Growing brachypetalum

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Stone

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I'm planing to try the Tanaka method of growing brachys. Basically he pots seedlings into small 2-3 inch pots. When they are established, he transfers them to very large pots (6 inch dia.) pots with a very large particled mix consisting of bark and stones. Then he will leave them for years without touching them. He waters each individually. Has anyone tried this? He seems to have great success!

Mike
 
I haven't tried it, but it makes sense. For plants that seem to need frequent repotting, I find that brachy's resent repotting...something that most paphs welcome like a badly needed diaper change. My approach is simply to add more inorganic material to the medium, and try to repot no more often than every 2 years.
 
What mix are you planning to use? In the US, we can't get some components of his mix. Winter time would be a challenge with his method. Dr. Tanaka is talking about not repotting for 4 years or more.
 
What mix are you planning to use? In the US, we can't get some components of his mix. Winter time would be a challenge with his method. Dr. Tanaka is talking about not repotting for 4 years or more.

1 part hard bark, 1 part treefern cubes, 1 part baked clay, 2 parts polystyrene chunks, 1 part charcoal. (or something like that) Trying to keep all materials the same size. Most of seedlings will not be ready for 18 months but I might try a couple this spring/summer?
I would like to find large size zeolite and diatomite.
 
All the stones, and the Orchiata would last for several years for sure, polystyrene of course, charcoal, it can make some problems after a while depending on the wood used. Tree fern, definitely fine too...
In my earlier experiments with Orchiata, I repotted some hangianum in 30 Orchiata Power (9-12 mm) + 4 pumice ( the grey one) + 4 polystyren beads ( the 1cm ones) + 2shredded tree fern and 1 coir, with some chemistry grade calcium carbonate added. They got nutricote every 4 months, and I found out two weeks ago that I still have 50 plants in the original mix, never repotted, in a corner of the nursery. It did not decompose at all at nearly 5 years now and the plants definitely have a lot of active root tips, no dead roots or nearly so. Only the plants are grossly overgrown, so they need repotting, but I think another 1-2 years more would be absolutely possible. Therefore, it would be possible to have a mix where we can avoid repotting for several years. In fact, the plants are rarely repotted in the wild, and apart from some plants growing in moss, where the fresh moss 'renew' the growing media in some ways ( but antique roots are still alive an well, deep below), many species are at the same spot for decades, untouched. The water, nutrients, whatever, keep the media suitable seemingly forever...
 
All the stones, and the Orchiata would last for several years for sure, polystyrene of course, charcoal, it can make some problems after a while depending on the wood used. Tree fern, definitely fine too...
In my earlier experiments with Orchiata, I repotted some hangianum in 30 Orchiata Power (9-12 mm) + 4 pumice ( the grey one) + 4 polystyren beads ( the 1cm ones) + 2shredded tree fern and 1 coir, with some chemistry grade calcium carbonate added. They got nutricote every 4 months, and I found out two weeks ago that I still have 50 plants in the original mix, never repotted, in a corner of the nursery. It did not decompose at all at nearly 5 years now and the plants definitely have a lot of active root tips, no dead roots or nearly so. Only the plants are grossly overgrown, so they need repotting, but I think another 1-2 years more would be absolutely possible. Therefore, it would be possible to have a mix where we can avoid repotting for several years. In fact, the plants are rarely repotted in the wild, and apart from some plants growing in moss, where the fresh moss 'renew' the growing media in some ways ( but antique roots are still alive an well, deep below), many species are at the same spot for decades, untouched. The water, nutrients, whatever, keep the media suitable seemingly forever...

Yes exactly! Tanaka also says it is important not to damage new roots on the seedling when transplanting and not to touch the old compost at all, even if its decomposed and let the new roots enter the new mix by themselves. or it can set your plant back a year or 2.
 
i really believe that success of Brachy's is heavily dependent on the flasker...the main problem i have is the time they need to spend in a compot after deflasking...the worst thing one can do is forcibly separate the roots on brachy (and parvis).. i dont even wash off the agar (which i used to do and plants would bleach out )..this presents a problem for some flasks because of the media some flaskers use (The Roots) ..all the old roots end up dying before they can grow new roots ...so once they are able to be separated they have a significant journey to establishing good roots..really frustrating. I have had better success with flasks that have looser media (Springwater and pretty much anyone else)..they grow roots a lot quicker. I have asked Sam about this but he only receives his plants from the lab after they have been established in compots and doesnt know what they do...anyoe have any idea how to treat flasks that come from The Roots lab?
 
I have a multi growth niveum and a BS seeding belatulum in 4 inch wood slat baskets. Sphagnum/large limestone gravel/building sand/cichlid sand for media. Both doing very well. The niveum has been in this basket since Jan 2011, and the belatulum about 4-5 months less. When they overgrow the baskets they're in, I'll just break out a side, (or two) and put them in a bigger basket.
 
i really believe that success of Brachy's is heavily dependent on the flasker...the main problem i have is the time they need to spend in a compot after deflasking...the worst thing one can do is forcibly separate the roots on brachy (and parvis).. i dont even wash off the agar (which i used to do and plants would bleach out )..this presents a problem for some flasks because of the media some flaskers use (The Roots) ..all the old roots end up dying before they can grow new roots ...so once they are able to be separated they have a significant journey to establishing good roots..really frustrating. I have had better success with flasks that have looser media (Springwater and pretty much anyone else)..they grow roots a lot quicker. I have asked Sam about this but he only receives his plants from the lab after they have been established in compots and doesnt know what they do...anyoe have any idea how to treat flasks that come from The Roots lab?

