Brachys

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SFLguy

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I just realized that the last three paphs I bought were brachys (two niveum and one bellatulum) but I don't know how to care for them (I've been treating them like my other Paphs). One has since started a new growth so I'm happy with that but I wanted to know if anyone had additional information they could share that is specific to brachys. I just heard that they prefer distilled water to tap so I've started watering them with that, anything else?
Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Brachys love warmth. Low fertilizer levels. Not more than 1/8 tsp per gallon of water. I don't find them fuzzy about water quality. I use tap water for all my plants that has about 200 TDS. They love airy mix. Keep them moist. They do very well under lights. Did I mention keep them warm?
 
Brachys love warmth. Low fertilizer levels. Not more than 1/8 tsp per gallon of water. I don't find them fuzzy about water quality. I use tap water for all my plants that has about 200 TDS. They love airy mix. Keep them moist. They do very well under lights. Did I mention keep them warm?

Thanks! I'm not used to fertilizing my plants, mine usually catch their own hahaha but I've been doing some foliar feeding which I'm going they'll like (I have few enough plants to be able to do it still haha). The tap water here is at 350+ ppm so I'll err on the safe side especially since I can get distilled water for free haha. I have them on a south facing window behind other plants that I'm hoping they'll like. How warm are we talking about? Haha
 
I think you could add a bit of your tap water to the distiller and it would help. If room air felt just warm enough to be comfortable to you inside, then that should be the minimum temperature. Then, you could go up from there and they'd like it more and more


Elmer Nj
 
I think you could add a bit of your tap water to the distiller and it would help. If room air felt just warm enough to be comfortable to you inside, then that should be the minimum temperature. Then, you could go up from there and they'd like it more and more


Elmer Nj
Just warm enough to be comfortable can be 55° or 75° depending on the day haha
 
Thanks for the link Naoki! Nice find.
 
Disclaimer: I can't say my way is "right" or "better", but here's what works for me. Pot them in aircone pots one size bigger than they really need. Media should have exceptional drainage - more than 50% of the mix should be xl perlite chunks. The rest can be orchiata or standard bark mix. Add a small amount of silica sand, then a final layer of moss as a top dressing. Water every 2-3 days for 10 months of the year, ferts every other watering. At the end of 10 months, when the new growths are nearly mature, gradually slack off water for two weeks, then give a full 6 weeks of a hard, dry rest where they only get a few tablespoons of water once a week. After that, water & fert normally again. They will resume normal growth quickly and bloom soon after.
 
Disclaimer: I can't say my way is "right" or "better", but here's what works for me. Pot them in aircone pots one size bigger than they really need. Media should have exceptional drainage - more than 50% of the mix should be xl perlite chunks. The rest can be orchiata or standard bark mix. Add a small amount of silica sand, then a final layer of moss as a top dressing. Water every 2-3 days for 10 months of the year, ferts every other watering. At the end of 10 months, when the new growths are nearly mature, gradually slack off water for two weeks, then give a full 6 weeks of a hard, dry rest where they only get a few tablespoons of water once a week. After that, water & fert normally again. They will resume normal growth quickly and bloom soon after.
Is there a particular time of year I should aim to give them a rest? I'm guessing winter is best?
 
Interesting bit about the dry rest. Over here (tropical lowland Malaysia), most brachy species (niveum, concolor, godefroyae, leucochilum) grow and flower reliably once a year. Bellatulum is more finicky during the hot months but can flower. Most growers usually do not give them any dry rest.
 
Disclaimer: I can't say my way is "right" or "better", but here's what works for me. Pot them in aircone pots one size bigger than they really need. Media should have exceptional drainage - more than 50% of the mix should be xl perlite chunks. The rest can be orchiata or standard bark mix. Add a small amount of silica sand, then a final layer of moss as a top dressing. Water every 2-3 days for 10 months of the year, ferts every other watering. At the end of 10 months, when the new growths are nearly mature, gradually slack off water for two weeks, then give a full 6 weeks of a hard, dry rest where they only get a few tablespoons of water once a week. After that, water & fert normally again. They will resume normal growth quickly and bloom soon after.

Interesting.Obviously it works for you. But I never give my brachys rest. They bloom all year round. 2 times a year for some. Some never stop. They bloom as soon as the growth matures. I grow all species except thaianum.
 
Disclaimer: I can't say my way is "right" or "better", but here's what works for me. Pot them in aircone pots one size bigger than they really need. Media should have exceptional drainage - more than 50% of the mix should be xl perlite chunks. The rest can be orchiata or standard bark mix. Add a small amount of silica sand, then a final layer of moss as a top dressing. Water every 2-3 days for 10 months of the year, ferts every other watering. At the end of 10 months, when the new growths are nearly mature, gradually slack off water for two weeks, then give a full 6 weeks of a hard, dry rest where they only get a few tablespoons of water once a week. After that, water & fert normally again. They will resume normal growth quickly and bloom soon after.

That sounds like a very good program. I would just add that they seem to like vigorous air movement and not too much overhead watering. They are not good mixers with normal glasshouse orchids. Need to be grown seperately most of the time. Still learning...........
 
I find they don"t need a dry rest. Mine like to be kept moist and seem to resent drying out.
 
Hmm, interesting. The rest is something I just considered part of brachy culture & assumed everyone did it. Oh well, it works for me, so I'm not switching :p. It's also worth noting that I find brachys to be very easy to grow (as long as they were healthy when I got them) , and so far have not experienced any of the "repotting crankiness" I often hear about as I make it a point to repot them during their rest, if they need it.
 
Hmm, interesting. The rest is something I just considered part of brachy culture & assumed everyone did it. Oh well, it works for me, so I'm not switching :p. It's also worth noting that I find brachys to be very easy to grow (as long as they were healthy when I got them) , and so far have not experienced any of the "repotting crankiness" I often hear about as I make it a point to repot them during their rest, if they need it.

I agree. Brachys are very very hard to nearly impossible to revive when they suffer root loss or setback of any type!
 
Mine didn't seem to mind the repot, two of them I got almost bareroot and the other in very decomposed media, the one in old media popped a new growth right after being repotted
 

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