The right care for Phragmipedium kovachii?

[Theodoreorchidking]

Hi everyone. I got a blooming size kovachii and I wanted to know if I'm taking care of it right. I grow it in a 50% fine orchiata bark, 45% pumis, and 5% oister shells. I have been watering with tap water but have made the move to ro water just to play it safe. I leave it in 1in of water and grow it under led lights. I haven't fertilized because i wasnt sure of the right kind. I am planing to flush it every week for salts and to water it. I put a picture and want to know what everyone thinks. I got it from an ethical sorce and the leaves were damaged by eather the heat pack or the cold. Thanks so much

 

[Ray]

There is no "right kind" of fertilizer, as far as I'm concerned. Read this:
FERTILIZER BASICS

 

[littlefrog]

I grow them like besseae and try (but not always succeed) to give them more oyster shell. Sounds like you are doing about what I would do.

In my experience they are hard to get out of flask, hard to grow as seedlings, and most take somewhere near 'forever' to get to blooming size. There are always a couple out of each flask that go boom after a couple years of doing nothing. Zero to full size in a year or so. And then the rest of them stay basically the same for the next forever. They are kind of frustrating. Very nice when they bloom.

 

[Happypaphy7]

All the healthy & well grown plants I have seen of this species were dark green.
They also do not like heat. I think I've seen the best ones from Scotland and Minnesota, other than of course Peru.
I would not water plants with ro water without fertilizer added to it.
Even if it is sitting in water, unless you are sure that the water wicks up into the potting mix, I would water it very often.
they should always be moist or wet, just like besseae.

You can dig up on this forum about their culture.

 

[BrucherT]

I had a seedling stay under 3 inches for 5 years then we had a heat wave in the 90s and it melted away. They cannot take heat.

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

Thank you everyone for the help. Means a lot!!!

 

[tnyr5]

Bill Goldner gave me this one as a recently-deflasked seedling last April. I've been growing it semi-hydroponically, in the mix I use for my Mexipedium (equal parts #3 perlite, coarse sand, precision orchiata, and oyster shell) with added chunks of rockwool, ferts at 70-ish ppm N twice a week, airstone blowing bubbles under the roots 24/7. Started slightly slow because I was overlighting and underfeeding it at first. Pot in the pics is 4 3/4in. Distance between the two black dots on the newest leaf is 1.5cm, about 9 days of growth. Temps never above 75.

 

[Kalyke]

The last one I even tried died in less than a month-- and was a seedling. They seem to be highly specialized. Not like Longifolium which is a ditch weed in comparison. (I'm a lightweight). Good luck. And Watch some of those Joe's Orchids on Youtube where he looks at Phrag Care. He seems to understand their care pretty well. He says only fertilize -- very weakly-- with orchid fertilizer-- once or twice a year. I use K-Lite Fertilizer for Orchids and Epiphytes 12-1-1-10Ca-3Mg from First Rays. Ray, do they even make it any more?

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

All the healthy & well grown plants I have seen of this species were dark green.
They also do not like heat. I think I've seen the best ones from Scotland and Minnesota, other than of course Peru.
I would not water plants with ro water without fertilizer added to it.
Even if it is sitting in water, unless you are sure that the water wicks up into the potting mix, I would water it very often.
they should always be moist or wet, just like besseae.

You can dig up on this forum about their culture.

Would it be good to grow in my basement with a led light: around 62-65 deg f

 

[Cearbhael]

Would it be good to grow in my basement with a led light: around 62-65 deg f

They would love that!

 

[Cearbhael]

I have had Kovachii primary hybrids that have melted in MN summer heat. I lack air conditioning so it is always a bit of an issue!

