Paphiopedilum concolor

[Djthomp28]

It is clearly concolor season. Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to lose the old growth

 

[blondie]

A nice bloom

 

[Ozpaph]

nice photos of a lovely flower

 

[troy]

nice concolor!!

 

[Djthomp28]

Thanks all. I am very happy with this one.

 

[GuRu]

Nice and typical P. concolor and yes, the old growth seems to be dying.

 

[richgarrison]

..... Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to lose the old growth

do you find that common to lose the old growth in our latitude/temps?

 

[BrucherT]

I would wonder if the new growth is sucking the old one dry because the new one isn’t setting its own roots?

 

[Djthomp28]

do you find that common to lose the old growth in our latitude/temps?

This does happen more than I would like. But it is not terrible. I have noticed the old growths tending to die with some Parvisepalum species and hybrids. Mostly the ones with malipoense. I am not sure about the Brachypetalum. This is the first time it is happening in this group for me.

I belive it is a culture problem. I am just not sure where I am going wrong yet. It is not like all my paphs do this only a few.

I would wonder if the new growth is sucking the old one dry because the new one isn’t setting its own roots?

It is possible. I was thinking it is a nutritional issue, but nutrition and root problems can be closely related.

The dying growth is pretty old too. I got this one when Oakhill was closing as a tiny seedling. The dying growth is the original seedling growth that bloomed for the first time last year.

 

[richgarrison]

thanx for that.... i've recently moved my brachy and parvis (including primary crosses) to an extra chunky mix in what i would have typically called over sized pots... taking the direction from Dr Tanaka... i did it back in march, and they appear to have been very happy so far... the winter will tell the tale though ;-) so this was really asking for some 'heads up' to set my expectations better...

 

[Teresa Koncolor]

thanx for that.... i've recently moved my brachy and parvis (including primary crosses) to an extra chunky mix in what i would have typically called over sized pots... taking the direction from Dr Tanaka... i did it back in march, and they appear to have been very happy so far... the winter will tell the tale though ;-) so this was really asking for some 'heads up' to set my expectations better...

What was Dr Tanaka's advice and where did you get to read it?
Thanks

 

[richgarrison]

ah figured that was all well known....

His site is here Dr. Tanaka's Paphiopedilum ( Paph ) world, orchids, The Paph's world　田中　利典

he has a few articles discussing his technique for brachy growing...

enPaph's culture

www.orchid.or.jp

i also included what i thought was a good reference article on brachy growing that also references Tanaka's advice.

You can also search around this forum where he mentioned...

essentially pot so you almost never have to repot at least for 8 years...

lots of chunky inorganics in your mix to accomplish that

 

[Djthomp28]

I have read Dr. Tanaka's advice and follow it on brachys. However, I still repot every 12-18 months. My bellatulums have responded very well to this repotting schedule. This concolor is 4 months over due for repotting. However I am not saying that is the issue. I am just paranoid about not repotting.

 

[Teresa Koncolor]

ah figured that was all well known....

His site is here Dr. Tanaka's Paphiopedilum ( Paph ) world, orchids, The Paph's world　田中　利典

he has a few articles discussing his technique for brachy growing...

enPaph's culture

www.orchid.or.jp

i also included what i thought was a good reference article on brachy growing that also references Tanaka's advice.

You can also search around this forum where he mentioned...

essentially pot so you almost never have to repot at least for 8 years...

lots of chunky inorganics in your mix to accomplish that

Thanks....that was a long rabbit hole of reading and browsing...
My paph concolor new growth has gotten huge(more than double the old growth, it came in bloom) but not blooming. I moved it up to cat shelf with just 30% shade, now with a little cooler weather, a little brighter than he suggests. So far no change in the leaves, so it'll stay there unless we get up to 85 again. The mix is similar to what he suggests, but I have it in a net pot. It's strange he doesn't recommend removing old mix, if I read it right. It can definitely wait another year to repot, following his advice....it's been about 14 months.

 

[richgarrison]

since i use kiwi bark from fred clark and that rots neutral... and has a relatively long life span ... and i'm at 25% or less of medium sized bark, i'm intending on the many years approach to repotting... time will tell

i'm sure with my luck i'll kill all of them for reasons not related to how they are potted..

 

[werner.freitag]

I wrote it before, I bought 3 concolor in plastic pots in 2014. They are in coarse sand , never been repotted , blooming regulary, no difference to others in clay pots in Orchiata-based medium.

 

[GuRu]

I wrote it before, I bought 3 concolor in plastic pots in 2014. They are in coarse sand , never been repotted , blooming regulary, no difference to others in clay pots in Orchiata-based medium.

I intended to write here too, but Werner you beat me. I won't challenge with the advices of Dr. Tanaka and in the beginning of my orchid enthusiasm, I copied such advices blindly, with mor or less success. Later I tried to find out my own way. I avoid repotting because it's always pure stress for the plants. Therefore I use and inorganic potting mix and for example I grow my Bracypetalums for many years in the same pot, with the same potting mix and those pots are in no case oversized. They are 10cm in diameter and the hight is ca. 8 cm. Some of my Brachies have grown in the same pot for more than 10 years and they have grown to multi growth plants, are flowering almost annually and are doing well, as you can see in my thread.

 

[richgarrison]

i embarked on this change because my practices on other paphs were not working for me on brachys...

this change looks good so far, but the journey of 1000 steps is still in its first 10 steps ;-)

i took the advice from Tanaka very generally... what i noticed was the high percentage of inorganic matter in the mix. the notions of hydrophilic and phobic materials... just ended up with chunky perlite, river gravel 3/8 - 3/4" (basically limestone), and medium kiwi bark.. sprinkles of sand and chicken grit... it's a very open mix seems to fit the large roots, and the insitu growth habits of rock crevices and collected organic matter... the small rounded bottom bowls made sense to me in principle and made it easy to hang these in my space... so they get a lot of open air.

 

[GuRu]

Rich, what I intented to say is, you should always adapt growing advices of others to your conditions and not copy them blindly. I for myself - and I think Werner can confirm this - made the experience with Brachies that the growing conditions distinguish from other Paphs. They like to be grown more on the sunny and dry side than on the shady and wet side. I have grown mine on the window sill of a west facing window without any shading and they get almost baked there in the afternoon in summer time ....but they seem to like it. I water every fortnight and the small pots are helpful that the potting medium dries a bit, not fully dries out, between the watering.

 

[richgarrison]

understood... and thanx for the advice . i think you can see that is exactly what i did... and the open mix helps to manage that drying requirement... thatnx for the back and forth

we can return the thread to the owner now ;-)