Warming Mats

[naoki]

Nice P. druryi, Jeremy.

I think Nat gave you lots of good advice, but have you seen this?
http://www.aosforum.org/pdf/Warm_Paph_Cult_1.pdf

I mostly grow paph species, and I don't know about your hybrids' background. But some paphs are a bit more challenging in a warm region. When I was in NC, I wasn't so successful with Parvisepalum (and Phrags).

[Vrana]

First off, I'm by no means an expert having only been growing orchids since January or so, but one of my first non-phal orchids was a complex paph (a Winston Churchill cross) I got back in February. It's probably the only orchid (out of a collection of 25, now) that hasn't given me some sort of grief In my newb-ness and out of root rot paranoia I re-potted it the day I brought it home, and the existing bloom lasted another two months. I know it's generally not recommended, but I've also read that paphs are one of the orchids most tolerant to this sort of treatment. I'll also say that sphagnum kills anything it touches in my growing environment and I pull all plants out of it immediately, though I know others have had success with it.

I would also be curious about whether paphs would benefit from a heat mat. I just got some little paphs from Hausermann with a lot of new root growth and I want to keep it that way. I'll probably start my own thread about them soon as I don't want to hijack this one, but I do wonder if younger plants would enjoy the added heat, even if, from the sound of it, older ones might not.

[HighSeas]

Thanks Naoki....I'll read that! I appreciate your sharing it!

VERY nice Paph. Dyruryi! Tell us about your growing conditions! Apparently, it's quite healthy and it likes what you've done. I'm jealous.

Vrana...I don't have any problem with you using this thread so please don't feel that you're "high-jacking" it. We are both obviously searching for the same information and the opinions of others more experienced than we are.

I've done some more research on the subject and have found that during the colder winter months, the mat may be quite useful. (To keep the roots warmer) I've read that the 10-15 degree difference between day and night is not truly necessary for flurescence in the spring. (in phals) The point is to increase root growth when otherwise, that tendency is turned off by the colder weather. I'm not sure if there's damage to be done if in fact, it's already warm such as during the summer months. Guess that depends on where you live. I do believe that plants need to rest so I'll probably use the mats using careful judgement OR when the temps drop down below where I'd like.