watering and fertilizing paphs

[Paphluvr]

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.

[Fairorchids]

Originally Posted by Pokey49

My orchids are in our sun room. which offers plenty of light but not direct bright light this time of year as its on the north side of the house. The orchids sit along the north wall. I keep the sunroom between 60 degrees at night and 70 at day. 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. My other orchids (Phals, cyms and epidendrum) look fine. Its this one paph that the lower leaves are looking poorly and I dont want to duplicate on the 5 new one sI have, whatever is going one

You should just about reverse the ratio. Water/flush at least weekly (twice a week if in coarse material), and fertilize once a month in winter, twice a month in summer.

You can repot Paphs any time, incl. while in bud or bloom, as long as you are carefull not to break the flowers.

[Ray]

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.

[quiltergal]

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.

[Pokey49]

[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]

Originally Posted by Pokey49

what does RO stand for?

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

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.

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.

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]

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

Paul

[quiltergal]

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.

[Pokey49]

Terri. We get our water from our well. We are not on a public system. That said I think are well water is pretty good stuff. I really think my issue is a bit to much fertilizer so will back off a bit

U said u raise phals too. I have one that has had all the blooms fall off but three and those last three have stayed fresh for a month now. Can't figure out why they are hanging on so long. Any thoughts for me on that??

[quiltergal]

I have a standard size Phal that has blooms that can last 6 months or longer, so it's not all that unusual.