The right care for Phragmipedium kovachii?

[orchid527]

Gang

I do not doubt any of you when you speak of the trouble you have with kovachii, but I just don't understand. They seem to grow like weeds right out of the flask, when planted in quality moss. When they are too large for the compots, I move them into 2 inch pots with moss, for about 6 months. From then on, I grow them in small orchiata with perlite and limestone. They go through a progression of 5, 6 and 8 inch pots, until I move them into nursery containers. I just water them often with RO plus weak fertilizer.

After I read the most recent postings, I went out into the greenhouse and took a photo of a tray that I moved out of moss earlier this year. They are doing great. I don't think there is a blemish on a single leaf. Mike

 

[cnycharles]

It may be ‘who you get plants from’ and what conditions it may have shifted around in. I have to make a post about a flask I bought from Chuck ackers two years ago that has been in compot for two years and are all still alive somehow)

 

[FrankRC]

Good morning all in my time zone and greetings to those not.

Kovachii has a few cultural requirements that we can glean from a study of natural populations that run contrary to some of what I am reading here and contrary to some of the advice being passed around that, in my opinion, is causing many a Phrag. grower a lot of pain with this species.

First, air flow across your roots is critical. If your mix is small, or in a pot with holes at the bottom in a saucer of water, you are slowly killing your plant. The best looking kovachii I have seen are grown in mesh pots with a large medium and watered every day (automatically of course) the mix is constantly humid, not wet. Other means is to use the modified hydroponic method I detailed in the Phrag. Issue of the Orchid Digest at year end 2020. It works.

Second, contrary to popular myth, this species does not, to be clear, does not grow on limestone. It grows on granite and sandstone, very hard rock, and typically on vertical or near vertical surfaces. What does this mean for us in cultivation? It means the rock does not break down quickly and provide copious amounts (relatively speaking) of calcium and magnesium to the plants. Whatever arrives from runoff from above, leaves just as quickly. The roots do not persist in a nutrient rich environment. Fertilize, depending on your water, at 10-20 percent every watering and give your plants a clean water flush every so often to remove anything that may build up in the pot. Kovachii, like all orchids, does not have kidneys and the plants cannot remove unneeded and unwanted solids from their roots or vegetative parts.

Third, while typically under an overcast sky, the plants like to be exposed to the heavens. That is, all day ecuatorial light levels with cloud cover. Our eyes cannot see or perceive how much our light levels change throughout the year the northern hemisphere. In the winter months, not only do we have significantly less than the 12 hours a day of light kovachii receives in natural populations, due to the angle of the sun the intensity of that light is significantly less that what kovachii is used to. Don’t be afraid to cultivate this species in bright light, especially in the winter months.

If something is not working change what you’re doing, the answer is not to just buy more plants and try the same thing over again. Start with your choice of pot, potting mix, water frequency, fertilizer routine, and light levels. Think humidity and not wet, think airflow and not trapping water inside the pots, think like a plant growing on an exposed vertical surface under equatorial skies. Cultivate kovachii like a kovachii and not like a besseae or lindleyanum. However, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Just because something works for another grower doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Kovachii cultivation is the number one question I get asked about at every lecture I give. Usually, the further north you are the more questions you have about cultivating this species (light levels). Happy to chat at any of the events I attend frequently, the Paph Guild, The Paph forum, going to be at the Slipper Symposium in SA in June, the British Paphiopedilum Society in September and November, and there will be a Slipper meeting in Ecuador next year in June (2024). Love to meet anyone friendly.

Best,

 

[Happypaphy7]

One of the best one grown in a pot was shown by a member from Scotland. Look that up if interested.

