Paph. fairrieanum, Easy?

[Bolero]

I cant say P. fairrieanum is hard to grow, in fact it is the easiest and fastest Paph out of 20+ species i grow from flask.
These seedlings were deflasked about 2 years ago, and i think the biggest ones are approaching blooming size by now.
I dont treat them very special, they grow in a bark mix with charcoal and perlite added, and get watered 3-4 times a week with ~200-250 ppm hydroponic fertilizer under t5-fluorescents.
Few weeks ago they were much more light green until i started some foliar feeding with kelp extract and epsom salts, now they look much happier


Greetings from Germany,
chris

That's interesting, I find it one of the harder ones. Maybe it's my climate but I am finding species like hangianum, micranthum, armeniacum, helenae, delenatii and thaianum much easier to grow at the moment. I have the conditions right now for the fairrie's but up until now I was worried I would lose them but I think things are safe now.

 

[Ozpaph]

I cant say P. fairrieanum is hard to grow, in fact it is the easiest and fastest Paph out of 20+ species i grow from flask.
These seedlings were deflasked about 2 years ago, and i think the biggest ones are approaching blooming size by now.
I dont treat them very special, they grow in a bark mix with charcoal and perlite added, and get watered 3-4 times a week with ~200-250 ppm hydroponic fertilizer under t5-fluorescents.
Few weeks ago they were much more light green until i started some foliar feeding with kelp extract and epsom salts, now they look much happier


Greetings from Germany,
chris

Magnificent growing, congrats.
Please share as much detail as you can. If under T5, do you have a light meter to give us some readings?

 

[ran]

Can you give us the specs on your fertilizer and make up water?

Hi Rick,
i use reverse osmosis water with advanced nutrients micro and bloom (i dont use the "grow" formula) added to 250 ppm. Rarely they do get a top dressing with a teaspoon or so of crushed limestone. i never bothered with a ph measurement of the water though....

Magnificent growing, congrats.
Please share as much detail as you can. If under T5, do you have a light meter to give us some readings?

The plants are under a total of 120 watts of a t5 fixture, 20 inches from the light away. i dont have a lightmeter, but they are now quite far from the light, seems they dont enjoy the bright conditions the multis like.
i also have additional bottom heat, min temperature is 20 C at night.

 

[Rick]

Hi Rick,
i use reverse osmosis water with advanced nutrients micro and bloom (i dont use the "grow" formula) added to 250 ppm. Rarely they do get a top dressing with a teaspoon or so of crushed limestone. i never bothered with a ph measurement of the water though....

The product info on the Advanced Nutrients foods are confusing, but may be making my point about low potassium tolerance for this species.

The Micro portion of the mix has lots of calcium (a big allotment of Calcium nitrate) and very little potassium. I see one label that has NPK of 5 0 1 and then an analysis showing N at 2% and Ca at 2.4%, 0.1% Mg, with no K listed at all even though potassium nitrate is listed as one of the ingredients and no magnesium salts are listed??? The Bloom and Grow formulas have potassium and magnesium salts listed with nothing listed in the analysis of final magnesium concentration. And then you have periodic top dressings of crushed limestone to compensate even more for the reduced K in their formula. Overall, it appears that you would be supplying your paphs with a more balanced application of Ca/Mg/K then what most of us probably would derive from our fertilizer mixes. The greening up after epsom salt application suggests your addition of divalent cations is even better now.

The Advanced Nutrition products are intriguing, and may provide a good alternative paph fertilizer that's relatively lower in K.

 

[Justin]

chris those are some spotless seedlings. great growing.

I have one that grows fine. It bloomed one year, but then the next year's bud blasted after the spike grew and the bud was about to open. It puts out new growths and is clumping up now so I am hoping it will spike this winter.

