Recent content by myxodex

I would say you have a nice cerveranum. I agree we definitely need DNA work on these species. I've had a number of plants sold in the EU as amabile/or bullenianum and they all fitted the description of cerveranum. Cerveranum has a ciliated pouch rim, whereas in appletonianum it is smooth and...

My money is on an S deficiency, the symptoms are classic and your fertiliser is short on S to begin with. Epsom salts supplies both magnesium and sulphur, so you don't need plaster-of-Paris or gypsum (it comes with it's own complications).

Thanks for the info. I got some of these about a year ago and what I like about them is that they don't fall apart like the previous brand I had, which disintegrated into a mush. The only issue I do have with them is that they seem to gradually become more and more resistant to re-wetting...

Yes, I agree, but should add that the staminode of lowii has been "broadened" and has been given a light, almost whitish margin. I would guess P. superbiens (original) is closest as it includes the light staminode margin with green centre, but other section barbata types like curtisii...

I've not tried the vine weevil version, but the general Bug Clear Ultra for ornamentals, fruit and veg. The stuff worked for scale on my paphs with out any harm to them. The active ingredient concentration is exactly the same. The dose for ornamentals was 10 ml/litre. This reminds me to get...

Beautiful, one of my favourite Angraecum's.

Yes, exactly my thought. P. hermannii is very variable in the extent of green edging to the dorsal and petals. As the paper is behind a paywall I don't know how the authors have justified it's separation from hermannii as a separate species. Maybe someone who has access to the paper can tell us ?

I know nothing about this type of orchid but from looking at the description in orchidspecies.com this one occurs over a large geographical range and this often means quite a lot of variation. So I guess that they could both be what they are labelled as.

The poor quality LECA I have does not hold any water at all and in fact quite a lot of the pellets have an annoying habit of floating in water. The only info I have about Atami B'cuzz Hydro-Rokz suggests that at least some water is taken up into the core of the pellets, can you confirm this ...

Phred, another idea you could try is zeolite filtration. You are adding citric acid to neutralise some of the alkalinity in your water. Adding the acid isn't going to remove the Na, but with zeolites you can add the acidity AND remove the sodium. This is especially useful for alkali metal ions...

Cobalt is used in glazes by potters. It's quite expensive; comes as either the oxide or carbonate, see pottery supply vendors. The carbonate is easy to dissolve in sulphuric acid, but you would need filter paper/coffee filter to get rid of the residue. This stuff is very impure and has who knows...

I also add nickel although it probably isn't necessary. Nickel is required at such low levels and given that Fe, Mn and Zn preparations often have Ni as a contaminant (it is unlikely that any of the plant food manufacturers use analytical grade materials due to the high cost). However there is...

Phred, I agree with Ray about your water. Na is way too high. I think K-Lite would be the worst choice with your water as K and Na are competitors for uptake. If you have enough rain and can collect rain water do so, ... and invest in a water butt. Alternatively, you could go down the RO...

I really like that. A species I would like to add to my collection, but I'm totally out of room. @Stone, damn I just started experimenting with CHC. I better go back and check out the old threads.

I sometimes use a non-ionic wetting agent/detergent with my feed (Growth Tech). I add just enough to give a "short lived" foam to the final mix when I shake it up. I've noticed that with some pots the watering runs through the medium leaving areas unwet even if I flood the top with enough to wet...