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Ray, I get mixed results using Hydroton mixed with rockwool for Phrags. I think soaking would be a benefit. I remember a speaker saying to soak in acidified water. Do you soak in RO water or in acidified water or something else? I also notice some issues with crystals forming on the pebbles...

Your method looks similar to mine (trays w/ rw cubes on top and leica on bottom) but your results are better. I haven't taken any all the way to bloom as a compot but I sometimes plant one plant in a single tray and that seems to work well. Some crosses/species don't seem to like the mix. The...

I agree that maintaining diversity of the gene pool is definitely important, but it does complicate line breeding.

Great advice Tony. Regarding selfings, there's actually a use to that if you have the space to grow 20 or so. This can give insights into whether a plant has one or two copies of gene. If it's heterozygous for a trait, you should get one or more double recessive plants to tell you that it is...

Wow, that is really nice. Well presented, too.

Great articles. The photos are really nice, too. There's a lot more variety to venustum than I realized.

I don't know if Bryon is an alumni. I've had pretty good luck with the divisions I have bought from them.

Nice job, Looks great!! Thanks for the insights into your culture techniques. I've been thinking Cal/Mg would be a good addition. I have two plants from that same cross that I got in 2019. They were NBS when I got them and I still haven't bloomed them. I'm getting better with kovachii now...

I bought it from Southwestern College in Kansas. Looks like they have blooming size divisions available right now for $100. https://www.sckans.edu/other/greenhouse/phragmipedium/

A division I purchased a couple years ago bloomed and was awarded an AM/AOS yesterday. 80 points. The petal length was 67cm. Bloom is a little more cream colored than appears in the photo below.

I've also seen Raccoons also go after some potting mixes with time release fertilizer in it. I think they smell the gelatin that encapsulates the fertilizer or maybe it has fish emulsion in it.

I took a pic outside to capture color better.

Also, I grow mostly phrags which like the cooler basement temp. I see that some of my warmer loving orchids tolerate but don't thrive in that environment.

I started growing in basement a few years ago and temp is one of the challenges, especially for flask seedlings. I killed a lot of flask seedlings by using my former method (dome over heated tray and NZ sphag). The heat mat was plugged into light timer so temp dropped to 60F, all the dew fell...

Thanks Mike and BrucherT. I will avoid using it with the orchids I take outside.

I have a Sorcerer's Apprentice with much less coloration. Mine is extremely sensitive to temperature during bud development for color. I've always wondered abotu mine because the blooms aren't as dark as pictures I see of others. My plant is quite large. I have it in a 12" pot.

This opened today. First time blooming and it has at least one more bud coming. Actual bloom is a little darker. I'm pretty happy with it.

Thanks for sharing. I know David. His cave was really orchid cool back in the day. A little bit confusing. What I have is called chicken grit, too. Has anyone had issues with animals being attracted to the oyster shells? I keep some of my orchids outside during summer and don't want to...

Thanks Mike. I will check that out. Plus when you said feed store it reminded me that I have crushed oyster shell that I forgot about. That was something I used a lot of times in the past.

No, I don't add limestone but only because I don't have any handy. Do you get yours from a hardware store? I have rocks other than hydroton like pea gravel and also include some large perlite. I have added dolomite before but like you say it washes out. In the past, moss was my primary...