# Phragmipedium Millbrook



## MaxC (Mar 20, 2020)

Day 3 of bloom open. Reminds me a bit of Rocquier. Purchased in spike, so not a ton of work on my part aside from keeping it alive, but first bloom was banged up in shipping. Have not seen a lot of pictures of Millbrook so I figured I would share. Oh and from Quintal Farms.


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## Linus_Cello (Mar 20, 2020)

Thanks for posting. Hopefully this takes on the trait of Nichelle tower of branching and holding multiple flowers


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## monocotman (Mar 20, 2020)

Nice, what’s the cross?


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## Djthomp28 (Mar 20, 2020)

Thanks for sharing. I saw a lot of these at the shows earlier this year. 

I believe this is Nicholle Towers x besseae.


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## KateL (Mar 20, 2020)

Nice!


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## cpmaniac (Mar 20, 2020)

Very lovely - well done!


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## abax (Mar 20, 2020)

Very pretty flower and the plant looks to be doing
well. Wonderful.


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## awesomei (Mar 21, 2020)

Stunning color! Good photography.


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## terryros (Mar 21, 2020)

The particular parents will probably make a big difference in the size, shape, and color of this cross. I have a plant from an Orchids Limited making of Millbrook done with besseae 'Raging Red' x Nicholle Tower 'Tower of Red' that is really trying to get to very red for this cross. Of course, there is nothing wrong with orange!


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## MaxC (Mar 21, 2020)

terryros said:


> The particular parents will probably make a big difference in the size, shape, and color of this cross. I have a plant from an Orchids Limited making of Millbrook done with besseae 'Raging Red' x Nicholle Tower 'Tower of Red' that is really trying to get to very red for this cross. Of course, there is nothing wrong with orange!



Their Millbrook should be killer, I am probably going to regret not getting one. I opted for a La Vingtaine 3N instead. I think they are going to start blooming in the fall, no?


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## Greenpaph (Mar 21, 2020)

I love the yellow flaring in the petals and dorsal!


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## Djthomp28 (Mar 22, 2020)

I have this cross for Orchids Limited. Nice to see the potential. Thanks for sharing


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## terryros (Mar 23, 2020)

My plant looks blooming size and is healthy, but not a sign of a spike yet.


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## NYEric (Mar 27, 2020)

Hmmm, looks a lot like Nicholle Tower.
BTW, Quintal Farms does not sell retail. ???


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## awesomei (Mar 28, 2020)

This is my Nichole Tower. Can certainly see the family resemblance.


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## cerseibral (Jul 6, 2020)

MaxC said:


> Day 3 of bloom open. Reminds me a bit of Rocquier. Purchased in spike, so not a ton of work on my part aside from keeping it alive, but first bloom was banged up in shipping. Have not seen a lot of pictures of Millbrook so I figured I would share. Oh and from Quintal Farms.



Beautiful bloom. I just purchased one from Orchids Limited and am a little intimidated, to be honest. Can you tell me a bit about how you culture yours?


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## MaxC (Jul 6, 2020)

This is what I have currently for my Millbrook. East facing exposure that's in 70s during day and 60s at night, relative humidity 50-90% depending on weather. Non-foliar watering every other day with distilled or R/O water with K-Lite at 25ppm and Green Jungle 1 tablespoon per gallon at every watering, bi-weekly KelpMax 1 tablespoon per gallon. Flush monthly with distilled or R/O. This one is still in old media and will get repotted to grodan grow cubes next week or so. I think your plant may have come in a mix of grodan grow cubes and perlite. 

There's a lot of good options for culture that best fit your conditions and the amount of extra time you have to focus on your phrags. Key points being good water (virtually impossible to over water so long as you have good drainage), a little Cal/Mag, intermediate temps and not too much light. Hardest part is making room for more phrags.


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## MaxC (Jul 6, 2020)

Here's an "update" picture from about the same angle and latest bloom.


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## NYEric (Jul 6, 2020)

Nice, thanks for sharing. Yay besseae hybrids!
So how did you get it?


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## MaxC (Jul 6, 2020)

Ebay


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## setaylien (Jul 6, 2020)

MaxC said:


> Here's an "update" picture from about the same angle and latest bloom.


Good quality plant! You should keep it.


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## abax (Jul 6, 2020)

Very nice outcome from an ebay plant. You got lucky.


