Paphs in a Sydney shade house

[Harlz]

The collections is certainly an excellent section of the forum to read about how others grow their Paphs. So I'm going to share my particulars. I started growing orchids in Jan 2013 and Paphs soon became part of my smallish collection (along with Dendrobiums, Cattleyas plus a few Sarcochilus, Zygopetulums, Cymbidiums and Phalaenopsis). I guess you could say the bug caught me pretty badly.

All are grown in a small unheated greenhouse/shade house in my backyard in suburban Sydney, Australia. We're roughly 30km from the coast so the climate is not as mild as the city or the coast. Our past winter the coldest recorded temperature was 2°C/35°F. All the below survived their first winter with me and most seem to have perked up with the warmer spring weather.

My current Paph collection: (mostly seedlings, no flowers yet)

gratrixianum
dianthum
hirsutissimum
spicerianuim
venustum
charlesworthii
callosum
tranienianum
Chou-Yi Yuki
Macbeth Ghost x Dark Warrior x bellatulum
fairrieanum var.album x Pat Rowland 'White Queen'

Wish list (species):

micranthum
malipoense
armeniacum
sukhakulii
emersonii
parishii
vietnamense
villosum
wardii
purpuratum
reticulatum
tigrinum
leeanum
lillianne
insigne
henryanum
herrmannii
dayanum
concolor
ceres
boxallii
barbigerum
appletonianum
affine
fairrieanum

I guess I'm more inclined towards species but that's because species are easier to research their native growing conditions and whether they're likely to survive the occasional near freeze (if kept on the dry side) over winter.

To be continued.

 

[cattmad]

welcome, another aussie

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Welcome! Nice collection. We love to see pictures of your growing area, no matter how big or small. Pictures are worth a thousand words you know.

 

[NYEric]

Welcome from NYC.

 

[SlipperKing]

Welcome as well. I only see two multis on either list. We'll have correct that oversight quickly!

 

[Trithor]

Welcome from South Africa. I also grow in an unheated greenhouse. The temperatures inside go down to 4 degrees C, and outdoor lowest this last winter was -7 degrees C (Those few nights I did put on a fan heater to keep the temps above 4. I manage to grow most species and hybrids with a (varying degree admittedly) of success. From my experience I can tell you that most paphs will accept the occasional drop in temp with no real harm, so go for it, throw all caution to the wind, mortgage the house and buy paphs, LOTS and LOTS of paphs!

 

[Dido]

Hi and welcome a nice wishlist you have there
some are on mine too.

 

[SlipperFan]

Welcome to Slippertalk, Harlz! Yes, do show us pictures of your growing area.

 

[abax]

Welcome from KY. Your wish list looks a lot like mine.

 

[Harlz]

Alright some photos. My current growing area is a AUD80 cheap green house which came with a plastic cover which is only used in winter. I spent AUD50 on a 10m roll of 50% shade cloth which I used to cover it plus an extra layer on the western top/side for summer. Two large eucalyptus trees break up the midday sun just a little but not much. Neighbouring trees also provide a little shade but less in summer.

It's not much compared with the fancy, permanent greenhouse structures of others but it cost me next to nothing. The ground is not level which is why it rests on planks of timber and bricks. It's levelish enough and weighed down with bags of Orchiata and bags of rocks to avoid blowing away when its stormy.

I added an extra layer of 50% shade cloth (pulled away to the left in the below image) to further reduce the impending afternoon summer sun on the lower tier Paphs and Sarcs. I don't have a light meter but the light levels seems about right.

I'm getting married later this month and we're off to NZ for two weeks. I couldn't really trust anyone to water my plants to I spent AUD150 on a two-outlet battery-powered timer, some poly pipe and micro irrigation system. It works great but still trying to work out how to group my plants. One section is watered daily (mounted Dendrobiums and Catts in bark and clay pots). The Paphs get watered ever second day if it's hot (30°C+) or third day if it's normal (24°C+) spring weather.

Some of my earliest acquired Paphs are in a mix of coconut husk chips, perlite and charcoal. The more recent are in a mix of fine bark and perlite. Without any cover humiditiy fluctuates wildly, 50-70% on cloudy days or 20-50% on sunny days. Obviously during hot, dry weather they get watered more often but seem to do fine even in low humidity (as do the mounted Dendrobiums which I was even more worried about with low humidity).

I'm hoping for a spike from the largest plants come the end of summer. But from reading about other Paph growers I shouldn't hold my breath.

I still have a bit of space for more plants but I've got enough plants to be choosy. I'm still waiting to see a malipoense or a micranthum seedling that's under AUD50. It's tempting to order a flask or two from Taiwan at those prices but I'll probably avoid quarantine hassles and do a trip and bring back in the suitcase.

Welcome as well. I only see two multis on either list. We'll have correct that oversight quickly!

Thanks SlipperKing for pointing that out. I'm open to any and all Paph suggestions multi or not although I think it will need to be intermediate or cool growing. I'm unsure if a warm growing will survive the winter.

 

[SlipperFan]

Nice work! How do you keep the cloth from blowing away? I used to have something similar, and held it down with ropes over the top and tied to stakes driven into the ground. And a few clothes pins.

 

[Harlz]

Nice work! How do you keep the cloth from blowing away? I used to have something similar, and held it down with ropes over the top and tied to stakes driven into the ground. And a few clothes pins.

Thanks for your comments. I measured and cut the cut the shade cloth roughly to size and used cable ties to fasten it to frame. I also used cable ties to fasten poly pipe for the micro irrigation.

 

[SlipperFan]

Seems good!

 

[goldenrose]

:clap::clap: doesn't have to be fancy to work and that means more $$$$ for plants!