Thank you so much for this video!You always answer my questions and you are teaching dummies like me how to grow their orchids the brilliant ED way.THANKS!!!
Hi Linda. I'm here to help as much as I can and when I get comments like yours it makes all the work of doing these videos worthwhile. Thank you very, very much. Ed
You don't know how many times I've overshot the pH! And there's no way of correcting it without adding more unnecessary salts. So starting over is all that's left. Awesomely effective feeding routine. That along with good lighting, heated beds, humidity, air circulation, and love all add up to superb orchid culture. Thanks for passing on such great info.
Thanks, you too Alise. I think that sometime this week I will be able to show what difference has lava rock made to a few of my plants. it's almost three weeks since I did a video before surgery, Everything looking good now so I'm ready to put out many more videos. Take care Alise and once again thank you, Ed.
Funny Ed I was just thinking this morning I have to get a big plastic canister so that I can water my orchids in the winter because I'm trying to get everything ready for the winter. I have my orchids outside as you know and it goes down sometimes 2:30 to 39 low 40s all Fahrenheit of course. I already got my tarp because this year they're just too big for me to bring everything inside so I am typing down my porch and the rest of the yard will be closed off unless I really have to go back there. Just as long as my orchids and my succulents are good I'm good.👉👵👈
Hi Libby..I'm glad when everything is in place just like you are...but I hate the winter when I have to take all the shading off ..plug the 2.7Kg heater on ( watch the lecky bills shoot up!! ) and then try and give them as much light as possible. The multi-floral Paphs need an extra 4 hours of light so this adds more to the lecky bills. Hope you get all your jobs sorted before you reach the low 40s....I'm going to have to cope with large minuses . Take care and keep well my friend. Ed.
Happy I found this video. I recently got a PEY! It’s in full bloom at the moment and quite lovely. This video on the water prep gives me some pointers to prepare their water. The nursery had just repotted it in fresh media before it came to my home (it wasn’t stable in the pot and they said the root system is about 70% where they’d like it to be after they cleaned it up and repotted). So it’s resting at the moment while it acclimates to it’s new homes and just giving it plain distilled water before I start feeding it in a couple weeks. I also got the wossner black multi floral phah with it which just opened one it’s first flower and a few more buds to go! Super happy with these paphs thus far. How is your PEY doing since this video (considering it was 2 years ago)?
Hi Tara. After it flowered beautifully about 3 years ago it started a new growth. While this new growth was developing the mother growth began to decline and it got to a position where I was left with only the small growth. It is now quite a nice plant and I am expecting it to bloom in the next eighteen months. You are so lucky you can find plants of mature status where you live.....with the coming of Brexit we are not allowed to import any more because of the costs.e.g. a £12 plant bought from Europe in 2019 as a single plant would have cost around £25. The same plant now would cost upto £150 !!!!! Ed.
@@EdsOrchids yes I’m quite lucky. One grower is walking distance from my home so it makes picking them up super quick and easy (tho I won’t attempt it in our harsh winters lol). The nursery for the Phag is about 90 mins from me. I won the raffled lottery to purchase them (definitely not cheap however - considering they take so long to grow to maturity that is to be expected). They are now my most expensive plants ;) oh wow. I didn’t realize these types of repercussions to Brexit. Certainly makes it harder on the orchid hobbyists and home growers to expand their collections. But at least you’ll have the sense of pride and accomplishment raising your young PEY plant to maturity and blooming stage! I’ve bought some seedling plants also (other varieties) so I can appreciate that aspect and the payoff of the eventual blooms!!
@@tara_27244 Many thanks for this comment and the interesting points it contains. There's very few places you can buy orchids here now because all the few dealers we have are under the same regulations of Defra and Cites. I know it sounds crazy but everything over here just doesn't make sense when we Brits have to put up with the Mafia Euro Commision in a lot of respects......you couldn't make up some of the stories!!!.....take care and have a good week, Ed.
I'm very thankful that you share your fertilising knowledge. I thought about buying the CalMag you show (Shogun), but TNC and Mills are more easily available where I live. May I ask if there's anything I have to pay attention to when I buy CalMag?
Good morning and thanks for the comment. You will be OK with the Cal?mag which is easily available to you..... they are all virtually the same.....there should be at least 3 times more calcium than magnesium in the mix. Ed.
Hi Paul. I didn't want the feed to be heavy on all kinds of elements. I like to know the limits I use and a new batch, to me, was the correct thing to do. Thanks you very much for your comment. Ed
Ed, I’d you don’t mind my asking, the lower PH target of 5.5 suggests to me you’re targeting the optimal intake of micro nutrients as opposed to a 6.5-7.0 which would be optimal for micro + macro nutrients. May I ask why? What’s the rationale behind this? Or are you alternating the PH with your watering?
Good morning Sharon. yes I do alternate my pH when fertilizing. If I use just seaweed extract I mix it with RO water which is around 6.8. If I'm using a mix of calcium nitrate and magnesium etc the pH will drop to around 6. If I use RainMix with the RO water it then drop into the 5pH zone. Hope this has helped a little......take care, Ed.
Do you find if the roots are on the edge of the pot they stop growing. I have put several air holes on the side of my pot with a soldering iron and I am getting conflicting advice about this.
Although Paphiopedilums grow on the forest floors they are definitely not growing in the ground....they only come into contact with soil during heavy rainfall when some soil may get washed over them. I say this because in reality they are really epiphytic growing only in leaf debris on the forest floor and receiving copious amount of air.....so the holes in the pots are a good thing I can't tell you for any certainty why the good roots suddenly stop growing especially in plastic pots. I can understand if they were in terracotta pots where the nature of the pot absorbs not only water but fertilzer as well making the roots continually in touch with fertilizer. Hope you can make sense of all this and take care, Ed.
