[rex]

ATP, on 09 January 2012 - 08:23 AM, said:

Hi Paphioboy .... thats a good observation on formosum hybrids.

Yup - I prefer plants that stay more compact - it would be a shame to get blooms only at the end of a very long cane...

[tlh72]

Beautiful blooms as always. Can I ask how do you control watering of the phals you pot in moss? Mine used to rot away so I've taken to repotting them in charcoal/moss in an holey pot. They grow happily, but roots are all over the place. Repotting will be a nightmare.

LH

[rex]

tlh72, on 09 January 2012 - 04:59 PM, said:

Beautiful blooms as always. Can I ask how do you control watering of the phals you pot in moss? Mine used to rot away so I've taken to repotting them in charcoal/moss in an holey pot. They grow happily, but roots are all over the place. Repotting will be a nightmare.

LH

Thanx LH

If you are growing outdoors, keeping phals in full pots of moss is not easy.

If you grow phals under shelter then it becomes very much easier. Depending on weather, for phals potted in 100% moss in pots larger than 4 inches, I might only have to water the plant once every 20 days! For pots smaller than that, it could be once every 10 days. I only water when the moss is practically dry all the way through with perhaps a bit of moisture near the centre of the pot. This drying out and not watering is key.

Packing the moss tightly is impt too as this prevents the moss from soaking up too much water.

I also grow my catts in moss - they are potted in about 5 cm of moss with the rest of of the empty pot space filled with styro peanuts. Again, moss is packed tight. I grow my catts outdoors with no real problems.

Hope that clarifies things?

[crazyjellie]

rex, on 01 January 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/twofish69/P1011050-2web.jpg

note - Pink Jaguar is a compact grower that is also a solid bloomer. There are two spikes this time round with this spike maturing first.

this is a stunner :wub:/>
where can i find this?

[tlh72]

Thanks. I was watering when top moss was dry. No wonder they rotted. That also explains the usefulness of transparent pots. Will try next time.
Lh

[rex]

crazyjellie, on 10 January 2012 - 12:11 AM, said:

this is a stunner :wub:/>
where can i find this?

This was from Taiwan so you might just have to wait until July when SGF rolls around again?

[rex]

tlh72, on 10 January 2012 - 01:33 PM, said:

Thanks. I was watering when top moss was dry. No wonder they rotted. That also explains the usefulness of transparent pots. Will try next time.
Lh

Yup watering once the top is dry is not recommended. When growing in packed moss, you can go for long periods without watering.

Also you can use feed once every 3-4 waterings which could easily mean once every few months depending on your watering schedule.

This feels very odd for most local growers so they water and feed more resulting in plants that go downhill in this media.

[rex]

Finally IDed this one - Lc Musashino - a vigorous hybrid between C intermedia and Lc Drumbeat.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/twofish69/P1041074web.jpg

Sold labelled Lc Gila Wilderness...oh well....


Here is my old faithful - Blc Crispin Rosales - the cooler weather has made this blooming great with the largest, darkest blooms ever - look at that lovely lip!

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/twofish69/P1101096web.jpg


Happy growing :)/>

This post has been edited by rex: 10 January 2012 - 10:23 PM

[tulips64]

rex, on 10 January 2012 - 10:16 PM, said:

Finally IDed this one - Lc Musashino - a vigorous hybrid between C intermedia and Lc Drumbeat.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/twofish69/P1041074web.jpg

Sold labelled Lc Gila Wilderness...oh well....


Here is my old faithful - Blc Crispin Rosales - the cooler weather has made this blooming great with the largest, darkest blooms ever - look at that lovely lip!

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/twofish69/P1101096web.jpg


Happy growing :)/>

I love these two very much. Where to find them? Hard to take care? Thank you for sharing! :wub:/> :wub:/>

[rex]

tulips64, on 10 January 2012 - 11:34 PM, said:

I love these two very much. Where to find them? Hard to take care? Thank you for sharing! :wub:/> :wub:/>

They are perhaps the easiest of all my catts and bloom regularly. They are available at orchid nurseries such as Songs Orchids.

How to take care? Well thats a complex question that depends on many things especially the conditions that you can provide where you live.

If you can't give a cattleya about 5 hours of sunshine a day, they become a bit hard to grow. If you can, then plenty of light and air, watering about 3-4 times a week, and light fertiliser (1/2 strength) every 2 weeks should get you going.

Pls read through the cattleya subforum threads for more complete growing tips.

This post has been edited by rex: 10 January 2012 - 11:44 PM

[dinosaurr]

rex, on 10 January 2012 - 06:35 PM, said:

Yup watering once the top is dry is not recommended. When growing in packed moss, you can go for long periods without watering.

Also you can use feed once every 3-4 waterings which could easily mean once every few months depending on your watering schedule.