 

[NeoNJ]

I agree with Emydura.....every book says this is an Easy species to grow and flower. I've had mine for awhile now, and its done nothing - hasn't even had a new growth. I don't know if this is just a slow grower or a difficult species.......if I don't see anything happening, it will move closer to the trash bin ....LOL

 

[Rick]

I agree with Emydura.....every book says this is an Easy species to grow and flower. I've had mine for awhile now, and its done nothing - hasn't even had a new growth. I don't know if this is just a slow grower or a difficult species.......if I don't see anything happening, it will move closer to the trash bin ....LOL

They grow real fast during the season (now). Try repotting in some out of the box method, and dilute your fertilizer down 1/4 to 1/8 strength.

 

[NeoNJ]

They grow real fast during the season (now). Try repotting in some out of the box method, and dilute your fertilizer down 1/4 to 1/8 strength.

Now that I think of it ..... I have a few species Paphs that "aren't doing a thing" --- Charlesworthi, niveum, bellatulum (was infested with mealies, and had to repot)....the insigne and spicerianum are both growing very very slowly... the Druid Springs isn't doing a bloody thing either !

The only 2 that are growing are Paph lowii and Paph haynaldianum.
Had another Magic Lantern that blasted - right after the Fumi's Delight blasted - so all I can say is this "NOW" growing season isn't doing so well for me or my Paphs.....

My Paph Delrosi is outside (I'm trying to "kill it" in order to scare it into doing something, like BLOOM).

 

[Rick]

Now that I think of it ..... I have a few species Paphs that "aren't doing a thing" --- Charlesworthi, niveum, bellatulum (was infested with mealies, and had to repot)....the insigne and spicerianum are both growing very very slowly... the Druid Springs isn't doing a bloody thing either !

The only 2 that are growing are Paph lowii and Paph haynaldianum.
Had another Magic Lantern that blasted - right after the Fumi's Delight blasted - so all I can say is this "NOW" growing season isn't doing so well for me or my Paphs.....

My Paph Delrosi is outside (I'm trying to "kill it" in order to scare it into doing something, like BLOOM).

I'd try a different strategy. Charlesworthii and spicerianum shouldn't be on the list of "tough to grow" for just about anyone.

You might repot and consider the Advanced Nutrient "micro" food that Chris is using.

 

[emydura]

I'd try a different strategy. Charlesworthii and spicerianum shouldn't be on the list of "tough to grow" for just about anyone.

You might repot and consider the Advanced Nutrient "micro" food that Chris is using.

I'd agree with you Rick on spicerianum. It is a weed. But I don't find charlesworthii that easy to grow. My plants survive rather than thrive.

David

 

[NeoNJ]

I'd try a different strategy. Charlesworthii and spicerianum shouldn't be on the list of "tough to grow" for just about anyone.

You might repot and consider the Advanced Nutrient "micro" food that Chris is using.

I don't really have a clear understanding of what the "Advanced Nutrient micro food" is ? Is it a specific brand of fertilizer ?

I currently use Dyna-Gro for Orchids.

 

[Rick]

I don't really have a clear understanding of what the "Advanced Nutrient micro food" is ? Is it a specific brand of fertilizer ?

I currently use Dyna-Gro for Orchids.

Dyna-Gro Orchids looks like a typical balanced fertilizer with more potassium than calcium and magnesium.

I googled the Advanced Nutrient food line that Chris in Germany is using. The "micro" food has more calcium than potassium.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

I find neither spicerianum or charlesworthii to be that easy. I would rank charlesworthii along with fairreanum in terms of difficulty. Maybe spicerianum is a touch easier, but none are as easy as insigne or villosum.

 

[emydura]

I find neither spicerianum or charlesworthii to be that easy. I would rank charlesworthii along with fairreanum in terms of difficulty. Maybe spicerianum is a touch easier, but none are as easy as insigne or villosum.

I agree with you on charlesworthii. The easiest from that group for me is gratrixianum. A rampant grower and much easier to flower than insigne.

David

 

[NeoNJ]

charlesworthii is listed as being "easy species to grow and flower ......" in
Birks book, as is fairreanum. Infact, fairreanum is listed as "...one of the easiest paphiopedilum species to grow and flower" in the book.

So I don't know why my charlesworthii and fairreanum aren't growing ....

 

[emydura]

charlesworthii is listed as being "easy species to grow and flower ......" in
Birks book, as is fairreanum. Infact, fairreanum is listed as "...one of the easiest paphiopedilum species to grow and flower" in the book.

