ok here it goes (I neglected my job for the past hour:drool
my plant collection:
for paphs-
mostly species
of those, mostly parvis and some brachys
of those, mostly albums
other paph species I grow: violascens, sangii, wardii album, venustum album, stonei, ect
Phrags: longifolium album (multiple), andreatte
aside from paphs, I only grow miniature to micro miniature species. mostly Pleurothallids, Oxyglossum section Dendrobiums, and SE Asian Bulbophyllum types.
My growing conditions:
strictly enclosures with consistent temperature ranges.
summer highs near 82F for paphs, lower for miniature species
winter lows of 50F, and on occasion slightly lower for some parvis
air movement is constant (24hrs a day)
light is from T5 bulbs and Ray's LEDs
humidity shifts throughout the day but it may range between 60-90%
Prior fertilizer used was MSU clean water with seaweed applications during the spring and fall.
Fertilizer applications were in varying concentrations but always under a tsp per gln. Both with KLite, MSU and my current regiments.
potting medium was comprised of Orchiata (sml and med), perlite, grow stone, large sponge rock, shredded sphagnum and limestone.
-certain species also have Diatomite mixed in (hangianum, emersonii, stonei for example)
My potting media has now changed as well. I have replaced the sphagnum with shredded coconut coir. The reason for this was consistent moisture levels instead of pockets of wet moss.
plant reactions during Klite use:
-root growth in all plants was encouraging and productive
-leaf growth was discouraging and slow
-bud blast was more evident and prior, not an issue
-multifloral species produced rot easily
-I rotted out a gigantifolium during this time. I have never rotted a paph in the 7-8 years I have grown them until this point. An armeniacum album also rotted. I had never killed a parvisepalum paph until this occurrence.
-leaf growth was weak by comparison, leaves would flop or worse, not grow very quickly and when stagnant in growth, they would develop infections near the base where the leaves touched. This was most evident, if not a constant variable that occurred in every paph species outside of the parvi-Brachy group
-parvi section paphs responded without major incident or noticable negative effect, same for Brachys. Although results were not negative, they were not encouraging either.
-Chlorosis, and leaf pigment in MF species was pale and inconsistent. Some leaves have even turned white, absent of any pigment. Leaf mottling in parvis section plants was bland by comparison. Many plants such as micranthums, showed less contrast and less shine.
Since stopping Klite I have leaf mottling that I would consider to be more appropriate. I have leaves in plants that are growing aggressively. I now have plants putting out 2-3 new leads on unbloomed growths. I also have buds or blooms on very small plants (my preference)
for example I have blooms on the following plants with a 8 cm LS and only 3 leaves- niveum, fowlei album and micranthum var. eburneum.
My experience is that I would not recommend using it for species outside of Parvi and Brachy. I would imagine I could have elaborated further, but perhaps this sums up my experience in a way that others may find useful.
