watering and fertilizing paphs - Page 2 - Orchid Board

NYCorchidman · #1 02-24-2014, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokey49

Oh, one other question . Whether watering 1x or 2x per week how much water do you use? I douse the pot until the water is running out the bottom of the pot rather than just pouring a dab of water in the pot like my mom use to water her African violets. BAsed on what I have read, all the medium must get wet, not just the top inch or so.

As for watering, you might want to revisit my older post.

I do water thoroughly, but I mist enough for top half an inch or so of the pot to be watered in between (almost daily) watering. I explained the reason why in my older post. You may find out why when you repot your paph later.

Regarding the yellowing leaves, I have no idea, but given the look, I don't think it is something to worry about unless it continues on with other leaves.

I have never seen any of my paph losing more than one leaf at a time on the most current growth if ever. I have seen more than one leaf yellowing at the same time on old growths that are over two three years old.

Pokey49 · #2 02-24-2014, 01:52 AM

yes, I did not forget your misting suggestion. I have a misting bottle, albeit still in the cabinet unused which I will drag out use between waterings. thanks for the reminder.

Oh, I assume room temp water is fine?? doesnt have to be warmish?

MrHappyRotter · #3 02-22-2014, 02:15 AM

Pokey, in many regards, you are absolutely correct, and I'm impressed with your last comment.

Yes, you can expect to lose some of your orchids. It's a natural part of growing. There are too many factors to account for, from growing conditions to genetics, and it's inevitable that some plants will die.

Based on the photos, it does look like the plant in question may be in a potentially precarious situation, but not particluarly alarming (yet). For most healthy paphs, you can expect to have at least 4 healthy leaves, though 6 - 8 is more typical. Your plant looks like it may have 2 healthy mature leaves, 1 small immature leaf and an additional leaf that is in the process of dropping. It's not hopeless, and I wouldn't even call it alarming, but there is a chance that it won't survive considering it's blooming (which uses a lot of energy) and it only has a couple of really healthy leaves.

That being said, the type of paph you have is typically very vigorous so the odds are in your favor. I'd say, keep the temps in the 70F - 80F range, don't overdo the light levels, keep the humidity at 50% - 70% and water twice a week, and I bet your plant will be just fine. In regards to fertilizer, less is definitely more. Even at 1/4 strength, there's plenty of room to cut back. I prefer to feed weakly weekly, but in absence of a TDS meter, I'd recommend that you further reduce your feeding rate to 1/8 recommenend strength, once a month. I know that sounds like nothing and maybe even ridiculous, but orchids and particularly the slippers are very light feeders. I can't stress that enough, particularly if you're unclear on your water quality.

As far as watering, go all out. Drench the pot. Let plenty of water pour through. What I do is pour water through the pots, lots of it, then allow a bit to collect in the saucers. I let that sit and soak for an hour or more, and then I empty the pots. You want to thouroughly flush the pots to help leach out excess nutrients and to allow the potting mix to absorb all the moisture it can. Then you want to let the mix dry out to an evenly moist level as soon as possible, but never let things get dry between watering.

Paphluvr · #4 02-22-2014, 07:21 AM

Quote:

I am fertilizing 1/2 strength with the ratio noted above 1x per week and flushing to get the salts out every 4th-5th week with plain water that is luke warm.

I would say that you're being quite aggressive on your fertilizing schedule. Paphs are light feeders. You could probably reverse your schedule and feed every 4th-5th scheduled watering with plain water applied copiously in between.

Ray · #5 02-22-2014, 09:51 AM

I totally agree.

I am seeing a great deal of improvement in my paphs applying about 50 ppm N in RO, 2x - 3x/week, flooding them thoroughly each time. That would be about 1/5 teaspoon/gal of the formula posted originally.

Also...forget the moisture meter. They rely on the conductivity of the SOIL to estimate the moisture content. Soil, being very fine in texture, has a lot more direct liquid connection between the probes. In pretty much any orchid medium, the path between the probes is so circuitous that it is 1) an unreliable reading, and 2) likely to give you a false, drier reading.

Pokey49 · #6 02-22-2014, 12:56 PM

[QUOTE=Ray;658257]I totally agree.

I am seeing a great deal of improvement in my paphs applying about 50 ppm N in RO, 2x - 3x/week, flooding them thoroughly each time. That would be about 1/5 teaspoon/gal of the formula posted originally.

