Paph Psyche

[Elena]

Those are some pretty impressive roots! What sort of mix do you grow it in?

I would happily grow them but I'm finding that Brachy X Brachy primaries are surprisingly hard to come by. I'm not sure why.

 

[Gilda]

WOW ! What roots :clap:Nice bloom,too ! Please give your culture for this amazing root growth. TIA !

 

[emydura]

very, very interesting pics of the impressive roots of your plant!!!! But, as I had about the same experience with a parishii earlier this week ( I did not take a pic of the roots unfortunately, but they were comparable to yours), I now think that it is +/- an art to repot such a plant, most of the roots being on the outside of the cluster(?). So, when repotting, I had 'some' difficulties to refill the empty space inside the root cluster and trying not to brake too many of the most healthiest being on the outside!!? Jean

I repotted a parishii as well that had hardly any roots. The absolute opposite. What sort of mix do you grow your parishii in? My dianthum however has roots like above.

I also found it difficult to repot this Psyche. I think there are big air pockets in the centre of the mix as it was difficult to refill with new mix. This is probably not a bad thing though.

David

 

[emydura]

WOW ! What roots :clap:Nice bloom,too ! Please give your culture for this amazing root growth. TIA !

I wish I knew. I'll grow other Paphs in the same mix and have hardly any root growth. I do know that I only get root growth like this in a bark mix. In mixes such as CHC's I get nowhere near as many roots. But then with CHC's I get bigger stronger growths. My hypothesis is that in a bark mix the plants are not getting enough water so they grow more roots to search for it. Whereas in the CHC's there is a lot more water so they don't need as many roots. Not sure if it is true or not.

I only grow my Brachy's in bark as I'm worried the CHC's would hold too much moisture for there liking. In winter I always skip a watering for Brachy's which means they would get water every 2 weeks.

David

 

[JeanLux]

I repotted a parishii as well that had hardly any roots. The absolute opposite. What sort of mix do you grow your parishii in? My dianthum however has roots like above.

I also found it difficult to repot this Psyche. I think there are big air pockets in the centre of the mix as it was difficult to refill with new mix. This is probably not a bad thing though.

David

I basically use bark mix with charcoal. The parishii I repotted recently has been potted in a 'plastic' pot with rather rough pieces of bark, and, imo, was kept on the dry side, before I got it in octobre 2008:

here after repotting in clay pot:


and here my 2nd parishii, I repotted after blooming in 2008( => http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8475&highlight=parishii ) , 2 new growths since then, about same bark mix with some moss on top and 2 pebbles to keep the plant after repotting :


Jean

 

[P-chan]

Beautiful!! I love it! :clap:

 

[SlipperKing]

nice roots!

 

[SlipperKing]

Jean,
Are the clay pots working for you then?

 

[JeanLux]

Jean,
Are the clay pots working for you then?

they do! Of course my experience with paphs in clay is still limited, but I do not remember one of the clay paphs giving up the 'ghost'. I have quite some of the larger phrags in clay and they are doing fine! Most of the orchids I killed were in 'plastic' pots, so when I repot, then normally into clay (or on a mount for catt and alliance). But there remains a problem when watering because of my clay/plastic pot mix: clay on 'the dry side' and plastic too wet! Jean

 

[Orchidzrule]

My hypothesis is that in a bark mix the plants are not getting enough water so they grow more roots to search for it. Whereas in the CHC's there is a lot more water so they don't need as many roots. Not sure if it is true or not.

David

Not sure either, but that hypothesis makes a lot of sense! I haven't been growing paphs very long, so only one of my 13 plants is in a mix of of my own making (it came bare-root, so I had to do something), but it's in bark & perlite. I think when I repot, next fall/winter, I'll try one or two in CHC for comparison and see what I think.