I have just received from Ecuagenera a phrag Grande and a phrag Haley Decker. Any cultural tips would be greatly appreciated. I do fine with bessea hybrids but I have minimal experience with Kovachii hybrids and my Paul Eugene conroy which is similar to Grande isn't doing much.
Cultural tips for Phrag Grande and Haley Decker
- Thread starter LukeC
- Start date
Help Support Slippertalk Orchid Forum:
I would expect these to grow well in the same conditions as your besseae hybrids.
It’s a fairly cool and wet grower like besseae.
It’s a fairly cool and wet grower like besseae.
mrhappyrotter
Grand Chupacabra
Phrag. Grande typically appreciates growing wet like most other Phrags, but some individual cultivars are less tolerant of "wet feet" than others. So, if you grow your Phrags sitting in water, then keep an eye on your Grande just in case its one that don't appreciate wet media all the time. Of course, this assumes you're growing in traditional media as opposed to hydroponically.
In addition, if the Paul Eugene Conroy is slow growing or struggling, you may find the Grande does the same thing. But, in my opinion that suggests you may have a cultural issue. These do tend to like higher light than typical besseae hybrids, and while they don't like hot temperatures, they perform better when it's on the warm side (in my experience). So maybe it's a light or temperature issue? Also, how do you water? Are you growing your Phrags sitting in water at all times or letting them dry out?
In addition, if the Paul Eugene Conroy is slow growing or struggling, you may find the Grande does the same thing. But, in my opinion that suggests you may have a cultural issue. These do tend to like higher light than typical besseae hybrids, and while they don't like hot temperatures, they perform better when it's on the warm side (in my experience). So maybe it's a light or temperature issue? Also, how do you water? Are you growing your Phrags sitting in water at all times or letting them dry out?
Thank you for this. I grow my besseas and hybrids with my Odonts, cold and wet, in rockwool, not sitting in water but watered regularly with rain water. I had the Paul eugene conroy in my house with my paphs, but the tips of the leaves were going brown, so I moved it out to the greenhouse too, the new leaves are looking fine with no browning, just growing slowly. By contrast I have a phrag which I think is cape Sunset in the greenhouse that grows like a weed.
mrhappyrotter
Grand Chupacabra
Cool and wet conditions probably work better for besseae and its hybrids than it does for the long petaled longifolium hybrids. I feel like there's a good chance that the cold temperatures could be the issue, but I wouldn't be able to say that's the case with complete certainty.
As for the leaf tip die back, with Phrags that's a possible sign that they have dried out a bit too much at some point, but of course there can be other causes like poor water quality, low humidity, roots in poor shape, or even nutritional issues. I assume those aren't issues for you if you're growing Paphs and Odonts successfully. Granted, some Phrags are just prone to leaf tip die back, almost to the point of being unavoidable in typical household settings. You can sometimes even see this with in-situ photos of the plants in the wild.
Watering in cold temperatures can be tricky in general for orchids as I'm sure you're aware. Unfortunately, I don't have tons of advice to give there, since I grow my Phrags indoors where it's more intermediate-warm, and certainly warm enough year round that I don't have to worry much about altering my watering routine for the Phrags.
