Paphs in S/H-->What am I doing wrong?

[wgama]

Hi I have a couple paphs that I put into s/h because I saw that they do so well and I thought it would make it easier for my parents to care for them while I was away at school. This was about three years ago now and I have seen fairly minimal growth from them. Both plants were about two year old seedlings I purchased at a show and they were in great condition.

The Paph. insigne has multiplied and grown and there are now about 4 main growing points. Unfortunately most of its offsets along the way seem to grow to about an inch high and then just dry out/die off. Most of its older leaves do this as well. They don't lean or stretch so I assume they get enough light.

The Paph. vanda m pearman has never multiplied and mostly just had a couple leaves alive at a time. It quickly loses its older leaves. Although this summer it did put on some very healthy growth.

I was wondering if this is possibly a nutrient or water issue? Maybe a build of of minerals from the tap water? Our tap water is fairly hard and they only get a bit of fertilizer when I am home.

Side note:I think I have heard of people adding epsom salts to their s/h pots? What is this for?

[Ray]

There are several possibilities - mineral buildup from the water can poison roots, maybe the plants have just had the pots "topped up" rather than thoroughly flushed at every watering, plant wastes building up due to poor watering technique, maybe they simply have not been getting enough food ("only get a bit when I'm home" doesn't tell us much), and possibly, all of the above.

Personally, I'd repot into fresh medium, and try to treat them better.


Ray Barkalow
firstrays.com

[Corsetière]

Three years is a fair amount of time to go without repotting. Agree with Ray, sounds like you are due for repotting.

[wgama]

Thanks! Yeah there is a bit of mineral build up. Ill try some fresh media. Is this the right time of year to be trying that?

---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 PM ----------

So it looked like they were trying to grow new roots anyways so I unpotted them and cleaned everything out. The majority of the roots were dead.

The insigne looks like it has 4 good roots, one actively growing


The vanda m pearman has only one root left


I am not sure I have new medium so is it possible to leach the build up out of the old medium? I think there may be some in the basement somewhere if I look hard enough though.

I have some KLN and will be soaking the medium in it.

[mtorchid]

I've had a Paph Maudiae in the same LECA for 3 years and it's doing great, recently a new bloom spike that should bloom in about 6 weeks. As Ray mentioned, a regular, thorough flushing is important. I get R/O water at the grocery store and although it's a bit of a pain, my orchids are worth the extra effort. You might try it!

[Ray]

Heavy mineral buildup in LECA is difficult to extract, as it is deep within the pores, in addition to being on the surface, and assuming you're talking primarily "hardness" minerals from the water supply, they're hard to redissolve anyway.

The best thing I could recommend is to soak the LECA in an acidic solution for several days, then rinse it thoroughly.

Fairly concentrated citric acid is pretty good for that. If you have a decent grocery store nearby, it's called "sour salt". About a cup per gallon in hot water should be a good start.

[wgama]

Thank you for the advice, I have a bunch of old leca I want to try to grow a food crop of some sort in this summer. Ill soak it with some of that before I use it, I think there is a jug kicking around the greenhouse.

I found some fresh stuff and gave it a good soak. Also soaked it with KLN overnight. We shall wait and see what happens now. I will post more pics if it is a success.

[S&K Maley]

Do you use an EC/PPM pen? We find it has made a great improvement to our growing. It's surprising how much less fertilizer one uses when you measure the concentration.

[wgama]

I do not. Thank you for the tip Your plants looks great!!!

[DTEguy]

May I know which brand of LECA you were using?