# Post your best growing/culture tips!



## Ryan Young (Feb 27, 2014)

Hi Everybody,

for those who wish to divulge any tips you've acquired in the course of growing, I thought having a thread to collect these in would be adventageous.

From limited personal experience with paphs:

To REHYDRATE plants (from receiving shipped orchids or forgotten to water plants)
Soak roots in 50/50 Water and Coconut water for 30-60 mins. I found that it revived my hangianums and a burst of growth for the next 3 months, added about 1" in length and a bit in width too, you could almost see them growing.

To FEED your plant supplements
I found some additional hydroponic supplements that was available in a kit that all my orchids responded to very well. Liquid Karma, and Aqua Shield.

To end Fungus Gnats
cinnamon sprinkled on potting mix, this kills/reduces the fungus growth, gnat larvae starve, and don't get to go onto adult stage!

from this forum:
Basket culture
Potted with sphag and hydroton - or various mixes ( I found some plastic piping woven wicker baskets at the big grocery chain that work great, also the green plastic coated wireframe hanging patio basket with coco fibre insert, at the asian dollar store) gives great air exchange but holds even moisture.

To Dope your plants
I found a 2.5ppm solution of Triacontanol has encouraged large sturdy growth, more research to do on this, but science articles show for other plants and seedlings it aids chlorophyll production and minerals absorption. Feed perhaps up to 3 times during the growing stage. I also will be testing it in combination with giberellic acid.

For Cattleya alliance:

Start new growth
Keikei paste on dormant eyes!


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## AdamD (Feb 27, 2014)

Repot before your roots suffocate. Annually with CHC based mixes. Grrrr... Orchiata time. 

Also I'm on the low K bandwagon. I have a ctsm. that is a mile ahead of the rest in my little experiment. Spiking already. Possible 2nd spike or new growth taboot. 

Just installed a RO system I got from Ray 10 years ago (lost and found in the basement, woohoo!) Will see how much better it does than a Pur filter. Already tastes sooo much better.


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## NYEric (Feb 27, 2014)

Have a regular maintenance program, to pull off dead leaves, check and kill pests, etc.


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## abax (Feb 27, 2014)

Air movement and lots of it.


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## Stone (Feb 28, 2014)

Plenty of horse manure on your tomatos and zucchini and.. Oh you mean for paphs? Lots of water when they start to put out roots in late spring/ summer and keep them ''monsoonaly'' moist till the end of the season. Water the ''island'' paphs well all year''. Give the continental spp a cool dry rest.


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## The Orchid Boy (Feb 28, 2014)

Increase humidity. This along with proper watering with pure water has greatly improved the health of my collection.


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## Ryan Young (Feb 28, 2014)

The Orchid Boy said:


> Increase humidity. This along with proper watering with pure water has greatly improved the health of my collection.



I'm fortunate to have very low tds (15 ppm) in the local tap water, and with a brita filter i can go down to 10 ppm. I noticed when buying plants from a source with hard water, after several weeks watering back at home, the plants really started to take off.


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## Ozpaph (Feb 28, 2014)

Rain water.
Keeping the summer temperature below 30C, if possible with fogger and misters.


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## papheteer (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm not a master grow, YET... But here are a few things i learned...

Feed very dilutely. Not more than 1/8 tsp of fertilizer per gallon of water.

Paphs like to be kept moist/wet when growing.

To those that grow under lights, most of the time we give our plants too much light. Aim for a good green. Mottling has to be pronounced.

Paphs NEED calcium and magnesium. I have more luck using my tap water than I RO water.

Supply calcium and magnesium in your fertilizer/water. Not as potting additives.

I try and go low-K whenever i can.

Kelp makes a difference!

Oh and adding some Urea and ammoniacal N helped me a lot! I alternate between 25-10-10, K-lite and pure urea! UREA has to be VERY DILUTE! Around 1/16 tsp per gallon of water!


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## orcoholic (Feb 28, 2014)

Keep Ph around 6.5


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## paphioboy (Feb 28, 2014)

Move to a tropical country!


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## Paul (Mar 1, 2014)

paphioboy said:


> Move to a tropical country!



excellent advise :clap:


my advise: adapt fertilizer to your water, or adapt water to your fertlizer...


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## orcoholic (Mar 1, 2014)

paphioboy said:


> Move to a tropical country!



amen


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## Linus_Cello (Mar 1, 2014)

paphioboy said:


> Move to a tropical country!



Doesn't work for some cyps.
Win the lottery (so you can build a greenhouse in a temperate location and buy a tropical island for the winter).

But seriously, I'll mention seaweed extract for root stimulation (auxin).


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## The Orchid Boy (Mar 1, 2014)

Linus_Cello said:


> Doesn't work for some cyps.
> Win the lottery (so you can build a greenhouse in a temperate location and buy a tropical island for the winter).
> 
> But seriously, I'll mention seaweed extract for root stimulation (auxin).



What I've always dreamed about is to build a huge greenhouse in the mountains, then build a small house inside of it. I like tropical but I like the Rocky Mountains.


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## Trithor (Mar 2, 2014)

Always be sure to drink at least two glasses of red wine per day! It removes the stress from trying to figure out how to grow these plants correctly, then any successes are a cause to celebrate with yet another glass and any failures are quickly forgotten while you reach for the cork screw to uncork yet another (bottle, not plant!).
(Extract from 'Chico's guide to - Not too serious Paphiopedilum Growing')


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## abax (Mar 3, 2014)

I think I'll add lighten up and don't worry so much. This is a hobby and
is supposed to be FUN. Wine helps.


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## chrismende (Mar 3, 2014)

Love this thread! 
My suggestions start with "keep the medium damp between waterings." 
Next, learn the difference between wet and damp !"




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Stone (Mar 7, 2014)

Just got some seedlings (2 brachys and 2 barbartas) from ebay. They were grown in 99% perlite and and tiny pinch of peat. Pristine condition! Roots everywhere!


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## Ozpaph (Mar 7, 2014)

Stone said:


> Just got some seedlings (2 brachys and 2 barbartas) from ebay. They were grown in 99% perlite and and tiny pinch of peat. Pristine condition! Roots everywhere!



How does he do that?


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## monocotman (Mar 7, 2014)

Perlite works really well for cyps and they have very very sensitive roots!
David


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## paphioboy (Mar 7, 2014)

You can even do perlite in semi-hydroponics. Works very well for paphs.


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