# Paphs I find difficult



## Phil (Jul 6, 2006)

G'Day,
I live in Brisbane Australia and grow a generalised species collection.
Our summers are hot and sticky, days usually about 30C and nights 18-22C,
while the winters are usually 6-12C with days about 18-22C. Lots of light.

I struggle with a lot of species (nearly all Masdevallias and Odonts are 
impossible) but am having trouble with some species of paphs that should
be doing OK: P. armeniacum (delenatii, micranthum and malipoense are all
OK); P. druryii; P. randsii. Also Phrag. besseae which never grows as a seedling, but stays the same size.

Would successful growers like to share their methods with me please, or are
local conditions just unsuitable? Plants are grown under an impermeable roof,
with shadecloth sides, plenty of breeze. Impossible to introduce evaporative
cooling because of the humidity in summer.

Cordially, Phil (in winter sunshine at 22C)


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## Paphman910 (Jul 6, 2006)

Paph randsii need to stay warm thoughout the year. Minimum temp of 18 C. Why don't you try and grow Paph emersonii and Paph rothschildianum. I think it would do well in your condition.

Paphman910


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## Heather (Jul 6, 2006)

Welcome Phil! 
We have several others from Australia here so you might compare notes with Tim (Bench72) and Stephan at some point. 

Of the plants you mention, I only grow randsii and besseae. In my opinion there are some besseaes which can be quite sulky. Has yours ever bloomed? What size is it? Has it put out any new growths? I have had a couple that have not bloomed off the first growth, or have put up a sheath, and then a new start, only to abort the sheath and wait to bloom until the new start has grown to a mature size. What are you growing the besseae in? 

With regards to randsii, I've always heard they like it particularly humid and rather acidic. I have three seedlings and I hope to soon have a mature plant. Other than that I don't have much experience with the species, I'm afraid. 

Hopefully some people who grow the others you have mentioned will chime in with some useful information for you.


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## Rick (Jul 6, 2006)

Are you trying to grow outdoors with no additional climate control? Those do seem like pretty good temps for the cool to intermediate paphs. If your top end temp is 30C then we would call that a nice cool summer day in TN (we don't have too much trouble breaking 35C in the summer here, and I spend $ on cooling the greenhouse down to 30C). Also check your relative humidity. Those temps didn't seem so bad for masdevelias, but they need humidity in excess of 70-80% all the time.

My druryi grows like a weed. It likes very bright light, summer temps 30-35 no problem, and winter lows about 12-14C. It gets watered allot when its warm and not much in the winter. I keep the humidity and airflow high in the greenhouse year round, and it rarely gets below 70%. I also add a goodly portion of oyster shell to the media of calcareous paphs (which includes druryi).

I see you are outdoors under shade cloth. See if you can get some actual humidty values. Although the summer humidity is high here in Tennesse (70-90%), it can get down to 30% in the winter, and that would definitely hurt my plants before I introduced humidity control.


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## Stephan (Jul 7, 2006)

G'day all and Hi Phil

How are you? Which area of Brisbane are you from Phil? I'm from near Wellington Point if that helps 

The other things I'm interested in is what sort of media/mix are you using? You've said that you've got no probs with delenatii (I do  ) armeniacum and malipoense - good on you. I'm nowhere near the best of Paph growers but a better idea of what you're doing in their care would help. You'll find the list of plants I'm trying to keep alive  at http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66 .


Guys, the greater Brisbane area is a mixed bag when it comes to temperature variation (no real need for indoor growing though) and we're currently in a long drought in the middle of our Winter. I'm close to the coast which helps a lot in both Winter and Summer but is hell on a no wind Summer day when temperatures get around or above 35.

If you feel comfortable with it Phil you could PM me and we could compare notes.

Cheers
Stephan


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## Heather (Jul 7, 2006)

Just a note for those reading in the dorky USA - 18°-35°C = 65°-95°F.


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## Marco (Jul 7, 2006)

Heather said:


> Just a note for those reading in the dorky USA - 18°-35°C = 33°-95°F.



Yeah the centimeters and celsius thing always throw me off to.

Here's one of my life saver website links. It converts almost any type of measurement.

http://www.metric-conversions.org/temperature-conversion.htm


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## Heather (Jul 7, 2006)

Yup, I have a little widget on my Mac dashboard that does conversions. I love dashboard! (note to self, try again today to get RSS feeds for this site working...)


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## Kyle (Jul 7, 2006)

Heather said:


> Just a note for those reading in the dorky USA - 18°-35°C = 33°-95°F.




Heather, you made a bit of a mistake 18 C is about 65 F *not* 33 F.


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## Heather (Jul 7, 2006)

oopsie. 
No kidding, that is a mistake huh? Sorry about that. I thought that looked a little funny....thanks Kyle


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## L I Jane (Jul 7, 2006)

A much easier way--for me-- is to double the temp amt--say 18 degree C & add on 30 & you are right in the area of the F temp. (66).A degree here or there doesn't matter in the scheme of things.


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## Rick (Jul 7, 2006)

L I Jane said:


> A much easier way--for me-- is to double the temp amt--say 18 degree C & add on 30 & you are right in the area of the F temp. (66).A degree here or there doesn't matter in the scheme of things.




Jane probably knows the formula F=1.8C + 32, so her quicky method is close enough for engineering purposesoke:


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## L I Jane (Jul 7, 2006)

Hey Rick--all that conversion from F to C was done after I moved from Canada  A Canadian friend gave me this quick way.My dad before he died used to call it 'silly ass temperature' because he said it was hard to teach an old dog new tricks.


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## bench72 (Jul 7, 2006)

Hi Phil, Welcome to the forum...

Being from Sydney, we would likely have very different growing environments... temps in my grow area go from 6 celsius to 42 celsius... and i grow in the open (ie patio - open sides with poly and sheet metal roof)

I wouldn't even offer any culture tips seeing as I only just get my plants to grow... no flowers 

one thing though, about the bessae's... I have two... one which is the red type and the other a cross between the red and yellow... and the latter sucks big time... it will send out new growth but the older growth dies.. but from what I've heard the yellow type isn't as strong so I'm putting it to that!

good luck with your lot and good growing!

---
thread hi-jack --- I think y'all from the other end of the world should go to celsius! It just seems to make sense that freezing is 0!


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## Rick (Jul 8, 2006)

L I Jane said:


> Hey Rick--all that conversion from F to C was done after I moved from Canada  A Canadian friend gave me this quick way.My dad before he died used to call it 'silly ass temperature' because he said it was hard to teach an old dog new tricks.



I work in a tox lab were all measurements are metric and celcius instead of farenheit. But our lab is part of an engineering firm (that does allot of international work) so we are constantly translating from english to metric all day.

I wish I could speak multiple langauges as well:wink:


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