# I cant bloom them!!!



## kinte (Feb 27, 2007)

Pahs and Phrags!!! I have only re-bloomed 2 paphs and then they died. I have all of my paphs and phrags in the old S/H in my spare room which has two floor to ceeling windows. I water with collected rain water and use 125 ppmN of the MSU well water formula. I have my celing fan on high at all times and i get nothing. I get new growth but no spikes nothing. Any suggestions?


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## Kyle (Feb 27, 2007)

More light would probably help.

Floor to ceiling windows are good, but the intensity of light decreases the further you go from the window. Plus the direction the windows face makes a huge difference.

Try a 400W HPS light.

Kyle


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## Candace (Feb 27, 2007)

What kind of paphs and phrags do you have. I agree it's probably the lighting. I thought you grew in a greenhouse?


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## bwester (Feb 27, 2007)

rainwater in your area = BAD. think of it as the earth's airfilter..... for a pretty industrial area. all that carp is going into your plants. As for reblooming..... LIGHT!!!


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## Per (Feb 27, 2007)

Others older and wiser than me say increase the light; I am sure that is a major factor, but you did not need to hear the same advice a third time, so all I will write about is temperature.

I can really speak only to the Paphs, but I had a bear of a time blooming my first few. I would buy them in spike and they would grow for the first year, but the next year their health would decline. What I found out is that I was keeping their temperature too steady (~72-75oF all of the time). I grow mostly species, and I found that a good number of them need to have a cool spell in the year and fairly good temperature fluctuations (10-15oF) between night and day year-round. Now, I let most of mine (with a few exceptions) drop to about 60oF for 3-5 weeks around October, weather permitting, by opening the window near my growing table. The others, I cool as well, but to different specifications. Under this new system, I am blooming regularly, and my first few (who suffered through my mistake) are even recovering! NEVERTHELESS, CHECK SOME CULTURES FOR YOUR PLANTS BEFORE YOU TRY THIS, there are exceptions to this general rule and I do not want my advice to be the reason for your plants freezing to death. 

If you are using a south-facing window for light, you should get an acceptable (although not optimal) temperature fluctuation from day to night (unless your climate control is superb), but your plants may not be getting their yearly cool down, and so are not sure what time of year it is. If they still think it is about to get cold for a while, they are not going to put energy into new growth that could be zapped by cooler temperatures in the future.

I hope this helps; it the only other problem of which I could think. As for the Phrags, does anyone else have any ideas or know about their temperature needs? Also, has anyone else had a similar experience with needing temperature drops for Paphs?


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## TADD (Feb 27, 2007)

send 'em my way oke: Sound advice above!


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## Rick (Feb 27, 2007)

There's some good general imformation posted so far.

I think the lighting issue is a bit more species/parentage specific. There are plenty of the mottled leaf, maudae types that don't need much light or light fluctuations to bloom and do well in phal lighting conditions. But most of the multis need lots of light and need vanda or cattleya light conditions.

I agree that seasonal temp fluctuations are pretty important too and probably much more so for paphs than phals.

So I have two questions. What type of slippers do you have, and what other types of orchids rebloom for you well.


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## dave b (Feb 27, 2007)

The phrags (grande / sorcerer's app. type hybrids) need more light and water than the paphs. I grow mine outside in the summer, in very bright, dappled (partly shaded from the trees) sun. They get LOTS of rain water (at whatever pollution level dayton, ohio has ---at the rate of the current outsourcing, soon the industry will be gone and the air quality should improve) and grow like weeds. Last spring all my orchids outside got hailed on during one of the storms. It left small brown spots at the impact points of many...but i digress... 

They are in very bright south facing windows during winter and get direct sun. The first one has bloomed about 2 months ago, and i expect the others to follow suit once at blooming size. Most were seedlings at start. I dont grow bessea's so my culture may not apply to them (too hot during summer peaks??). 

