# Need advice with bessae



## Shadow (May 21, 2007)

I've received bessae yesterday. The thing that I don't like is that the leaves are all curled along the edges. Is it due to dehydration? I've checked the roots and all of them had dead ends. I cutted the dead parts and planted it in S/H. The plant has 7 small new growths and I hope for the new roots. It will be my first plant in S/H and I hope it will like it. So, am I right with dehydration diagnosis?


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## NYEric (May 21, 2007)

If it is dehydration and you don't give it enough pure water in S/H then it wont help.. I have a St. Ouen [Phrag. Hanne Popow x besseae flav] that has the same problem so I'm trying to revive it in a mix w/ some sphagnum and dolomite included to retain moisture and air spaces.


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## Shadow (May 21, 2007)

Do you mean that planting it in S/H is a bad idea?


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## likespaphs (May 21, 2007)

can you post a photo?


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## Hien (May 21, 2007)

NYEric said:


> If it is dehydration and you don't give it enough pure water in S/H then it wont help.. I have a St. Ouen [Phrag. Hanne Popow x besseae flav] that has the same problem so I'm trying to revive it in a mix w/ some sphagnum and dolomite included to retain moisture and air spaces.



Eric is right about pure water, Distilled water is the only thing that plums the leaves of dehydrated plants up in a minute.


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## Shadow (May 21, 2007)

Yes, I will make a photo today.


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## NYEric (May 21, 2007)

The only besseae/hybrids I have trouble w/ are ones I rec'd in S/H; not all of them, but enough to make me carefull.


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## smartie2000 (May 21, 2007)

I prefer sphag moss, 
I had my Phrag Jersey (almost like a besseae really) growing in nearly inorganic mix and it was starting to see problems, so I transplanted it into sphag. I've been watering with tap water so the water was alkaline. Perhaps the sphag keeps the mix slightly acidic and it will do better for me.
Phrag ecua-bess was growing in sphag and I had great root growth. I might have to repot it again into a larger pot soon.
Keep the sphag loose and airy though, and wet. And some additives if you think the sphag will compact.


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## Shadow (May 21, 2007)

No, I want to repot to S/H as many plants as I can (If it will work for me). I like sphag moss too, but in this weather (we have 30 degrees Celsius at night now) I have to water all my plants few times per day and I'm already exhausted. Plus, having them in sphag means I cannot leave them alone even for a single day. So, I really want to try S/H.


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## smartie2000 (May 21, 2007)

I just sit them in water, so they get watered just like the others...The bottom of the pot is filled with pebbles, though the roots do grow right into the water. Unfortunately I can't water all the time either
30 degrees celcius is quite warm for a besseae, so you have to watch out for rot (it will survive fine though, just that the hybrids are more vigorous). Sphag in clay pots is suggested to have a evaporative cooling effect by other growers, and then sit it in water if you cannot water often


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## parvi_17 (May 21, 2007)

hey Shadow,

Phrag besseae likes to be kept wet and cool at the roots. S/H will usually work really well with it. At 30 C besseae will deteriorate really fast so you'll want to keep a fan on it and keep it wet (keep it shaded too)! Also, use pure water as besseae is sensitive to water with a high pH and with chemicals dissolved in it.

Joe


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## Shadow (May 21, 2007)

Thanks for advices. It is an abnormal weather for us, so everybody and everything is suffering - plants, animals and people. :sob:


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## Shadow (May 22, 2007)

So, here are the pictures. The previous owner grew it in a usual pooting mix for paphs and watered it with the tap water (and it is very hard in that area, where this phrag had been living before I bought it).


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## Grandma M (May 22, 2007)

I grow all my besseae and besseae hybreds in S/H. They do well for me. I keep the pure besseae in my basement grow room, on the bottom shelf where it is cooler than on the upper shelf.

Al of my plants are in S/H except for my zygos which I have planted in a cocoa coir mix. My zygos are doing well, and bloom for me, in this mix but I just planted one into S/H so I can compare the growing results.


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## SlipperFan (May 22, 2007)

Looks pretty good to me.


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## parvi_17 (May 23, 2007)

I agree with Dot - it's a pretty nice besseae!


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## Shadow (May 24, 2007)

So, there is no need to worry about the strange shape of the leaves? Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck with S\H. We don't have Prime Agra or something similar over here and that stuff that I thought to use as a substitute is very bad. Seems to me I have to switch to the usual potting medium before it is too late.


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## NYEric (May 24, 2007)

I don't think Phrag besseae do as well in S/H as some of the hybrids, I'd keep some of the Primeagra and mix w/ your usual media. I don't like the way some of the plants in PA do that leaf curling either and I don't see it in regular mix.


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## Shadow (May 24, 2007)

NYEric said:


> I'd keep some of the Primeagra and mix w/ your usual media. I don't like the way some of the plants in PA do that leaf curling either and I don't see it in regular mix.


This plant was grown in a regular mix, not S/H. And the curling started when in was in a regular mix. As i said in my previous post, I don't have Primeagra over here, so I can't add it to the mix.


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## Marco (May 24, 2007)

i would imagine that any sort of leca would work ok


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## Shadow (May 24, 2007)

Marco said:


> i would imagine that any sort of leca would work ok


Yes, I thought so. That's why I've planted it in leca. But it doesn't work - about one third of the depth of the pot is always dry.


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## Candace (May 24, 2007)

I would probably keep it in its current medium and just water it more frequently, until the roots go further down in the medium. If you can water it good and keep the top layer moist it should be fine.


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## NYEric (May 25, 2007)

In normal media, then it could be the water quality. If you can keep it moist and give it good water then that's my advice then.


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