 

[Ernesto]

Bill Goldner gave me this one as a recently-deflasked seedling last April. I've been growing it semi-hydroponically, in the mix I use for my Mexipedium (equal parts #3 perlite, coarse sand, precision orchiata, and oyster shell) with added chunks of rockwool, ferts at 70-ish ppm N twice a week, airstone blowing bubbles under the roots 24/7. Started slightly slow because I was overlighting and underfeeding it at first. Pot in the pics is 4 3/4in. Distance between the two black dots on the newest leaf is 1.5cm, about 9 days of growth. Temps never above 75.View attachment 38907 View attachment 38908

I have three surviving seedlings deflasked last spring. They’re much smaller than this one— I wonder if bubbling in the root zone would help them grow faster. I keep them pretty wet in an inch of water, with rockwool and perlite, plus a touch of oyster shell and a couple bits of Nutricote. Green leaves, just slow.

 

[awesomei]

I am a Phrag grower here in Dallas Texas. I have lost a lot of my kovachii species and hybrids to our summer. I get most of my flasks from Chuck Acker. I think he is the best kovachii and Phrag. hybridizer! I now have an isolated area of my greenhouse where I have installed a small window unit AC and grow them on a short bench below a wetwall and have a fogger right by them. They seem to do well. I water with rainwater weekly. I fertilize with Cal-Mag fert and KelpMax mix adjusted to 7.5-7.7 ph. I grow them in a mix of Orchiata,small, charcoal, sponge rock and top dress with about 1/4 inch crushed oyster shells . I am starting to change over to mix of rockwool, sponge rock, charcoal and crushed oyster shell. I feel that sometimes the Orchiata bark gets too acid. K's seem very sensitive to low ph. Kovachii seem to prefer very strong light.
How this helps,
George

 

[southernbelle]

Keith Davis says that UNC studied Orchiata and after 2 years it becomes progressively more acidic rapidly. This happens less in a mix with charcoal perlite, worse with straight Orchiata as the dolomitic buffer coating washes off after a couple of years.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Would it be good to grow in my basement with a led light: around 62-65 deg f

I believe that the proper temperature range would be slightly warmer than that for the day time but cooler than that at night.
Still, 60s range is certainly better than high 70s or much warmer where some poeple have theirs and suffer.
Try and see how it works.

 

[noochka1]

Hi all;

I live in south Florida, so my winter temps are often +70f, and summer is pretty much +gates of hell (f). Has anyone in a similar climate tried growing this one in semi-hydro over ice packs? I know it's ridiculous, but I have been experimenting with Masdevallia and it seems be working so far. It's kind of a pain adding/changing ice packs twice a day, but it seems to be keeping the reservoir cold and I am getting new root and foliar growth which is super exciting. Has anyone tried anything similar with kovachii? I'd love to get one, but I don't want to spend big bucks just to have it wither away on me.

 

[cnycharles]

You could try a zeer pot in pot to help cool the root zone

 

[Ray]

Has anyone in a similar climate tried growing this one in semi-hydro over ice packs?

Ice packs may not be necessary. Have you tried S/H in an unglazed clay pot sitting in a tray of water? The extra evaporation from the pot wall was pretty effective for me with cyps up in PA. With the RH in south Florida??? Maybe in a air-conditioned house or apartment?

 

[noochka1]

You could try a zeer pot in pot to help cool the root zone

That's a very interesting idea, and far less work than changing ice packs every day

 

[noochka1]

Ice packs may not be necessary. Have you tried S/H in an unglazed clay pot sitting in a tray of water? The extra evaporation from the pot wall was pretty effective for me with cyps up in PA. With the RH in south Florida??? Maybe in a air-conditioned house or apartment?

Hi Ray,

Yes, I tried the unglazed pot method and unfortunately that didn't keep my cool growing mazzies cool enough. I even kept them in an air-conditioned room but, alas, they all croaked. Apparently, even 75f is too much for them to handle.

I'm hopeful that kovachii is just finicky about temps at the roots like mazzies appear to be. I think I'm gonna try one on ice packs and see what happens. I'm already re-icing the mazzies 2 times a day anyway, so not a lot of extra work there. If it begins to crash, someone in a cooler climate will get a free kovachii LOLOL!