Eric Young Orchid Foundation (picture heavy)

[Tom499]

My parents recently visited Jersey, and visited the EYOF. They were told they could take photos freely, so I think its fine to post some here.

 

[likespaphs]

 

[W. Beetus]

Wow! Awesome place!

 

[SlipperKing]

Wow! Awesome place!

I second that!

 

[Justin]

there are some enormous specimen Paphs in the last photo.

 

[SlipperFan]

Can you imagine wandering around in there???!!!

 

[Lanmark]

Nice!

 

[Roth]

there are some enormous specimen Paphs in the last photo.

It's okay so far... However, you should have seen it when Alan Moon was the grower and manager, there would not have been any slightly out of color leaf anywhere in the greenhouses. EYOF got into deep problems when they decided for financial and technicals reasons to stop using the Greenmix rockwool ( that was suddenly stopped to market the cheap and low quality 'growcubes'), and tried several other potting mixes.

 

[NYEric]

Thanks for sharing the short tour.
1 hour, a couple of grand$, access to the phrag growing area, and I'd be happy.

 

[Shiva]

Where have all the paphs/phrags gone? That's what I would have like to see.

 

[Roth]

Where have all the paphs/phrags gone? That's what I would have like to see.

They still have quite a few plants, however many plants did not resist the transition from Greenmix to bark and peat mix that they decided to use. Alan Moon was a top grower, and he was pushing his plants to the top of what is possible, hence when they were repotted in another mix, no one was skilled enough to redesign the feeding schedule for the new mix, nor know how to revive plants previously grown in greenmix... They had one complete greenhouse of odonts and miltoniopsis before, absolutely amazing, and another one only paphs... Most of those plants are apparently gone.

 

[Shiva]

Thanks! But what exactly is Greenmix?

 

[Roth]

Thanks! But what exactly is Greenmix?

Greenmix was spinned rockwool blended with lignin and clay, it was more a kind of flock, but not exactly...

There are photos here:

http://www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/grow-media/green-mix.htm

the stocks sold today are a couple of decades old already... though they are still good and stable, but Grodan refuses to manufacture it, no matter the ordered quantity. They replaced it by rockwool cubes, known as growcubes, which are absolute crap.

 

[Shiva]

Thanks! It helps complete the picture of what happened.

 

[NYEric]

I find grow wool cubes with diatomite to work OK for seedlings.