This feels very odd for most local growers so they water and feed more resulting in plants that go downhill in this media.

thanks for sharing your experience and advice Rex, I appreciate it even though I don't grow my plants in moss. Information like this helps me understand my plants better! :flowers:/>

[shawnchen]

great growing tips rex! I still have not tried growing in full moss yet, but my potted phals are grown like your catts, half moss, half styrofoam/charcoal.. A happy new year to you! :flowers:/>

[rex]

shawnchen, on 11 January 2012 - 01:37 AM, said:

great growing tips rex! I still have not tried growing in full moss yet, but my potted phals are grown like your catts, half moss, half styrofoam/charcoal.. A happy new year to you! :flowers:/>

Moss is a great medium once you get the hang of how to use it and how to manage it. I find that many weaker plants can be nursed back to full health quite quickly with moss. I root divisions of catts in moss then transfer them to larger pots when the new root systems are extensive. Transplant shock is no longer a big problem.

For example, my catts grown outdoors were watered maybe only once in Dec - can you imagine how much water I saved?

One trick with growing in full moss is to pack tight and keep the layer about 5 - 6 cm thick. The rest of the space can be filled with brick, styro, or even charcoal depending on your conditions. After that, its all about not giving into the urge to water. As I shared, a 5 inch pot with a mature phal in moss might need to be watered at most 1-2X a month!

[Neverend]

Beautiful blooms as always, but I have one question to ask you, rex. How do you keep the clump-like form of the pseudobulb growths? Normally the new pseudobulbs form towards one direction, leaving one side of the pot look quite bare. Any tips to resolve this, other than the conventional plant splitting and repotting?

[rex]

Neverend, on 11 January 2012 - 01:53 PM, said:

Beautiful blooms as always, but I have one question to ask you, rex. How do you keep the clump-like form of the pseudobulb growths? Normally the new pseudobulbs form towards one direction, leaving one side of the pot look quite bare. Any tips to resolve this, other than the conventional plant splitting and repotting?

Hi Never -

Clumpy growth is really due to the plant. Some form clumps readily and others grow in a straight line.

The only real way to get a clump is to grow them beyond their original pots and repot them into larger pots gradually.

Having said that, you do remember that I pinch out blooms to help plants grow better right? When blooms are pinched, the plant usually has plenty of energy to throw out 2 new leads. If you do the math, pinching out one set of blooms a year can effectively double the number of new leads that will bloom in the next cycle. This in a way leads to clumpy growth.

Does that make sense?

[Neverend]

rex, on 11 January 2012 - 09:32 PM, said:

Hi Never -

Clumpy growth is really due to the plant. Some form clumps readily and others grow in a straight line.

The only real way to get a clump is to grow them beyond their original pots and repot them into larger pots gradually.

Having said that, you do remember that I pinch out blooms to help plants grow better right? When blooms are pinched, the plant usually has plenty of energy to throw out 2 new leads. If you do the math, pinching out one set of blooms a year can effectively double the number of new leads that will bloom in the next cycle. This in a way leads to clumpy growth.

Does that make sense?

True, but I think I'll not pinch them this time, because my plant is growing too fast! 3 leads but all in the same direction!

[rex]

Neverend, on 12 January 2012 - 12:20 AM, said:

True, but I think I'll not pinch them this time, because my plant is growing too fast! 3 leads but all in the same direction!

Well since catts are sympodial, growing in one direction is pretty much standard. Dont worry about it and enjoy the blooms. If you want something more clumpy, try encyclias or oncidiums :)/>

[boonboon]

Glad that sifu Rex is sharing his tips at GCS again. Now I know why I failed in moss culture for cattleya.

Talking about moss as a medium to revive weak plants. I do have an experience to share. It is an encyclia division where the bulbs will always look very shrivelled no matter how frequent I water its charcoal medium. The plant plumps up once u switch to miss and I use a 2.5 inch pot. The third lead was 3 times as huge as the first and it finally flowered

This post has been edited by boonboon: 12 January 2012 - 12:57 PM

[rex]

boonboon, on 12 January 2012 - 11:41 AM, said:

Glad that sifu Rex is sharing his tips at GCS again. Now I know why I failed in moss culture for cattleya.

Talking about moss as a medium to revive weak plants. I do have an experience to share. It is an encyclia division where the bulbs will always look very shrivelled no matter how frequent I water its charcoal medium. The plant plumps up once u switch to miss and I use a 2.5 inch pot. The third lead was 3 times as huge as the first and it finally flowered

hey BB - usually failure with catts has more to do with lack of light combined with overwatering.

if due to the shift of the sun, you are getting less light, then water less frequently as well.

[tulips64]

rex, on 10 January 2012 - 11:43 PM, said:

They are perhaps the easiest of all my catts and bloom regularly. They are available at orchid nurseries such as Songs Orchids.

How to take care? Well thats a complex question that depends on many things especially the conditions that you can provide where you live.

If you can't give a cattleya about 5 hours of sunshine a day, they become a bit hard to grow. If you can, then plenty of light and air, watering about 3-4 times a week, and light fertiliser (1/2 strength) every 2 weeks should get you going.

Pls read through the cattleya subforum threads for more complete growing tips.

thanks for the information. Happy growing! :)/>