Phrag Tate Olson

[Nelson Wong]

After 6 years I have finally managed to get a phrag to bloom! I learned that phrags require 2-3 times the amount of water of paphs, infact, let it sit on water.

I actually have 3 other phrags with spike, but I cut them because the plant is so young and small.

This Phrag Tate Olson i got almost 2+ years ago with a spike, but it aborted because i under watered it. After 2 years. I finally did it! Now I did notice the leaves are much longer than before and was told it needs more light. There is also bands of greener leaves, which I think is inconsistent fertilizing or watering?

 

[Tom-DE]

I actually have 3 other phrags with spike, but I cut them because the plant is so young and small.

I would at least give it a chance for the flowers before I cut them. Such a waste!

 

[Nelson Wong]

I would at least give it a chance for the flowers before I cut them. Such a waste!

nah. The spike was extremely, extremely thin, there was no way it would even support the flower. I am fine with waiting another 2 years until the plant grows bigger

 

[Tom-DE]

Enjoy it when you have your chance! You never know what will happen to the plant in the future. I have a small delenatii var. vinicolor/dunkel in bud now--a tiny black bud! I know the spike is weak and the flower bud is tiny...but I want to value the flower, so I keep it till it opens up.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

I think this is a great outcome, with great coloration in the flower.

By the way, for anyone curious, this cross is Phragmipedium Sorcerer's Apprentice × Phragmipedium Grande.

As for the leaf coloration, I don't think I've ever experienced that or seen anything quite like it before. I think it could be inconsistent feeding or perhaps a seasonal response? The closest I've seen to that, but it's not a great match, is that if I over do the physan for disease control, it will sometimes cause a band of chlorosis to varying degrees in some Paphs and Phrags that seem to be highly sensitive to it. But like I said, it doesn't quite look like this and I would imagine if you were treating with Physan or a similar product, you would have likely noticed the correlation.

 

[Nelson Wong]

I think this is a great outcome, with great coloration in the flower.

By the way, for anyone curious, this cross is Phragmipedium Sorcerer's Apprentice × Phragmipedium Grande.

As for the leaf coloration, I don't think I've ever experienced that or seen anything quite like it before. I think it could be inconsistent feeding or perhaps a seasonal response? The closest I've seen to that, but it's not a great match, is that if I over do the physan for disease control, it will sometimes cause a band of chlorosis to varying degrees in some Paphs and Phrags that seem to be highly sensitive to it. But like I said, it doesn't quite look like this and I would imagine if you were treating with Physan or a similar product, you would have likely noticed the correlation.

Thank you for the compliment! I think it looks wonderful too. It actually just opened around 2 days ago, so it might take another 3 to 5 days for it to fully open and for the petals to fully develop. but the spike is 2.7 feet tall, dorsal sepal L is 8.9cm, W is 2.2cm, petals are 10cm (i am hoping it gets longer), 1.4cm W, pouch is 5.2cm and 2.6cm W. But I can actually see tons of tiny signs of inconsistent watering..

It took me 5 years to get the hang of growing phrags! Lots of water, higher nutrient, light at cattleya level.

Yea. I am trending towards inconsistent feeding because I usually fertilize once every 2-3 weeks for my paphs, which at the same time I water the phrags. So the phrags might not be getting as consistent of fertilizing?

I haven't used physan20, phyton 27 or thiomyl. But now that I learned! I think I can do better next time