Troubleshooting Phrag. besseae

[Dart21]

Hmm... this definitely gets me thinking, I have some larger lava rock readily available... also have some DG (Decomposed Granite) that I use for bonsai growing maybe I could make an orchiata/charcoal/coarse perlite mix with a small amount of DG in there. Sounds like this will take care of itself, like I mentioned, it came with these spots from the grower. Bloom is nearly fully opened right now and it is pushing a second bud so it doesn't seem to be too crucial or anything. Might have to wait on the repot unless I am extremely careful.

---------- Post added at 12:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:07 PM ----------

Anyone have any idea what in particular causes those spots? I.E. Do you think they are more of a fungal or bacterial problem?

[Vanda lover]

The grower quite likely got water on the leaves which sat there too long. The one I just bought has rotting at the base of the 2 outer leaves and from what I understand, that is also caused by water getting down into the leaves where they meet with the stem, and sitting there too long.

[Dart21]

Makes a lot of sense, thank you Vanda_lover

[WeirdGuySeattle]

I have heard these guys are not heavy feeders and don't do well cause of the salts in the water from feeding too often. Sounds like once a month works well??? I was thinking every other week at like 1/4 tsp per gall, but maybe I'll plan on every 3 weeks.

[jeremyinsf]

I do 40ppm about twice a month.

[Dart21]

I was planning on using a very gentle Neptune's Harvest 2-3-1 at 1/4th strength (even less, maybe a few drops per qt.) every other watering or even every third, especially with it being in an organic substrate, but I can't imagine that a little bit of hormone treatment once per month wouldn't help them out.

The times that it's not getting anything but pure water, I'm going to be sure to thoroughly flush it, at least 1-2 qts. of water going thru the substrate.

---------- Post added at 03:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

That was another problem with the besseae I just received from the grower, upon looking in the fine grade fir bark that it's potted in there is a poly-coated fertilizer in there... all I can say is I'm going to take the risk and repot while in bloom.

[Vanda lover]

I got my Supergrande as a seedling and it took 8 years to bloom. I'm pretty sure that the problem was that I was feeding it the same as I was feeding my phals. Then I started noticing that some leaves were getting brown tips, so I cut way back on the fertilizer. I also found that it likes more light than I would have thought.

[Dart21]

Have mine about 3' from a 4 foot, 4 tube fluorescent unit rated at 20k lumens... maybe I'll bump her up a little bit in the future and see how she responds.

Between the last post and now, I yanked her out - in bloom :-/ - and mixed up some Med. grade orchiata, Coarse Perlite, Med. grade charcoal and some DG (decomposed granite for non bonsai-ers) I did this at a rate of about 2:2:1:1 in the order listed above. Hoping for the best.

Figured to throw in the DG due to their potential for being partially lithophytic if my books aren't mistaken.

[Vanda lover]

That sounds like it should work fine.

[Dart21]

Thanks again Vanda_lover