paph emersonii informal culture poll

[john mickel]

You hear this all the time with a lot of imported species - I was at Doc Emersons when he got this " new " species - a clasic example of " new Species " buy. buy, buy - almost everyone can get a 1st bloom - Nature is too hard to duplicate sometimes - john

 

[john mickel]

Species

I was with doc emerson when he got this " new Species " and everyone said buy,buy,buy - A lot of people bloomed it once - but few can bloom it again - most imported species fair well - When someone manages to self 1- you can have better luck - I say wait till the expert growers offer the same - john

 

[cnycharles]

thanks for the info, it will definitely be helpful. the brown spot on the one leaf isn't wet, looks more like a burn of some sort. will put something on it anyhow

say, which fungicide was it that someone posted would help to raise zinc and manganese levels for plants like emersonii and maybe a few others? was it dithane?

 

[NYEric]

One w/ zinc and manganese in it!?
I love emersonii crosses and it sucks to read that they're so difficult [especially the part about dry season]!

 

[cnycharles]

I think mancozeb is a fungicide that has manganese I think, don't know about zinc. There was a post by one of our southeast asian forum members who talked about how he added a fungicide to the media once in a while because he thought testing showed the plants needed more zinc and manganese, and after using it the plants did better; also said that many modern western fertilizers didn't have the right concentrations of stuff for I think things like emersonii and maybe a few others to do better

 

[SlipperKing]

You have it right Charles....Mancozeb or Dithane either name

 

[cnycharles]

You have it right Charles....Mancozeb or Dithane either name

good, thanks!

 

[SlipperKing]

I'm planning a trip to the store to pick one of them up and give it a try. Once a month application at recommended strengh

 

[cnycharles]

One w/ zinc and manganese in it!?
I love emersonii crosses and it sucks to read that they're so difficult [especially the part about dry season]!

This morning I was re-reading my orchidculture.com culture sheet for emersonii, and it states that in the natural habitat it grows in moss that is on top of basically weathered, packed alkaline mud, but that even in the dry season there is considerable condensation on the rocks which then flows through the moss. The roots grow through the moss and slightly into or at least on top of the wet mud, and because of this continual seepage the roots are intolerant of high salts conditions or true drying. So, it looks like with cooler winter temps it doesn't need high water amounts but definitely shouldn't dry out, and if there is much less water then maybe before the dryish season the media should be flushed to try and clear out some possible excess nutrients. It looks like an excellent candidate for the 'weakly weekly' fertilizing regime. As rick points out, keeping a low amount of P always available like what is found in the weathered limestone mud and possibly from the moss (maybe another good candidate for moss over limestone in a basket) would help the growth rate a bit along with the zinc/manganese from dithane/mancozeb. I'm definitely going to try this one in a moss basket with some crushed coral.

 

[SlipperFan]

You guys are all scaring me. I guess I'd better go and check on my em.