Paphiopedilum culture on inert media

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Brabantia

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What is your experience for Paphios culture on inert media? Rick has very good success with gravel stones. A friend of my club cultivated Paphios hybrids very well in Seramis (for info about this material click Here) and members of this forum also have very good results with Hydroton. It seems to me that it is a good method to minimize the loss of nutritive elements by reaction with classical organic substrates. Can we consider that all distributed nutritives elements are only used by the plant when they are cultivate on inert substrate? And finally why their usage is not more spread? Some sections of the Paphiopedilums family would they fit more easily than others on inert substrates?
 
The "distributed nutritives elements" are only used by the plant while in contact with the roots and foliage. Then you have a salt surface unless you flush the media with pure water. Some people love s/h, I prefer a mixed media. Just a personal preference. i guess people have grown in organic media for so long it seems natural. (plus most plants grow that way in Nature!) :D
 
I am currently testing hydroton and sphagnum with a few pieces of charcoal thrown in a plastic wicker style basket lined with sphagnum for a few Paph hangianums in a grouping. It's mainly hydroton, the base of plants are wrapped in sphagnum. They seem to respond well, with new leaves pushing out a little over about half an inch long on the most responsive plant and about somewhere between 1/2 to1/4 inch for the other 3, i have only had them since the first week of July though.

I am also using straight hydroton for a recovering FC puddle i received from an AOS judge who had health issues and couldn't care for his plants.
 
Yeah it rarely gets above 80, i sometimes give mid week top up to the weekend watering schedule.

Current setup is a 3 level kitchen rack positioned in corner window with 2 T5 sunblasters a few 6" clip on fans and a newly acquired 14 watt red /blue led square array.
 
I know it's slowly growing my gf has limited my grow area to the rack and i swap out flowering plants to the living room as extra space! However Glen Decker is coming to our September meeting and I've already ordered some more plants, one or two may get kind of large eventually!
 
I know it's slowly growing my gf has limited my grow area to the rack and i swap out flowering plants to the living room as extra space! However Glen Decker is coming to our September meeting and I've already ordered some more plants, one or two may get kind of large eventually!

What are you getting?
 
I've ordered Phrag. Kyle Quintal (Haley Decker x kovachii), Paph. Wössner Kolarmi (kolopakingii x armeniacum), and a species Cliesocentron merillianum, with a teret leaves and upright growing habit and delightful blue green grey miniature flowers, which i first spotted in Andy's display at the Portland show last November, but nobody had any to sell then. So I've been patiently waiting for some to be available.
 
I've ordered Phrag. Kyle Quintal (Haley Decker x kovachii), Paph. Wössner Kolarmi (kolopakingii x armeniacum), and a species Cliesocentron merillianum, with a teret leaves and upright growing habit and delightful blue green grey miniature flowers, which i first spotted in Andy's display at the Portland show last November, but nobody had any to sell then. So I've been patiently waiting for some to be available.

The Cliesocentron merillianum looks like an interesting plant! Looks like a Vanda!

The Paph Wossner Kolarmi looks like a good grower but may get really due to kolopakingii influences.
 
We had a kolopakingii at our spring show, it was a monster, I'm hoping this will be a wee bit more tame in size.
 
Hi Dido, where did you get yours?

Also i accidentally veered this thread off topic, so back onto it, i have a few other plants in semi hydro /hydroton setup some like it some are alright with it none have done exponentially better, however i do like that the media is stable no breakdown and pests seem to be lesser or easier to spot with it.
 
I'm growing some paphs in draining PrimeAgra. I have to water every day, the stuff dries out very quickly. I do get a salt layer on top of the clay balls, and whenever I see it, I flush with RO water. The paphs are growing, but not exactly busting out of their pots. Been doing it since February, so a bit too early to make a judgement.

I also have two phrags in PrimeAgra - a Sedenii in s/h and a Hanne Popow in draining. The one in s/h is doing a bit better, but the flowers drop off prematurely, before they wilt. Both get brown leaf tips as well; I've been reducing fert concentration for them, but the browning still progresses.

I think the above is the biggest problem with neutral media - there is nothing organic to consume extra fertilizer, so it's very easy to overdo it. I think I'll drop K-Lite to 5 ppm N and see if they improve.
 
I'm growing some paphs in draining PrimeAgra. I have to water every day, the stuff dries out very quickly. I do get a salt layer on top of the clay balls, and whenever I see it, I flush with RO water. The paphs are growing, but not exactly busting out of their pots. Been doing it since February, so a bit too early to make a judgement.

I also have two phrags in PrimeAgra - a Sedenii in s/h and a Hanne Popow in draining. The one in s/h is doing a bit better, but the flowers drop off prematurely, before they wilt. Both get brown leaf tips as well; I've been reducing fert concentration for them, but the browning still progresses.

I think the above is the biggest problem with neutral media - there is nothing organic to consume extra fertilizer, so it's very easy to overdo it. I think I'll drop K-Lite to 5 ppm N and see if they improve.

The white stuff on top is probably not a problem, calcium. The salts you can't see, are. (hiding inside of the PrimeAgra). Soak your pots in DI water for half a day, flush and then re-soak. Test the flow throw with an EC meter. Repeat until you get readings down, I like them to be ~200uSi. The 5ppm N will be fine and the leaf tip issue will go away on your new growths.
 

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