Phrag. besseae 'Foxfire' AM/AOS

[tomkalina]

In bloom this morning. We grow all of our P. besseae awarded clones in 10 x 20 trays in our standard bark,perlite,charcoal and NZ sphagnum moss mix. Horizontal Natural Spread = 8.1 cm.

 

[grubea]

Very nice!

 

[abax]

Beautiful as always Tom. When you have the time,
I'd appreciate the proportions of each of the
additions to your Phrag mix.

 

[Hien]

definitely one of the best grown besseae in my opinion.
Tom, is the way to grow them well, very shallow 1 or 2 in , the way you do?

 

[tomkalina]

Beautiful as always Tom. When you have the time,
I'd appreciate the proportions of each of the
additions to your Phrag mix.

Hi Angela, the mix constituents have changed slightly over the years - more tweaks than big changes, but the standard FVO Phrag. mix is:

6 parts sterilized Rexius seedling bark (1/8-1/4")
1 part #3 size charcoal
1 part large perlite
1 part milled Canadian sphagnum moss
1/2 part NZ moss

If you didn't want the mess of mixing all this up, you can buy Hausermann's Paph. mix; it's very close to our Phrag. mix. But the shipping cost would probably be prohibitive.

 

[tomkalina]

definitely one of the best grown besseae in my opinion.
Tom, is the way to grow them well, very shallow 1 or 2 in , the way you do?

If you have the room, growing this species in trays can produce some very large plants because of the increase in root mass - larger than if the same plant was grown in a standard pot which tends to be much deeper than the 2 1/2" x 10" x 20" trays. When we visited Ecuador years ago, we came away with two growing tips for this species. First, plants growing in habitat had rambling root systems that never went deep into the substrate, they rambled across the surface of the moss/dirt/rock they're growing on and had a large amount of root surface to absorb nutrients. Second, when I visited the Ecuagenera greenhouse in Gualaceo, I noticed they were growing some of their Phrag. besseae in large ground level beds containing mostly bark. It was easy to make a comparison between the plants they grew in these ground level beds and the plants that grew in pots nearby. There's no question the plants in the beds were much larger and looked more vigorous. I wish we had the room to grow all of our Phrags. this way.

 

[tomkalina]

......and here's a photo of the tray. No name on them except "Made in Canada". It has a slotted bottom for good drainage.

 

[Hien]

thanks Tom for the explanation,
Your way of growing it just as they grow in nature really result in such a fantastic plant.
I have never seen a besseae as big and as healthy as your plant

If you have the room, growing this species in trays can produce some very large plants because of the increase in root mass - larger than if the same plant was grown in a standard pot which tends to be much deeper than the 2 1/2" x 10" x 20" trays. When we visited Ecuador years ago, we came away with two growing tips for this species. First, plants growing in habitat had rambling root systems that never went deep into the substrate, they rambled across the surface of the moss/dirt/rock they're growing on and had a large amount of root surface to absorb nutrients. Second, when I visited the Ecuagenera greenhouse in Gualaceo, I noticed they were growing some of their Phrag. besseae in large ground level beds containing mostly bark. It was easy to make a comparison between the plants they grew in these ground level beds and the plants that grew in pots nearby. There's no question the plants in the beds were much larger and looked more vigorous. I wish we had the room to grow all of our Phrags. this way.

 

[abax]

Ah ha, those are standard garden center trays and
available at just about any garden center. Generally,
customers take these home with their purchases in
the spring.
Thanks Tom. My humidity in my gh was 91% today
with the sun out and fans going 24/7 and 72F max.
I somehow can't imagine your mix working in my
gh. Surely does work well for you!!!

 

[NYEric]

Man, I remember visiting this tiny hot greenhouse at Ackerman's ...
Yay besseae! Congrats. I like the color and the lateral sepals, the dorsal seems skimpy to me.

 

[tomkalina]

I agree about the dorsal sepal, but then again - it's a twenty-two year old award. Not sure where Ackermann's is.......

 

[NYEric]

Doh! I meant Hauserman's!

 

[tomkalina]

We rented bench space from Hausermann's for ten years, and I remember that area where we were located, and summer temps could rise to mid-90's on a hot sunny day. I remember having to be especially careful watering the long petalled Phrag. species to avoid erwinia during those hot spells. We moved back to our original greenhouse in Naperville in 2010 and now have evaporative cooling and exhaust fans running basically non-stop during the hot summer months. Depending on the outdoor humidity, temps can still rise to the upper 80's, but not higher and not often.

 

[tomkalina]

..........and here's the flower fully open at 8.5 cm HNS. Even the dorsal sepal appears to have put on some width, or maybe a better photo angle.

 

[abax]

Wonderful soft red and the slightly "big ear"
effect doesn't bother me at all. I think it's
gorgeous!

 

[Ozpaph]

nice colour

 

[NYEric]

When the national professional paintball tour went to Illinois in the summer, it was the first time a ever saw a heat mirage!!!