# my phrags



## manfred (May 5, 2007)

as some of you might recollect I live in Sydney Australia and late last year bought 4 phrags ,my ist lot,I have had them sitting in water all the time now that autumn is approaching I have moved them to get more light and sun.however for sometime now the tips of the leaves are turning brown what am I doing wrong???


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## Per (May 5, 2007)

Most likely they are over-fertilized. It is called "burn" or "leaf tip burn." When I first got Phrags, I burned some fairly badly, but they bounced back. I would wash the pots through with clean water, reduce the fertilizer you give them, and not worry. What does everyone else think? Best of luck.

~P


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## gonewild (May 5, 2007)

A high TDS could be the problem. But it could also be lack of water. Have you been watering from the top of the pot or just relying on the water wicking upward. Does the media stay very moist or does it tend to dry out?


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## manfred (May 5, 2007)

Watering is done both ways as most of the time it is done with a hose,Perhapse it could be fertiliser as I have not treated them different to any of the other orchids .What is TDS ??
Cheers Manfred


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## NYEric (May 6, 2007)

total dissolved solids!?


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## gonewild (May 6, 2007)

Leaf tip die back is most likely caused by either not enough moisture or high TDS (total dissolved solids) or a combination of both. High TDS is when your water has a high concentration of dissolved minerals (salts) in it. The minerals can either be from the fertilizer you add or from your water source. The only way to know for sure is to measure the mineral or salt content of your water. The measurement can be in TDS, PPM, or EC.

Is your water "hard"?
How often to you apply fertilizer?
How strong do you mix the fertilizer?


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## NYEric (May 6, 2007)

You have to be carefull w/ the fertilizer building upin the media. onight I have to flush out 2 trays of phrags. The TDS meter in the trays reads over 600 and the fertilizer after mixing in the bottles only 150+/-!!!


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## gonewild (May 7, 2007)

NYEric said:


> You have to be carefull w/ the fertilizer building upin the media. onight I have to flush out 2 trays of phrags. The TDS meter in the trays reads over 600 and the fertilizer after mixing in the bottles only 150+/-!!!



That is what evaporation will do in a hurry. But measuring the tray water does not mean your media is equally high. You should run a small amount of pure water through a pot and then test that runoff. The results would be interesting and tell you what is actually happening in the root zone of the media. 600 ppm is not to high unless it is composed of "bad" salts.


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## NYEric (May 7, 2007)

The level is so high that I feel things are OOC [Out of Control] so I'm flushing and cleaning the trays. I have a tray w/ other houseplants growing and the level is constant 150, so maybe I'll put cuttings in each to maintain the levels.


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## manfred (May 11, 2007)

Thanks to everyone I will cut back on fertiliser and keep flushing pots maybe I will get flowers in spring,only 4-5month away
cheers Manfred


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## joan (May 12, 2007)

I've been told by a respected and well known phrag grower that phrags need good water such as rain or RO water along with fertilizer appropriate for rain water/RO. I use MSU along with rain water and my phrag leaves do not have brown tips.
Hope this helps.


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