# Paph insigne seedlings



## Tom499 (Mar 26, 2012)

Finally found some P. insigne.

Although they were called seedlings, I think they will have leaf spans of 10cm+ so are fairly big.

I have CHC, Hydroleca (for my usual S/H culture which I use on paphs) and spag moss.

My question is, would it be okay to put these into S/H culture, or would I be better with a more organic mix similiar to how they've been grown so far.

I've never had seedlings/juvenile paphs before.

Any other tips would be huge.

Tom


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## Rick (Mar 26, 2012)

This species is typically a limestone cliff dweller. I think your mix as is would be fine.

You may consider basket culture too (I started a thread on it last year). It works great for a lot of cliff dwellers. Henryanum and lowii seedlings love it.

Keep away from the potassium for seedlings.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Mar 26, 2012)

CHC will be Ok for them in the short run...I have found insigne and its relatives to be more tolerant of CHC than other paphs, but I'd still repot it into bark (preferably Orchiata) within the year. I wouldn't recommend SH....its an either/or situation....some people have had great success with it, others (like miyself) have found it disastrous. The thing is, there doesn't seem to be a middle ground with SH. Its either great, or awful.


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## Tom499 (Mar 27, 2012)

I've been success with S/H, so I may put 2 into that, and 3 into organic media, and see which do better.

Why do you not like CHC? I was under the impression it stays more evenly moist for longer, while bark needs a sphag moss % with it to keep moisture.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Mar 27, 2012)

There are many threads here about CHC. To sum up, (for paphs) bottom pieces stay too wet, upper pieces stay too dry. Roots stay at the top of the pot and don't grow down. Too much P and K get absorbed. leaves turn yellow...etc, etc, etc. In my own experience, CHC gets paphs off to a good start, but then they decline. Some paphs are more tolerant..in my experience, multi's and brachy's, but none like it in the long run. Barbata's seem most sensitive to it. I also find that it decomposes just as fast as bark, on the bottom. All my paphs have improved since switching out of it.


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