Junglejewel
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 17, 2016
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- 290
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Venustum’s seem to be the easiest of all my Paph’s, as well as my favorite. In my opinion, the are the “wildest”, most “uncharted” looking of all the Paph’s with the brain like pouch and snake skin pattern on the leaves of the truer wild strains. As for my conditions, I grow all my Orchid’s in my home in a west window. They get a couple hours of direct sunlight in the afternoons. I have a cold air humidifier, but only for the last year. I try to keep it around 60% humidity during the day, and 40-45% at night. All my Paph’s bloomed reliably before the humidifier, I just notice a difference of the flowers lasting longer due to the humidity. I grow most my Paph’s, including my venustum’s, in a mix of about 50% New Zealand sphagnum moss, 25% small orchiata bark, and 25%, #3 perlite. I have a few venustum’s in “experimental” media, and they all flourish too. One in 80% small CHC, 10% #3 perlite, and 10% small characol. A few in straight sphagnum moss, one in 50% coco peat, and 50% small orchiata bark, and every one of them does great!! They are the least “fussy” of the Paph’s for me. They seem happy no matter what you throw at them, as long as they have tons of water!! When I first started growing venustum, I did the traditional recommendation of letting them get only slightly moist before watering, and I’d always get the same results of spikes dying, and the overall plant growth being weak and slight. Now, my venustum’s FLOURISH!!, and I keep them almost wet all year long. No rest period. I keep most my Paph’s on the constant very moist side these days, especially the Indian species and Borneo/Sumatra species and they all flourish now.
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