Ray- what does RO stand for?

Everyone else thanks for all the great advice here. One could read all the orchid books in the Library of Congress and I still don't it would match the advice you get here. I like asking nitty gritty questions and getting nitty gritty advice.

May I ask what may sound like another dumb watering/feeding question....when I feed, now at a much lower rate/frequency than I have been, may I assume I too douse the plant with water that has fertilizer in it until water is coming out the bottom of the pot? Feeding once every 3-4 weeks for pahps?

Next question: If I am using plain water 1-2x per week in between feedings will that not flush out the salts as required??

I have several genera of orchids attempting to have one feeding/watering regime fit all. I can clearly see now that aint going to work. My phals, cymbidiums and single epidendrum however seem to be doing fine, but its becoming clear I need to ease up on the feeding of the paphs. I can also see why most folks seem to gravitate to one or two genera. It can get to complicated to keep track of all the differences

Pokey

---------- Post added at 09:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 AM ----------

QUiltergal- yers there is new leave growth emerging from the paph in question

Ray · #7 02-22-2014, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokey49

what does RO stand for?

Reverse osmosis - the most commonly used way of purifying water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokey49

May I ask what may sound like another dumb watering/feeding question....when I feed, now at a much lower rate/frequency than I have been, may I assume I too douse the plant with water that has fertilizer in it until water is coming out the bottom of the pot? Feeding once every 3-4 weeks for pahps?

There are many ways to "skin the cat" when it comes to feeding.

Personally, I prefer to mimic nature to some extent, providing a minimal amount of nutrition at every watering. The extreme alternate seems to be your question here, providing a substantial amount of nutrition very infrequently. You have to be careful about that, as orchids are far more sensitive to the dissolved solids content of solutions than are most plants, and that is directly controlled by both the amount of fertilizer in the solution, but by what's in your water supply to start with.

No matter what, it pays to flush heavily whenever you water, whether that includes fertilizer of not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokey49

Next question: If I am using plain water 1-2x per week in between feedings will that not flush out the salts as required??

"As required" is the question, as that depends upon your water supply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pokey49

I have several genera of orchids attempting to have one feeding/watering regime fit all. I can clearly see now that aint going to work. My phals, cymbidiums and single epidendrum however seem to be doing fine, but its becoming clear I need to ease up on the feeding of the paphs. I can also see why most folks seem to gravitate to one or two genera. It can get to complicated to keep track of all the differences

Feeding is actually pretty low on the pecking order of priorities, because - as has been said several times in this thread - orchids are not very demanding of food. If you give a slight-to-moderate amount of fertilizer on a regular basis, all of your plants will be fine.

Pokey49 · #8 02-22-2014, 01:22 PM

Ray- All you say sounds good and makes sense. thank you very much.

Paul

quiltergal · #9 02-22-2014, 12:06 PM

Does the plant in question have a new growth starting? It would be pushing up between the lowest set of leaves & the main plant. Occasionally this new growth will cause the lowest leaf to yellow.

Mine are all potted in fine grade CHC mix. It tends to hold water longer so you don't have to water as often. I'm letting mine go about 10 days between watering which might be a tad too long. So far none if them seem to mind.

The new ones from Lehua are in coarse bark because the conditions in HI are warm & humid most if the time compared to here. Media doesn't dry out nearly as fast there, so coarse bark makes perfect sense.

When you are ready to repot let me know. I have a boatload of clear pots that I am willing to share.

quiltergal · #10 02-22-2014, 01:25 PM

RO stands for reverse osmosis. It's a filtration system that purifies your tap water. That said, I use tap water on all my Paphs. You & I get our water from the same source. Right now it's coming from Big Butte Springs up near Butte Falls in the Cascades. It's been tested often and is some of the purest water you'll find anywhere. Later on in the summer they augment with water from the Rogue river which obviously needs to be treated, but it still isn't bad. I've never had a problem using it on any of my plants.

When fertilizing you will want to drench the pot. A 1-2 time per week flush should be adequate to get rid of salt accumulation.

I treat my Paphs & Phals the same. Their requirements are pretty similar. That's all I grow now. Back when I had everything under the sun care was a little more complicated .

Meant to say if you have a new growth started not to worry about the yellow leaf.