I deflasked a lot of brachys species and hybrids, and other paphs, and I found out that, if the seedlings are strong ( not etiolated), you can absolutely break a part of the roots, in fact I recut the roots at ca. 1-2 cm for the brachys, dip them in a mix of dithane, aliette and subdue (Ridomil), let them dry on a towel for an hour or two, until there is no visible humidity, but before they dry out, and repot in plugs. Never lost a single seedling. What you see with the 'dead roots' is not a matter of media or growing condition, it is root rot guaranteed.

Some flaskers have media too that make bad quality ( sugar loaded) roots, those can be tricky to deflask, but they respond well to the same treatment.
 
Some flaskers have media too that make bad quality ( sugar loaded) roots,

Too much K:poke::poke::poke:

I just couldn't contain. In the last year since dropping the K and using hard well water instead of RO water I'm having no problems with deflasked brachy seedlings.

Brachy's were purportedly "salt sensitive" which I thought was ironic since a bunch of them are found within range of ocean spray. To that end, they seem to love salts as long as its low in K relative to Ca/Mg (and even Na).
 
Too much K:poke::poke::poke:

I just couldn't contain. In the last year since dropping the K and using hard well water instead of RO water I'm having no problems with deflasked brachy seedlings.

Brachy's were purportedly "salt sensitive" which I thought was ironic since a bunch of them are found within range of ocean spray. To that end, they seem to love salts as long as its low in K relative to Ca/Mg (and even Na).

Niveum, godefroyae, leuc, and possbaly thaianum could be subjected to sea spray NaCl? Bellatulum and concolor should be considered seperately. Maybe when they talk about low salt they refer to total salinity whether from N or K or whatever?
 
Niveum, godefroyae, leuc, and possbaly thaianum could be subjected to sea spray NaCl? Bellatulum and concolor should be considered seperately. Maybe when they talk about low salt they refer to total salinity whether from N or K or whatever?

I think most non-chemist people only know "salt" as NaCl. But more appropriately should be considered as Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). But even so all you here is the blanket statement about brachies (no divisions) are salt intolerant which doesn't make sense either way (TDS or NaCl) with most of these species ending up so close to 20,000ppm of NaCl.

Bellatulum is definitely inland, but some populations of concolor are also coastal island types like niveum. I thought thaianum was inland too? But all brachies are associated with limestone.

Anyway although 2/3 of ocean water is NaCl, Magnesium is about 3 times higher than K, and Ca about 1.5 times K (which is down around 400 ppm, or less than 2% of TDS in Ocean water).

I think regardless of your brachie species, they all like lots of soluble Ca/Mg
 
TN Rick, about those baskets, what are you

using to hold the medium inside the basket? I grow several orchids in baskets and use long-fibered coco around the inside of the basket to keep the potting medium from
ending up on my gh floor. I'd like to experiment with Paphs. in baskets, but I have no idea whether the coco
might make a good "holder-inner" or not.

Oh, do keep harping on the low K. The difference in the
low K diet is amazing compared to other fertilizers I've used in the past.
 
I deflasked a lot of brachys species and hybrids, and other paphs, and I found out that, if the seedlings are strong ( not etiolated), you can absolutely break a part of the roots, in fact I recut the roots at ca. 1-2 cm for the brachys, dip them in a mix of dithane, aliette and subdue (Ridomil), let them dry on a towel for an hour or two, until there is no visible humidity, but before they dry out, and repot in plugs. Never lost a single seedling. What you see with the 'dead roots' is not a matter of media or growing condition, it is root rot guaranteed.

Some flaskers have media too that make bad quality ( sugar loaded) roots, those can be tricky to deflask, but they respond well to the same treatment.

good to know , thanks!
 
Too much K:poke::poke::poke:

I just couldn't contain. In the last year since dropping the K and using hard well water instead of RO water I'm having no problems with deflasked brachy seedlings.

Brachy's were purportedly "salt sensitive" which I thought was ironic since a bunch of them are found within range of ocean spray. To that end, they seem to love salts as long as its low in K relative to Ca/Mg (and even Na).

yep, low K..like i said ..i only have problems with one flasker..unfortunately most of my flasks have come from them
 
I think regardless of your brachie species, they all like lots of soluble Ca/Mg

I think no more than any other sp. And I think they get most if not all of their Ca/Mg from leaf litter etc, Concolor for eg. has often been found growing in moss on trees. I believe niveum has too. And I've seen pics of malipoense and other ''limestone growers'' growing in tree crotches right away from the rock. To me this says they get their Ca (and everything else) from tree litter, dead grasses and exudates from living plants etc. ( maybe only tiny traces from the rock ) The deep rooted plants (trees) would get Ca from the decomposed limestone soil and as we saw in the tables the other day, a lot of the Ca in leaves is not resorbed but discarded with the dehisced leaves.
Therefore I still believe that brachys needing extra Ca is a myth... Not to say they can't deal with extra as long as it remains in balance with the other usual suspects:)
IT may be a hangover from when raw and acid bark etc. was/is used without amending with dolomite?
I think keeping your medium pH around 6.5-7 would supply plenty of Ca.
 

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