I dont grow enough paphs to comment on those (one seedling not at blooming size) I keep it at much lower light levels than the phrags.


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## kinte (Feb 27, 2007)

OK
The room I have them in is a SW facing window, the furthest plant is 3.5 feet from the window. My collection consitst of these
Phrag. (Eric Young 4N x Sorcer's Apprentice 4N)	
Paph. venustum album	
Paph. Delophyllum	
Paph. Moquettianum 'Pine Knot' x Paph. Greyii	
Paph. Delenatii (Princess' x 'China Sea')	
Phrag. Sedenii	
Phrag. Andean Fire	
Phrag. Franz Glanz	
Paph. Hirsutissimum	
Phrag. Lutx Rolke	
Phrag. Hanne Popow	
Paph. Henryanum	
Phrag. Cardinale	
Phrag Grande	
phrag. Caricinum	
phrag. China Dragon	
phrag (besseae 'Ester Nies' AM/AOS x Robert Palm 'Windy Hill' AM/AOS)	
phrag. Elizabeth Castle	

Candace I do grow mainly in a green house but neither myself or the person I share the greenhouse (which is an 45 min away) do very well with paphs and phrage so if they are going to die i would rather kill them than her.

blake says the rainwater here is bad, but so is that tap water, so what is the lesser of the two evils? There is no point of investing in a RO system until I have my own greenhouse (hopefully soon)

I have a varied collection, mainly consisting of Catts and vandas and I am working on collecting catasetums and cycnoches but there are some others in there too. I rebloom most everything else but everything I have except for the slippers are in the greenhouse.


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## Rick (Feb 28, 2007)

I aggree with Dave that the phrags will probably need much better light than you can afford inside without some pretty significant artificial lighting.

The venustum, delanatii, and delaphylum (maybe the moquetianum) are usually good windowsill species, but you may have to see what your humidity is doing since it can get pretty low inside in the winter, and venustum generally doesn't like dry air. Many clones of venustum also like it cool in the winter.

The henryanum and hirsutisimum like pretty bright light seasonally, and like lower winter temps than most people like to have indoors. I know plenty of good growers that have problems with these because they keep their greenhouses too warm in the winter to get them fired up for blooming. Also hirsutisimum often won't bloom until it has allot (maybe a dozen) growths.


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## NYEric (Feb 28, 2007)

You just need more time. Once they stop dying on you then you can work on getting stuff to bloom.


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## Candace (Feb 28, 2007)

> There is no point of investing in a RO system until I have my own greenhouse (hopefully soon)



You can buy a small under sink one that holds 2 gallons of storage for a fairly small amount. If your tap water sucks then I would worry more about you than your plants! You're ingesting this too! I've got one in my kitchen under the sink and I get enough from it to water any plants I 've got inside. Plus, if you move you can take it with you. And you don't have to order them, Home Depot and many other hardware stores carry them.


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## NYEric (Feb 28, 2007)

R.O. = Definately worth the investment. You should see the crap that comes out of the tap water.


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## kinte (Feb 28, 2007)

Candace said:


> You can buy a small under sink one that holds 2 gallons of storage for a fairly small amount. If your tap water sucks then I would worry more about you than your plants! You're ingesting this too! I've got one in my kitchen under the sink and I get enough from it to water any plants I 've got inside. Plus, if you move you can take it with you. And you don't have to order them, Home Depot and many other hardware stores carry them.




I have never in my 10 years of living her drank the tap water!!!!! Its always filtered or bottled ater fr me


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## Candace (Feb 28, 2007)

Then it's in your best interest to get a small R.O. unit. The amount of money you spend on filtered or bottled water will pay for it in a short amount of time.


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## adiaphane (Feb 28, 2007)

Where do you live? Tap water here is really good; we get ours from the Hetch Hetchy in the Sierras (near Yosemite Park). I've tested it before and after the filter, ppm, and it's impressively clean.


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## kinte (Feb 28, 2007)

Savannah, GA


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