I generally don't grow a whole lot of Phals.
I do have the following:
Phal heiroglyphica
Phal lindenii
Phal parishii
Phal pulchra
Phal stuartiana
and a Phal hybrid that my father had purchased for my mom before he passed away.
Which ones were you referring to?
I haven't done too well with Phal appendiculata in the long run. They are too touchy. The longest I've grown these for was about 2 years.
I had a Phal lowii that I had a difficult time keeping hydrated. The seller had mounted it onto a tree fern pole, and I couldn't keep this thing hydrated to save my life, (as well as the orchid's life). I don't like mounting Phals onto anything tree fern for this reason. I've tried it before, and it never worked well for me. I had a difficult time trying to remove the orchid from the stupid mount, and by the time I could, it was too late.
I lost my Phal x leucorrhoda because of too severe a neglect. There were multiple times when I got so busy most of my collection got destroyed. Only the strong survived. It lasted several years before it gave up.
I had Phal tetraspis and Phal modesta var coerulea, but I don't remember why they didn't make it. Probably because I neglected them due to me getting over heated during the summer from not having had AC in this house at the time. Ever since I had portable AC units in my room, I am able to live more comfortably during the summers here and be able to keep up with the watering without feeling like I'm going to die from a heat stroke. They were doing good for a few years though.
I also had Phal celebensis and Phal javanica. Phal javanica was a difficult one to grow. It likes warm, seasonally wet, and humid conditions, but the roots have to be provided enough air for it to breathe without it desiccating. Phal celebensis is also one that is kind of prone to stress. It is one of the harder to grow mottled leafed Phals.
I was trying out Phal maculata in limestone media, it was kind of an experiment to see if it would work. The orchid lived for about 1 year, then I got busy, and couldn't keep up with the watering.
Keeping up with the watering has been a very big problem for me and Phals, this is one of the reasons why I don't grow a ton of them.
It's the same reason why I purposefully limited the amount of Pleurothallids I grow in my collection now. There are moments when I get so busy, I don't have time to sleep.
__________________
Philip
Last edited by King_of_orchid_growing:); 06-02-2014 at 01:58 AM..
|