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## cerseibral (Jul 6, 2020)

MaxC said:


> This is what I have currently for my Millbrook. East facing exposure that's in 70s during day and 60s at night, relative humidity 50-90% depending on weather. Non-foliar watering every other day with distilled or R/O water with K-Lite at 25ppm and Green Jungle 1 tablespoon per gallon at every watering, bi-weekly KelpMax 1 tablespoon per gallon. Flush monthly with distilled or R/O. This one is still in old media and will get repotted to grodan grow cubes next week or so. I think your plant may have come in a mix of grodan grow cubes and perlite.
> 
> There's a lot of good options for culture that best fit your conditions and the amount of extra time you have to focus on your phrags. Key points being good water (virtually impossible to over water so long as you have good drainage), a little Cal/Mag, intermediate temps and not too much light. Hardest part is making room for more phrags.



Thank you so much for the detailed response! This is super helpful.


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## monocotman (Jul 7, 2020)

Just a note about culture.
MaxC says ‘not too much light’.
i give mine plenty of light, almost up to cattleya levels, providing that they are well rooted!
This shows some mature phrags right behind some hybrid catts in a west facing window.
it works for me!


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## cerseibral (Jul 7, 2020)

Oh, interesting. Thanks for sharing. The light level was the thing I was most concerned about.


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## monocotman (Jul 8, 2020)

I wouldn’t give seedlings full cattleya type light but more mature plants with good roots can take quite a bit of sun and seem to enjoy it. They can take way more than paphs. You have to monitor the plants At the beginning of the year when the sun starts to increase in strength after winter. That‘s the time you’re most likely see scorch,
David


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## NYEric (Jul 8, 2020)

You fail to mention that you have very special water where you live!!


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## NYEric (Jul 8, 2020)

eBay!? Nice.


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## KateL (Jul 8, 2020)

NYEric said:


> eBay!? Nice.


eBay is as good or as bad as the seller. 

Eric, I agree that it is often better to buy orchids directly from the grower, particularly if a question arises or a problem develops. By the time you know you have a problem, an eBay seller is, in essence, long gone. Case in point - I bought a “Phrag. richteri” directly from a reputable grower in 2018. It just bloomed for the first time, quite obviously not a richteri. I contacted the grower and within minutes, I received a reply identifying the plant and promising to send me a richteri with my next order. 
On the other hand, eBay can sort of level the playing field for growers who have great plants, but who don’t have the time, money, or inclination to build out a platform of their own. I can think of at least one or two of these, including one who frequents this site.

Yet, eBay is also fertile ground for lowlifes who prey on people with orchid fever. There is no real accountability with something that is going to take months or years to develop.


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## terryros (Nov 8, 2020)

This is the first bloom (open about 5 days) of my Millbrook from the Orchids Limited cross I mentioned above (besseae 'Raging Red' x Nicholle Tower 'Tower of Red'). It is about 9 cm horizontal natural spread. The petals are modestly reflexing posteriorly. I was hoping for a bit more red from the breeding. This diploid flower is not as nice as my polyploid Ouaisne (an Eric Young Orchid Foundation registration like Millbrook) despite similar species makeup (a flip flop of some besseae and dalessandroi). The difference may all be from the polyploid longifolium in Ouaisne. At any rate, I will keep the Millbrook through 1 or 2 more bloomings, but it may not be a keeper in my limited indoor space.


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## KateL (Nov 8, 2020)

terryros said:


> This is the first bloom (open about 5 days) of my Millbrook from the Orchids Limited cross I mentioned above (besseae 'Raging Red' x Nicholle Tower 'Tower of Red'). It is about 9 cm horizontal natural spread. The petals are modestly reflexing posteriorly. I was hoping for a bit more red from the breeding. This diploid flower is not as nice as my polyploid Ouaisne (an Eric Young Orchid Foundation registration like Millbrook) despite similar species makeup (a flip flop of some besseae and dalessandroi). The difference may all be from the polyploid longifolium in Ouaisne. At any rate, I will keep the Millbrook through 1 or 2 more bloomings, but it may not be a keeper in my limited indoor space.


Hey Terry - Did you mean to post a picture with this text?


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## terryros (Nov 8, 2020)

So sorry, a multitasking failure. I edited and put it in the original post.