 

[geoffsharris]

I've had some reasonable success growing them in the last few years. While everyone gets hung up on media, watering, pH and light, I really think temperature is the primary issue in why people struggle with this species. Like many mid to higher elevation plants, they would prefer day time temperatures in the high 70s to perhaps 80F. They will even tolerate a bit higher on a daily basis over the summer as long as they cool down to the low 60s and preferably to the high 50s at night. I think this is the problem most people have is that getting down to high 50s year round is really difficult. When I grew these in San Diego, they did OK, but were quite slow to grow where a good chunk of the year it's mid 60s at night with a couple of weeks every year in the 70s. This was always when my higher elevation plants had big setbacks. Now that I'm in Northern California, it rarely is above 60F for the low at night even on very hot days. I have 5 clones and they are all growing much better since I moved to N Cal and put them in my cooler greenhouse with temps from 52-60F night and 70-85F day depending on time of year. I think trying to grow these outside of their preferred temperature range is going to be an exercise in frustration similar to many masdevallias and Den cuthbertsonii. If you can't cool them off at night they (and you) will struggle no matter how badly you want them to grow and all the effort on the other aspects of culture you can control. Probably not what everyone wants to hear, but that's been my experience.

 

[geoffsharris]

Gang

I do not doubt any of you when you speak of the trouble you have with kovachii, but I just don't understand. They seem to grow like weeds right out of the flask, when planted in quality moss. When they are too large for the compots, I move them into 2 inch pots with moss, for about 6 months. From then on, I grow them in small orchiata with perlite and limestone. They go through a progression of 5, 6 and 8 inch pots, until I move them into nursery containers. I just water them often with RO plus weak fertilizer.

After I read the most recent postings, I went out into the greenhouse and took a photo of a tray that I moved out of moss earlier this year. They are doing great. I don't think there is a blemish on a single leaf. Mike

Mike, would love to hear both what kind of moss you are using - sphagnum or otherwise and as mentioned above, the temperatures you are keeping them at, particularly at night.

 

[orchid527]

Mike, would love to hear both what kind of moss you are using - sphagnum or otherwise and as mentioned above, the temperatures you are keeping them at, particularly at night.

In compots and for the first 6 months or so in 2 inch pots, I use the long strand, NZ sphagnum moss. I need to mention that this has been very difficult to find in quantity, at a reasonable price for some time. After this I move them into bark/perlite/crushed limestone. I believe the limestone helps keep the pH up as the Orchiata ages. To be honest, I think a lot of it washes out during the first few waterings. Most of the plants in moss stay in the house, under lights, so they probably range from 68 F at night to 80 F in the daytime with the lights on. Some of the larger plants in moss and all on the ones in bark go into the greenhouse. I try to keep them as close to the floor of the greenhouse as possible. The temperatures there range from 55 F to maybe as much as 90 F. If I think the greenhouse temperatures will be more than this for any length of time, I bring all of the larger kovochii into the house. They do not like heat, especially with low humidity. The little ones close to the floor don't seem to mind too much, if I keep them moist. If they get too dry at the higher temperatures, new growth will be damaged.

My oldest kovachii has been flowering for 4 or 5 years and I've grown about 200 - 250 plants from flasks, from 3 different sources. My oldest kovachii is from the first generation of seedlings of the first plants from Peru. Chuck Acker's most recent generation of kovachii is the easiest to grow by far. Those first seedlings were fussy stinkers. For me, these most recent flasks are as easy to grow as any other phrag flasks.

I do have good quality water. I generate RO at about 4 ppm dissolved solids and reconstitute with about 10% tap water that runs just under 300 ppm dissolved solids. I add fertilizer at less than half of the recommended strength. I water these kovachii just about every time I look at them. Certainly not less than 3-4 times a week.
Anyway, this is what works for me under my conditions. I could probably do better, if I put more effort into it.

Mike

 

[FrankRC]

One of the best one grown in a pot was shown by a member from Scotland. Look that up if interested.

Like I said, if it’s not broken don’t fix it. Too many growers struggle with this species with a lot of cultural misconceptions being passed about regarding this species. What works for one grower and one plant doesn’t always work for everyone and every plant. Pay attention to the natural populations and many questions can be answered. Take a trip to Peru and your ideas just might change.