It doesn't matter if it is a straight red besseae or the flavum variety they are challenging for me to grow. I grow all my phrags in my basement which never goes above 78 degrees in the summer and hovers around 72 degrees maximum in the winter. It looks to me as if this one may not be a climber. I grew the two growths that are blooming now off the original single growth and they are both tight to the first one. I looked yesterday and one of the blooming growths has two tiny starts showing and the other has one start. Right now they both look like they are tight to their respective 'mother' growth. Maybe I got lucky with the genes on this one and it won't start climbing later on. Leaves have a very heavy substance and since I grow in clear pots I can see roots as they develop and there is very strong root growth. Fingers crossed that I hit the jackpot with a strong grower.
What I found with my phrags is that even though they like lots of water they also need lots of oxygen at the roots. I used to pot into a mix that was very heavy with rockwool cubes. I think that in that kind of mix the roots weren't getting enough oxygen. They would grow nicely for about an year and then root health started to decline quite noticeably. Some to the point where they eventually went to orchid heaven.
Now they are potted in a mix that is 1/3 rockwool cubes, 1/2 medium Orchiata bark and 1/3 medium perlite or growstone. This mix has resulted in all of my phrags just exploding with healthy roots. Mixture still retains enough moisture but more oxygen can get to the roots. I also flood them with fertilized RO water at least once a week. Sometimes more often if they are in bud or flower. To water them I take them over to a laundry tub that has a wire rack over it and flood them with a lot of water. I might flush with plain water once a month but due to how I flood them when watering with the fertilized water I don't get any fertilizer build up.
However as we all know what works for one person might not work for others.
