# Double Kovachii



## Achamore (Nov 13, 2016)

Old Faithfull: this lovely kovachii blooms each autumn, but this is the first time its had two at once.

Unsure why / how the colour streak came about in the 2nd of the blooms.


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## Linus_Cello (Nov 13, 2016)

What is the flower size? The plant looks relatively small compared to the flower, which as a windowsill grower I think is a great trait.


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## NYEric (Nov 13, 2016)

Excellent! Thanks for sharing.


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## Achamore (Nov 13, 2016)

The blooms are each about 7" across (roughly 18cm) at the moment, but they have only just opened up, so will get a bit larger over the coming week especially. I would expect them to reach about 8" across or roughly 20cm as a minimum. The spread from bloom to bloom (at their greatest extent) is about 26" / 66cm.


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## JasonG (Nov 13, 2016)

What mix are you using for it? Do you let it sir in a tray of water? Great looking plant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## My Green Pets (Nov 13, 2016)

A handsome pair! And natural spread at 20cm+? Wonderful.


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## Rick (Nov 13, 2016)

Beautiful:drool:

I like the moss growing on your substrate too:wink:


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## OrchidIsa (Nov 13, 2016)

I'm in love.... :smitten:


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## Achamore (Nov 13, 2016)

JasonG said:


> What mix are you using for it? Do you let it sir in a tray of water? Great looking plant.



I haven't repotted it since buying it 5 years ago (?) but I think there's a fair amount of stone in the mix. I certainly added limestone on top. Yes, it sits in a tray of about 2cm of water, and I water it heavily every day. Our water is very acidic spring water, loaded with dissolved salts.


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## JAB (Nov 13, 2016)

WOW!!!!! 

Water every day??? Geez... maybe I am underwatering my Phrags.


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## SlipperKing (Nov 13, 2016)

Nice!


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## Jaljala (Nov 13, 2016)

Fantastic plant and photographs !


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## Achamore (Nov 13, 2016)

JAB said:


> WOW!!!!!
> 
> Water every day??? Geez... maybe I am underwatering my Phrags.



As I understand it, in nature they live on hillsides that have water running down continually (more or less) over the roots, so watering these just once daily seems to me to be the minimum. I sometimes water them heavily twice daily. They seem to love it.

The long-petalled species are the ones that prefer water only every 2nd or 3rd day. Took me 14 years of growing them badly before someone mentioned this to me, so I figure its good info to put out here.


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## Erythrone (Nov 13, 2016)

Great one!!!!


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## Rick (Nov 13, 2016)

Achamore said:


> As I understand it, in nature they live on hillsides that have water running down continually (more or less) over the roots, so watering these just once daily seems to me to be the minimum. I sometimes water them heavily twice daily. They seem to love it.



Yes I went to Manolo Enrique's talk on PK in the wild. During the "dry season" it only downpours every day (I guess starting around noon). During the wet season it rains continuously for days on end. He doesn't even try to access the plants during the wet season since the flooding is so treacherous.

His pics of a tour to PK in the dry season showed a very muddy track that took a few hours from the parking area. They got a few minutes to take pics and the rains came in and the left the site. In minutes the water on the trail was up past their ankles and the creek crossings were pretty scary.

Yes the plants were on a steep hillside, but if you scooped a handful of dirt away there was water flowing through the soil. I've posted the water chemistry of the interstitial water around the PK roots in another thread.


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## Happypaphy7 (Nov 13, 2016)

Is color streak always related to virus infection??


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## Rick (Nov 13, 2016)

Happypaphy7 said:


> Is color streak always related to virus infection??



No could also be a physical or chemical bounce during bud development.


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## troy (Nov 13, 2016)

Beautiful, thanks for the culture tips!!!


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## SlipperFan (Nov 13, 2016)

Kovachii never fails to amaze.


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## eteson (Nov 13, 2016)

Very nicely grown plant and great shots. Congrats!


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## abax (Nov 13, 2016)

Don, your skill growing Phrags. amazes me every time
you post. These two flowers are phenomenal. I tell myself
every time that it's the magic water on Gigha. ;>)
Is China Dragon going to bloom this year? I'd love to see
that beauty again. Great photos too.


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## Happypaphy7 (Nov 13, 2016)

Beautiful!
never noticed those bright yellow part on the pouch.


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## Achamore (Nov 14, 2016)

Happypaphy7 said:


> Beautiful!
> never noticed those bright yellow part on the pouch.


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## Ozpaph (Nov 14, 2016)

amazing


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## eggshells (Nov 14, 2016)

Love it. Congrats.


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## TrueNorth (Nov 14, 2016)

Beautiful. The plant and spike are nice and compact. How much light are you giving it?


