Feeding Complex Paph to Foster Budset

[NYCorchidman]

I think the title of this thread is wrong and misleading to others who are not experienced.

As mentioned by Ray in an older post here, NO FERTILIZING will even FOSTER these things to set buds. In the case of complex paphs, and I'm only talking about complex paphs in the "tradional" sense, not the ones mixed in with something like sukhakulii, the initiation is mainly influenced by the seasonal change of day/night length, temperature, and rainfalls. That's just how they are "programmed" to do in their genes.

I'm out of this thread. Enough has already been said, and if you still believe what you want to believe, then it is up to you.

Good luck~

[JMNYC]

Well, Ray, I could not cherish all of the above more than I do! Including that a lot of it is above my pay grade.

The parts I relate to: you seem to relate to each individual specimen as an individual.....are not hostage to any doctrinaire, categorical rules....

And, most of all: you (as do I) Bring Eyes by Marcel (Proust): The real voyage of discovery consists not is seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Related to imagining: seeing relationships between and among elements/entities theretofore not associated.

All of the above=thrilling and inspiring!

---------- Post added at 02:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:34 PM ----------

As mentioned by Ray in an older post here, NO FERTILIZING will even FOSTER these things to set buds.

Above, we know. but it owes to that orchids under duress become impelled to reproduced.

So in that event, setting bud/spike is in response to stress and a desperate need to SURVIVE, survival being the first law of the natural world.

Pls know, it pains me that your premise is if I (or someone else) does not come to the conclusions YOU have.....that we are somehow deluded.

Forgive me, but it feels despotic; authoritative is the polar opposite of authoritarian.

[NYCorchidman]

FYI, it is not MY conclusion, but rather a fact, which I'm just passing along.

You are free to think whatever you like. No one is stopping you. This is a public forum where people get information. I'm just trying to correct certain things to benefit some people who might otherwise be misled.

Orchids under stress reproducing is also just your opinion.

Plants have evolved and adapted to certain environmental conditions where they occur. For some species making up complex hybrids, they mostly bloom in the spring after cold and relatively drier winter passes, because they know more favorable conditions where they can reproduce and the chance of their progeny's survival is the highest, not because they are stressed.

I am yet to see any of my stressed (whether it be due to wrong watering or disease or whatever) plants to make some hurried flowers out of seasons. Of course, here, I'm talking about plants that flower in certain seasons.

Anyways, I'm also retiring from this thread of yours.
It's just pointless.

Say whatever you wish and twist others comments.

[RosieC]

Just another reminder to everyone to keep things friendly.

[Fairorchids]

Have finally read through this entire thread. Two comments:

While it is tempting to equate blooming successes with increasingly elaborate fertilzer treatments, it just might be the result of overall improved conditions as the grower becomes more experienced.

Secondly, the single overriding factor that drives budding in Paphs (& Phals) is temperature change. In Paphs it will do the trick, whether you fertilize or not.

Pre-1992, there was a large commercial cut flower grower in Denmark. He had 30 greenhouses, each 90' x 500'. He grew Cymbidium in half, and Paphs in about 10. He had modern complex hybrids in one*, and 3 older hybrids in the rest:
Leanum (insigne x spicerianum)
Lathamianum (insigne x villosum)
King Arthur (an early complex)

Cut flower production requires that flowers be timed for the major holidays (primarily Christmas & Easter). The first falls before, and the latter falls after the natural blooming time for Paphs. He managed to time his flowers by night time temperature control, so he got the major bloom for Christmas, and a secondary bloom for Easter.

How do I know this? My dad worked for him, after he closed his own orchid nursery (where I worked after school & weekends for 9 years).

* = he got rid of the modern complex plants, as they grow too slowly compared with the more primitive hybrids (which are in the background of the modern bulldogs).

In conclusion, while the wrong fertilizer regimen might inhibit blooming somewhat, it is never the initiating factor.

As to Phals, there were a series of articles in Orchids a few years ago, which described how the Taiwanese have developed the mass production of these orchids. Bud initiation was again dictated solely by temperature changes.

In other genera there are other factors. For example, Cattleya species are heavily influenced by length of day.

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Have finally read through this entire thread. Two comments:

While it is tempting to equate blooming successes with increasingly elaborate fertilzer treatments, it just might be the result of overall improved conditions as the grower becomes more experienced.

Secondly, the single overriding factor that drives budding in Paphs (& Phals) is temperature change. In Paphs it will do the trick, whether you fertilize or not.

Pre-1992, there was a large commercial cut flower grower in Denmark. He had 30 greenhouses, each 90' x 500'. He grew Cymbidium in half, and Paphs in about 10. He had modern complex hybrids in one*, and 3 older hybrids in the rest:
Leanum (insigne x spicerianum)
Lathamianum (insigne x villosum)
King Arthur (an early complex)

Cut flower production requires that flowers be timed for the major holidays (primarily Christmas & Easter). The first falls before, and the latter falls after the natural blooming time for Paphs. He managed to time his flowers by night time temperature control, so he got the major bloom for Christmas, and a secondary bloom for Easter.

How do I know this? My dad worked for him, after he closed his own orchid nursery (where I worked after school & weekends for 9 years).

* = he got rid of the modern complex plants, as they grow too slowly compared with the more primitive hybrids (which are in the background of the modern bulldogs).

In conclusion, while the wrong fertilizer regimen might inhibit blooming somewhat, it is never the initiating factor.

As to Phals, there were a series of articles in Orchids a few years ago, which described how the Taiwanese have developed the mass production of these orchids. Bud initiation was again dictated solely by temperature changes.

In other genera there are other factors. For example, Cattleya species are heavily influenced by length of day.

Thank you! All of the above, invaluable and also rings true.

I also learned something I did not know about the background of our bulldogs.

And, I am knocked out that when you were that age, you worked in a nursery.

I do now think, in my case, tho still, perhaps not so much with my phals during their vegetative phase, I am still being faithful to my current regime for those.....I've been overdoing the Nitrogen re my other alliances.

Re all the other factors which clearly impact growth and bloom...I employ no artificial augmentations of any kind, re light or air movement or humidity, temps... and do have the ongoing challenge of heat in the winter and A/C in the summer....tho thankfully, not yet this season.

But evolving ways of growing in YOUR unique climate....is the challenge, yes?