walls. 

Frequently people state that this paph or that should flower every year. This mistatement is due to the fact that most of us are temperate climate growers and are used to annuals in the garden. If you follow the life cycle of a growth on a Paph, *none* of them bloom every year on an annual cycle. Typically it takes between 18 months and 5 years to mature a growth for most Paph species, single growth plants can take even longer. These are long lived tropicals. They do not need to follow a 12 month cycle. Paphs that bloom every year are multigrowth plants with growths in various stages of development. If you get your 2 or 3 growth Paph philippinense to bloom every other year you are doing quite fine. Once it is in a 12 inch pot with 15 or more growths it should start blooming every year. I have gotten old, fat, gray and cranky waiting for my Paph stonei and micranthums to bloom. One of my stonei seems to be on a 13 year cycle for each growht. Alright, I know somebody will post that they bloom some paph 8 months after they took it out of flask, but those are the very rare exception. Especially under home conditions, it takes years to mature a paph growth. 

In the Memphis area your summer heat is a real problem for growing paphs outdoors, my friend in Greenville MS just south of you can not grow many Paphs because it does not cool off enough at night. Indoors you have the advantage of the air conditioning for your nightime temp drops. You should be able to do a fine job in Memphis. Good growing to you. 
leo


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## Elena (Jun 19, 2008)

Up until recently I only had 3 flowering size multis. I kept them under 2 200W CFL (Envirolite) and two of them bloomed this year. I think the next growth on the third one wasn't mature enough.


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## Rick (Jun 19, 2008)

Rick said:


> I think that's too low for most of my multiflorals, and definitely for sanderianum.
> 
> Lowii and parishii are known to bloom under lower light levels (but not in my GH, the lowiis are doing good in Catt level light for me).
> 
> ...



Leo's points are well taken, but I live down the road from you in Nashville, TN, and grow in a GH.

You can get mature philis, kolos, and lowiis to mature new growths and flower in less than a year in my GH conditions. The summer temps are in the 90's where the multis are, with nights right now about 70. The swamp cooler and fogger is running heavy duty these days. Stonei will mature in less than 5 years with very bright light and temp/humidity as I described.

As Leo said, you can grow (and bloom) these guys under lights indoors but you will need extra patience.


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## Candace (Jun 19, 2008)

> The swamp cooler and fogger is running heavy duty these days.



This is a little off-topic but, Rick do you have a hydrofogger? That's the one I'm using and have had it for quite a few years. Even replaced the guts on it this year. I will need another for the 2nd g.h. and was thinking of buying their new hanging unit.


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## swamprad (Jun 19, 2008)

I should clarify that all my new multiflorals are hybrids, with the exception of a supardii. Hopefully the "hybrid vigor" will work to my advantage. I'll post a list of them, along with a photo, when I get them all set up. 

I obviously can't build a quality greenhouse overnight. So for now, they're either going under an 8 bulb T5 light unit or a MH HID, with as much humidity as I can muster and we'll see what happens.

Thanks to you all for the excellent advice. Anyone else who would like to add their two cents is certainly appreciated.


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## Rick (Jun 19, 2008)

Candace said:


> This is a little off-topic but, Rick do you have a hydrofogger? That's the one I'm using and have had it for quite a few years. Even replaced the guts on it this year. I will need another for the 2nd g.h. and was thinking of buying their new hanging unit.



I think we have similar things. Mine is a Jaybird 400 (I believe). This is my 3rd summer with it. My well water is pretty crunchy, so I still get a lot of white calcium deposits on stuff. It also clogs it up periodically so I do need to take it apart periodically to clean it. I've gone in stages with humidity and temp control. I started with a basic mister system, then added the fogger when my house almost floated away from the excess water it dumped all over. The fogger definitely coated everything in hard water deposits the summer it was the primary cooling device, so I got off my butt and built the swamp cooler last summer. That has been the big ticket to success, and has really cut down on the run time for the fogger.

I'm also in the works for replacing my present GH and will upgrade the systems a bit more. I have a small RO unit that I need to plumb in. Maybe I'll use RO for the fogger. Either that or I'll increase the size of the wet pad.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jun 19, 2008)

Some multi's will bloom well enough under lights...haynaldianum and its hybrids...lowii also, even though it needs more light than haynaldianum. While parishii takes low light, its also needs cooler winters and, unlike haynaldianum, seems to really need a lot of growths to be blooming size. Crosses between philipinense and cochlos (like Honey) can bloom under lights, but the species itself needs more light. Take care, Eric


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## Carol (Jun 20, 2008)

I grow under lights for 8 months of the year, the other four months outside on a north patio. I have bloomed these multi-florals this year: Paph philippinense(alba & normal coloration), Paph Transvaal, Paph parishii, Paph haynaldianum, Paph Lyro Blackhawk,Paph Mt. Toro, Paph Julius, Paph Dollcevita,Paph Harold Koopewitz. The best results are when the paphs are close to the lights.

Carol


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