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## SlipperFan (Nov 14, 2016)

Very cool close-up.


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## Achamore (Nov 14, 2016)

TrueNorth said:


> Beautiful. The plant and spike are nice and compact. How much light are you giving it?



I live on the southwest coast of Scotland. The plant receives only the available natural light.


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## adiaphane (Nov 15, 2016)

Breathtaking!


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## Phrag-Plus (Nov 15, 2016)

Beautiful flowers and pictures!


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## trdyl (Nov 15, 2016)

Well done Don!


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## TrueNorth (Nov 15, 2016)

Would you be willing to mail some pollen to Canada? My kovachii is just coming into spike. It's quite tall. I'd like to get some of those compact genes. I'm not sure how I could repay you.


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## Rick (Nov 15, 2016)

TrueNorth said:


> Would you be willing to mail some pollen to Canada? My kovachii is just coming into spike. It's quite tall. I'd like to get some of those compact genes. I'm not sure how I could repay you.




Compactness may be a developmental feature rather than genetic.

Manola said they are ending up with a lot of "compact" plants with successive generations at their operation (which is warmer, dryer, and sunnier than the type locality).


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## Migrant13 (Nov 15, 2016)

Just saw this beauty now...amazing and congrat's.


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## Achamore (Nov 16, 2016)

Funny, I haven't thought of my specimen as particularly compact. One spike is 13" long, the other is 14" (33cm & 36cm) in length. 

The blooms are currently just under and just over 19cm from petal tip to tip. Fairly pronounced curving backwards unfortunately.


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## TrueNorth (Nov 16, 2016)

I think the spike on mine was closer to 18". It looked like this (this will be my first attempt at posting an image here):












I think most clones recurve as the flower gets older. Mine did.


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## Achamore (Nov 17, 2016)

Yep, that spike is a lot longer than mine..! Gorgeous though.


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## NYEric (Nov 17, 2016)

Nice, lots of big plants in the background!


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## TrueNorth (Nov 18, 2016)

Achamore said:


> Yep, that spike is a lot longer than mine..! Gorgeous though.



Thanks. I selfed it and crossed it with andreettae and have lots of seedlings coming along. I'm still interested in some pollen, if you're willing.


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## TrueNorth (Nov 18, 2016)

NYEric said:


> Nice, lots of big plants in the background!



Thanks. They're not Phrags though. They're all Bollea, Cochleanthes, and Pescatoria types.


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## Alex (Nov 20, 2016)

Lovely kovachii! Mine grow OK, but they keep generating growths that get large (look FS to me), then throw up 2 new shoots each and atrophy. The new shoots repeat the same cycle. Any idea what might be happening? Could it be feeding?

Thanks for any advice,

Alex


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## Phrag-Plus (Nov 21, 2016)

Alex said:


> Lovely kovachii! Mine grow OK, but they keep generating growths that get large (look FS to me), then throw up 2 new shoots each and atrophy. The new shoots repeat the same cycle. Any idea what might be happening? Could it be feeding?
> 
> Thanks for any advice,
> 
> Alex



A heavy feeding will turn the leaves tips black and die back down to the crown. 

But if your growth are growing nicely and suddenly are growing fainter and fade out, you should have a look at the temperature… 

I had a similar problem in the past, better growth during the winter time and regression during the summer time. I putted the trays on the greenhouse floor during the summer time, cool and wet concrete keep the pots and roots cooler and they like that. No more problems since!


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## eaborne (Nov 21, 2016)

Fabulous!


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## Achamore (Nov 27, 2016)

Phrag-Plus said:


> I had a similar problem in the past, better growth during the winter time and regression during the summer time. I putted the trays on the greenhouse floor during the summer time, cool and wet concrete keep the pots and roots cooler and they like that. No more problems since!



I'll have to give this a try - I have also seen this problem, of young growths dying back. Thanks for the tip..!

Kovachii likes to send up multiple new growths from each old growth, more so than any other phrag I have known.


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## Hamlet (Nov 30, 2016)

I'm late to the party, but this is a fantastic plant!


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## Achamore (Nov 30, 2016)

So it is now 17 days on from those first photos I posted, and the blooms are still fine, but have reached the end of any growth of course. One reached 22cm across, and the other 21cm. Brought the plant out of the greenhouse and into a cold room by an eastern facing window, seems happy there, and no risk of slugs gnawing it... Just the pang now of knowing I will shortly be saying goodbye to these blooms for another year..!


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## Achamore (Dec 12, 2016)

I'm astonished. The blooms only showed they were clearly fading yesterday, so they lasted 4 weeks. I haven't had them last beyond 18 to 20 days before.


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## cnycharles (Dec 12, 2016)

sweet!


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