So I don't know why my charlesworthii and fairreanum aren't growing ....

According to Birk just about everything is easy to grow.

tigrinum - "This species is one of the easiest to grow and flower".
papuanum - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
purpuratum - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
hookerae - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
armeniacum - "This is an easy species to cultivate".

I could go on and on. Most of us are obviously very poor growers. The book lacks credibility for this reason alone.

Having said that Birk is not alone on fairrianum and charlesworthii. Most other books have also said they are easy to grow. Certainly not my experience.

David

 

[Rick]

According to Birk just about everything is easy to grow.

tigrinum - "This species is one of the easiest to grow and flower".
papuanum - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
purpuratum - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
hookerae - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
armeniacum - "This is an easy species to cultivate".

I could go on and on. Most of us are obviously very poor growers. The book lacks credibility for this reason alone.

Having said that Birk is not alone on fairrianum and charlesworthii. Most other books have also said they are easy to grow. Certainly not my experience.

David

I would agree that nothing is hard to grow in Birks book. There are some subtle tips he gives that I guess make some easier than otherwise. And a few small cautions that hint of problems for some species. I guess what's missing is the definition of hard or easy or fast or slow. Ultimately I guess if you could find at least one grower who has no problems at all then it must be "easy if you do it right".

One of the benefits of ST is that you can pole a few hundred growers and if you dig deep enough find things that work and things that don't and put some of that hard/easy relativity thing into a more quantitative expression.

Just like at work (where I have to sort through sometimes 100's to 1000's of data points) to see the patterns, I've had to go through maybe up to a dozen or more of my own plants, and then try to combine the methods and results of our fellow growers to generate some patterns to have something new to test.

Breeding plants has given me the opportunity to get larger numbers of plants that I can split into smaller groups, and try different things for a lot less $$ than buying a blooming size plant and being scared to try new things that might kill it.

 

[NeoNJ]

According to Birk just about everything is easy to grow.

tigrinum - "This species is one of the easiest to grow and flower".
papuanum - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
purpuratum - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
hookerae - "this species is an easy plant to grow and flower".
armeniacum - "This is an easy species to cultivate".

I could go on and on. Most of us are obviously very poor growers. The book lacks credibility for this reason alone.

Having said that Birk is not alone on fairrianum and charlesworthii. Most other books have also said they are easy to grow. Certainly not my experience.

David

I guess what really got me thinking was ..... that easy growing doesn't mean easy blooming ! Ta-Dah! I guess you can for sure keep a Paph growing, but to get it to bloom is another story entirely ....

That's what caused me to give up my Paph and Phrag collection a few years ago in the first place .........they grew, but nothing bloomed ! I was tired of seeing "Green Houseplants" all over the place .....and no Flowers!

So I started buying Paphs "In Bud" which was great .....I got to see a Paph in flower. But suddenly realized that I was not able to get it to RE-BLOOM.
Sadly, I trashed my entire collection of Paphs and Phrags....

 

[SlipperFan]

I guess what really got me thinking was ..... that easy growing doesn't mean easy blooming ! Ta-Dah! I guess you can for sure keep a Paph growing, but to get it to bloom is another story entirely ....

That's what caused me to give up my Paph and Phrag collection a few years ago in the first place .........they grew, but nothing bloomed ! I was tired of seeing "Green Houseplants" all over the place .....and no Flowers!

So I started buying Paphs "In Bud" which was great .....I got to see a Paph in flower. But suddenly realized that I was not able to get it to RE-BLOOM.
Sadly, I trashed my entire collection of Paphs and Phrags....

How terrible! Have you started building up your slipper collection again? We are great enablers here, you know!

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

When it comes to paphs, easy growing and easy blooming are radically different concepts. Some of the most difficult paphs to grow- emersonii, mastersianum, violascens, are still relatively easy paphs to bloom. Others, like armeniacum, micranthum, and roth are relatively easy to grow but not easy to bloom. Then you have bellatulum...which is hard to keep alive, but teases you by spiking really easily and blasting even more easily.