help with battered new delivery

[neophyte]

After I moved the Sobralia to a shadier area, it seems to have stopped dropping leaves – maybe that's the secret to stopping all that wilting. The old leaves that were already browning continued to wilt, but the other leaves seem to be okay now. That's a plus! I think it was a bit too shady though (large overhang + trees outside + medium-sized windows + placing the plants on the floor, so really not much sun), so I've placed it on a more elevated surface in order to give it just a bit more light. It's the same room though, so the temperature is pretty cool. I've actually moved all three acquisitions to the shade room – not sure if that's a good idea. It seems the Sobralia is taking it well, and according to IOSPE, K. graminea grows in deep shade. What is the optimal temperature and lighting for P. schlimii?

[Roberta]

Sob. crocea really can be happy in rather deep shade - mine blooms pretty well under those conditions - underneath a big tree fern, also where I grow Pleurothallids. Certainly leaving it that way while it establishes, at least, will do no harm and will probably help. (At this point, the most important thing is to give it every opportunity to rehydrate, and grow some new roots. Looking for ideal blooming conditions can come later)

Phrag. schlimii I grow in the greenhouse, though it probably could go cooler (based on the Baker data)..Also rather shady... Baker notes that in habitat it has cloud cover most of the time. My conditions are pretty binary, greenhouse or outside, if you have better control, more options.

[estación seca]

The most important factor for Phrags is lots of water.

[neophyte]

I have the P. schlimii in pure sphagnum right now because that was the only medium I had that could really retain a lot of water. It's in a slotted plastic pot, so hopefully that provides some more aeration. I do hope I won't run into any rot problems...

[estación seca]

I'm not a master Phrag grower. The only time I had trouble was when I didn't water enough. But I've grown my three in S/H, not in sphagnum. If you use the Advanced Search function and search the Cypripedium forum you can probably find posts combining Phrag and sphagnum.

[neophyte]

How do you search for multiple keywords? I tried just separating them with commas, but I guess that's not it...

[Roberta]

I was able to do an "OR" search on multiple keywords under Advance Search, semicolon followed by a space. Also I get an "OR" search with a "+" between keywords, with and without quotes on the keywords ... so no luck getting an "AND" search. I think this is one for Camille...

[neophyte]

At least searching in the Cypripedium subforum narrows the search down quite a bit... I'm starting to worry sphag is too soggy; is it a bad idea to repot so soon?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by neophyte

At least searching in the Cypripedium subforum narrows the search down quite a bit... I'm starting to worry sphag is too soggy; is it a bad idea to repot so soon?

I think it is close to impossible to keep a Phrag too wet... they need to stay moist. I would leave it alone at this point. Once it revives and matures a bit, you might want to move to small bark, but no rush. That's one genus that benefits from having a saucer that can hold a bit of standing water to wick up into the pot so that it never, never dries out. The fact that Phrags need to stay rather wet makes it necessary to repot them more often than most orchids since media will break down - at least every year, some people do it twice a year. (Organic media... if you use semi-hydro of course it's not an issue)

[neophyte]

Thanks! I'll hold off, then.

It's looking pretty good; the plant came with four (I think) new growths just starting to show, and two of them have visibly gotten larger. The other two are still quite tiny, but I'm not too worried. I think one or two of the oldest leaves on the plant have slightly yellowed, but besides that, the plant is doing quite well, so I'm happy!