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## kitfox (Nov 10, 2020)

This is the version Seattle Orchids is selling. This is its second bloom on this spike. Been in a southeast window for 6 months now, 40 ppm raw water raised to 100 ppm with soluble fert and one teaspoon of 4-4-4 organic mixed in upper inch of substrate.


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## terryros (Nov 10, 2020)

kit fox - what are the parents of your Millbrook plant from Seattle Orchids? Yours is fairly similar to mine. I failed earlier with my picture, so here goes again.


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## kitfox (Nov 10, 2020)

They just say straight species besseae and plain old ‘Nicholle Tower’. Sorry, no detail at all In the documentation.


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## NYEric (Nov 11, 2020)

Thanks for sharing everybody. The bloom from Seattle Orchids looks chunky.


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## terryros (Nov 11, 2020)

I agree. Better petal width with kitfox's plant.


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## Corallus21 (Dec 9, 2020)

Are you guys sitting your millbrooks in water? I’m a Paph parvi guy and new to Phrags. Sitting in water makes me nervous. Right now I have my millbrook in water and my humboldtii resting on stones free of the water. That the right thing to do? Thanks!


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## kitfox (Dec 9, 2020)

Corallus21 said:


> Are you guys sitting your millbrooks in water? I’m a Paph parvi guy and new to Phrags. Sitting in water makes me nervous. Right now I have my millbrook in water and my humboldtii resting on stones free of the water. That the right thing to do? Thanks!



Where are you growing it? Mine is indoors in low humidity and southern exposure, so I keep it sitting in water and water about three times a week. I flush thoroughly at least monthly to avoid salt buildup-more like every two weeks during winter months because humidity is so much lower here when heaters run, and evaporation rates from the media surface is much greater (leaves fert salts behind). To be honest, in my indoor environs, I would keep the P. humboldtii in a tall pot and sitting in water as well, since I can't water any more often.


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## Corallus21 (Dec 9, 2020)

kitfox said:


> Where are you growing it? Mine is indoors in low humidity and southern exposure, so I keep it sitting in water and water about three times a week. I flush thoroughly at least monthly to avoid salt buildup-more like every two weeks during winter months because humidity is so much lower here when heaters run, and evaporation rates from the media surface is much greater (leaves fert salts behind). To be honest, in my indoor environs, I would keep the P. humboldtii in a tall pot and sitting in water as well, since I can't water any more often.



Thanks for the response kitfox. I am growing indoor in a corner that has one window facing southeast and another facing northwest. I mist once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The ceiling fan is on high nearly all the time. I live in the Southeastern US. Humidity around the plants is usually 40-55%. What kind of medium do you use? Everything is currently in a mix of orchiata, sponge rock, hydroton, and lava rock.

I am watering phrags about every three days (was watering a bit too much at first I think), parvisepalum about every four, and brachy about every five or six. Water is RO. I fertilize with MSU every other watering, kelp max once a month, flush for a week of normal water intervals at the end of each month.


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## kitfox (Dec 9, 2020)

Our conditions are probably similar, especially in your southeast window. All my Phrags are in a 20 foot south-facing bay window or one of the other two south facing windows, I find even my fischeri likes it there as long as it has a bigger guy in between it and the window. 

As to watering I doubt you will ever water a Phrag too much in our humidity profile! Don't worry about that! Greenhouses and grow rooms are different, but living spaces in temperate climate winters can have humidities easily drop below 40%. 

Your media isn't bad; I am using 100% Grodan cubes for the Millbrook, topped with a layer of sphagnum moss. Just watch your orchiata, it may only last 12 months if you keep the plant happy and wet...wet is good, but you need airspace as well, and as the bark breaks down, your media will compact and airspace will diminish. No oxygen around the roots equals dead roots and dead plants.

Also. a little more controversial maybe, but I don't ever water with extremely low TDS water (RO or DI), I want a bit of buffering in the water I use. Rinse yes, but not maintenance watering. I will use rainwater for flushing, but I always use a minimum of 50 ppm TDS for watering. In fact, I like adding ferts to bring it up to 100ppm for every watering on my Phrags. I try not to distinguish care for any of my Phrags, and a little buffering provided by some salts helps keep the ones that prefer higher pH's from ever going acid. Again, this is my opinion, but I know from my aquarium days, the purer the water, the easier it is for the pH to crash. Even the extremely pure water of the Rio Negro has TDS values well over 20 ppm seasonally. A little calcium carbonate is your friend..and your orchid's!


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