Paph lowii

[Stone]

Is your lowii on a K-lite diet? I wonder if that would boost the flower count. I haven't seen where it has been mentioned but it seems Rick is getting higher flower counts with many of his plants.

Hi Rick, I thought about letting this one go but I couldn't help myself
Reducing potassium will not and cannot possibly increase flower number. There is either something else in klite or some other cultural aspect causing it or Rick is seeing things
Happy new year all!

 

[Ozpaph]

More light?

Its growing with adult cattleyas that flower. I did remove a piece when I repotted and that piece is hanging above the Catts now - we'll see.

 

[emydura]

Hi Rick, I thought about letting this one go but I couldn't help myself
Reducing potassium will not and cannot possibly increase flower number. There is either something else in klite or some other cultural aspect causing it or Rick is seeing things
Happy new year all!

Well it will if the growths are bigger, stronger and healthier. There is a correlation between growth size and flower count.

 

[Stone]

Well it will if the growths are bigger, stronger and healthier. There is a correlation between growth size and flower count.

Exactly. ''if'' being the operative word..
I wish it was that simple. Most of the fantastic specimens of lowii (and everything else) you see are grown without low K so that kind of invalidates your suggestion. Doesn't it?
Why is it that everytime someone has a query about a plant's performance, K is brought up? Crazy! It's kind of like mass hypnotism.
The fact is that you don't need to lower K to tiny levels to get your plants to grow ''bigger, stronger, healthier''

 

[SlipperKing]

Yea Mike I realize the reduction of K would be counter productive for flower/fruit production since one of the identifying characters of potassium is to produce of just that. I'm think not so much the reduction of K but the overall re-balancing of the chemistries allowing for the best flower/fruit production. Obviously, Stephen's lowii is flowering nicely so there is K available to work its magic. What might be happening with the "re-balancing" of fertilizer is the loss of inhibitors allowing for survival, growth and finally flowering to the plant's best ability.
What would be nice to see an experiment with two groups, one with low K-lite and one with a low balanced fertilizer. Both with a N concentration around 20-50 ppms from seedling to blooming. Then decide if there is a real difference.

 

[monocotman]

low fertilizer levels

Rick,

the same thought occurred to me.
How much low K lite's success is due to very low fertilizer rates?
I live in the Uk and have been using Akerne's rain mix plus rain water for 3 years.
I have been told that it is very similar to the old MSU fertilizer.
You use very low levels of nutrients at every watering.
It has transformed the growth and flowering of the orchids I grow indoors, across a range of species and hybrids, but mostly catts and phrags.
I never flush through and have no problems with over fertilizing with susceptible types like phrags.
Has anyone compared low fertilizer rates across a range of products?

Regards,

David

 

[Ray]

I believe such a comparison would have to be large scale and long-term. It was easily 2 years into my current regimen before changes were truly noticeable.


Ray Barkalow (via Tapatalk)

 

[eggshells]

Nice, fantastic lowii.

 

[The Mutant]

Its a near specimen sized plant but the growth is fairly upright and each mature grow about 40cm across.

Thank you for your answer.

Ugh, looks like I might have to treat mine for false mites again. I hope the markings I discovered were made before I treated them all recently. Keeping an eye on it.

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

Looks wonderful!

Sent from my BlackBerry Bold 9900 using Tapatalk

 

[atlantis]

lovely!

 

[SlipperFan]

That's gorgeous. The dark pouch and colorful paddles make this flower!

 

[Ozpaph]

I think lowii was the first 'exotic' paph I saw in someones glasshouse about 40years ago. I had to wait over 25 years more to get one! It is the colour of those petals that still enthrals me. Its really a beautiful thing.

 

[phraggy]

Beautifully grown plant.

Ed

 

[Rick]

A good big specimen lowii is unbeatable.

Beautiful blooming OZpaph