Phrag Lovely Lynne 4n x sib blooming thread

[MichaelTibbs]

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First AOS award to Phrag Lovely Lynne

 

[MichaelTibbs]

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[MichaelTibbs]

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[MichaelTibbs]

 

[MichaelTibbs]

The best one I ever flowered

 

[awesomei]

Congratulations!

 

[monocotman]

Michael,
stunning! Wonderful shape and colour.
is this a seedling from the same cross?
Do you have dimensions?
thanks

 

[terryros]

Michael, I am forgetting how you created this as tetraploid. It is hard for me to see how a mix about 50:50 kovachii and besseae, both tetraploid, can get larger than this with with a horizontal NS of 12.9 cm. I also don't think we can get fully to red/scarlet with this mix, but maybe one of David's stragglers has a very special alignment of genes that surprises us.

 

[monocotman]

A top view of the seedlings in their tray. They’re loving life here and the problem will be in the spring, maybe late Feb, when I probably have to split them up.
They’re getting very congested. I’ve checked the roots and it’s a complete mat in the top layer of the rockwool. It will be impossible to unravel.
I’ll probably just bite the bullet and cut the rockwool into sections around each plant.
The plan as of now is to repot the ‘keepers’ individually into‘half’ seed trays and keep them growing in the same manner. I’m sure that they will suffer some reaction but it’s the same every time we repot.

BTW, the fur at the top is the cat, Roxy.

 

[monocotman]

Even the ten or so runts from the original flask that went back into the original seed tray have grown well. Three have flowered and one was the big kovachii like bloom.

 

[NYEric]

Jeez!!!

 

[terryros]

Your leaf color is very nice, David. Please tell us how you have fertilized the trays as the plants have grown. I am glad you are going to try some of the really good ones in continuing individual tray culture. I am interested in how they grow.

 

[monocotman]

I just use rain mix feed at half rate every watering and our Cornish tap water as it’s quite soft. The tray has no drainage holes so I pour in plenty of water, let it stand for a few minutes and then pour off the excess to leave a cm in the bottom of the tray. I water once a week.

 

[terryros]

I just use rain mix feed at half rate every watering and our Cornish tap water as it’s quite soft. The tray has no drainage holes so I pour in plenty of water, let it stand for a few minutes and then pour off the excess to leave a cm in the bottom of the tray. I water once a week.

Any idea what the ppm of Nitrogen is that you are giving with each feed? If you haven’t calculated it, what is the N-P-K of the fertilizer and how are you mixing up the solution. I know it is a complete fertilizer, but I can’t get it to come up in a search over here. Thinking it is like MSU so half rate might be about 50 ppm N each watering you are using. Is this the same that you use with your Cattleyas? The roots have a long contact time with the fertilizer solution in your trays.

 

[monocotman]

Terry, I’ve no idea how much feed I’m giving But it’s about half the recommended rate from the manufacturer. The full name is Akerne’s rain mix. Easy to find in the web.
I water all my plants, catts and phrags and the odd coelogyne year round with the same mix.

 

[terryros]

Do you use half of a blue scoop in 2 L of water? What I quickly found was that full strength was a full scoop in 2 L of water and might be 65 ppm N. So, half of a scoop per 2 L might be 32 ppm N and it should have a pretty low EC. It looks like you are lightly feeding them. Is this the same that you do for the Cattleyas?

 

[monocotman]

I use two scoops in a full watering can of water year round for absolutely everything.

 

[monocotman]

Terry, my cheap conductivity meter tells me that our soft tap water straight out of the tap measures 80 units and the two scoops of rain mix in a watering can raises this to about 250.

 

[PeteM]

Terry, my cheap conductivity meter tells me that our soft tap water straight out of the tap measures 80 units and the two scoops of rain mix in a watering can raises this to about 250.

So to summarize you are providing 250ppm every watering, which is once a week. Does this change at all through the year? And do you ever flush the media with non fertilized water.

 

[monocotman]

As a follow up, the run off water readings from the two trays after watering are 350 for the small tray and 380 for the large one.
Pete, I am not sure about the ppm. I’ve never done the calculation. Akerne reckon that even at full rate feed, ( mine is about half rate) you don’t need to flush through ever. I have never flushed through on these two trays and they’re now about 15 months old from repotting.
I don’t change the feed rate and I always water at a weekend. The trays are getting a bit of a flush through now and I am watering more and tipping more water off from the tray.