@@EdsOrchids perfect. All the information I read I came to your conclusion. Thank you for your reply. Just watered my paphs this morning and found my first new fan, super excited as I now know this one is a multi floral.
Good one -- I looked for your Paph pots, " we nada" in Escondido. Tired of burningvholes in mine. 😶😎😉 Do you ever " re use the water/ fertilizer. I see the ph ppm goes up, thanks John
Can i ask what media mix do you recommend for paps barbatum and maudiae hybrids? Growing conditions Indoor under grow lights Temp variation Ac setting: 61-71 Relative room temp 70F upwards to 83f Relative humidity -area without humidifier 40%-60% -with humidifier up to 80%
I use a medium sized bark with perlite in a 5 to 1 ratio. A little bit of calcium and if you have moss just a small portion of that wont go amiss especially if it's live moss. Thanks for your comment and have a good weekend. Ed.
Hi Ngarie. I water them before they become dry and that a different time scale for watering is impossible to say because of the different environments we all live in. If the plants are dry for a day or so it doesn't really matter but don't let them go dry for long periods. I use bamboo skewers in the pots to tell me if they need watering. If you remove the skewer and just touch it to your lips and it feels damp it doesn't need watering......take care and thankyou, Ed.
that is good to know! u really are the king of paphs/phrags! :) thanks for the advice as i really need them.. i will continue to watch more of ur vids re this genera
I've used sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to bump the pH up when I've dropped it too low. Is there a specific reason why you don't or is it just easier for you to start with new water? (not criticizing, just curious)
Live on my own Michael and don't do much baking. Never had to raise the pH before so I must get some baking soda......just in case I make the same mistake again. Ed
These videos are gold, Ed! Thank you.❤🪴🤗
Glad you like them Lori......thank you so much for your very kind comment,
Ed
Thank you so much for this video!You always answer my questions and you are teaching dummies like me how to grow their orchids the brilliant ED way.THANKS!!!
Hi Linda. I'm here to help as much as I can and when I get comments like yours it makes all the work of doing these videos worthwhile. Thank you very, very much.
Ed
You don't know how many times I've overshot the pH! And there's no way of correcting it without adding more unnecessary salts. So starting over is all that's left.
Awesomely effective feeding routine. That along with good lighting, heated beds, humidity, air circulation, and love all add up to superb orchid culture. Thanks for passing on such great info.
Thank you ResQuetzal.... I try and look after them the best I can .....and I don't always win.
Ed.
Thank YOU !!! Interesting and Helpful 😁👍👍
Hope You'll have an extreme Satisfying Week dear Ed 😊☀️🍀💨🍀💨🙋❗❗
Thanks, you too Alise. I think that sometime this week I will be able to show what difference has lava rock made to a few of my plants. it's almost three weeks since I did a video before surgery, Everything looking good now so I'm ready to put out many more videos.
Take care Alise and once again thank you,
Ed.
@@EdsOrchids Happy to hear that but take the time needed ❗❗❗🍀💨🍀💨🍀🍀
Always good stuff when you do this 👍🏼 thank you
Thank you to you Nina... so pleased you enjoyed it.
Ed.
Funny Ed I was just thinking this morning I have to get a big plastic canister so that I can water my orchids in the winter because I'm trying to get everything ready for the winter. I have my orchids outside as you know and it goes down sometimes 2:30 to 39 low 40s all Fahrenheit of course. I already got my tarp because this year they're just too big for me to bring everything inside so I am typing down my porch and the rest of the yard will be closed off unless I really have to go back there. Just as long as my orchids and my succulents are good I'm good.👉👵👈
Hi Libby..I'm glad when everything is in place just like you are...but I hate the winter when I have to take all the shading off ..plug the 2.7Kg heater on ( watch the lecky bills shoot up!! ) and then try and give them as much light as possible. The multi-floral Paphs need an extra 4 hours of light so this adds more to the lecky bills. Hope you get all your jobs sorted before you reach the low 40s....I'm going to have to cope with large minuses . Take care and keep well my friend.
Ed.
Happy I found this video.
I recently got a PEY! It’s in full bloom at the moment and quite lovely. This video on the water prep gives me some pointers to prepare their water.
The nursery had just repotted it in fresh media before it came to my home (it wasn’t stable in the pot and they said the root system is about 70% where they’d like it to be after they cleaned it up and repotted). So it’s resting at the moment while it acclimates to it’s new homes and just giving it plain distilled water before I start feeding it in a couple weeks.
I also got the wossner black multi floral phah with it which just opened one it’s first flower and a few more buds to go!
Super happy with these paphs thus far.
How is your PEY doing since this video (considering it was 2 years ago)?
Hi Tara. After it flowered beautifully about 3 years ago it started a new growth. While this new growth was developing the mother growth began to decline and it got to a position where I was left with only the small growth. It is now quite a nice plant and I am expecting it to bloom in the next eighteen months. You are so lucky you can find plants of mature status where you live.....with the coming of Brexit we are not allowed to import any more because of the costs.e.g. a £12 plant bought from Europe in 2019 as a single plant would have cost around £25. The same plant now would cost upto £150 !!!!!
Ed.
@@EdsOrchids yes I’m quite lucky. One grower is walking distance from my home so it makes picking them up super quick and easy (tho I won’t attempt it in our harsh winters lol). The nursery for the Phag is about 90 mins from me. I won the raffled lottery to purchase them (definitely not cheap however - considering they take so long to grow to maturity that is to be expected). They are now my most expensive plants ;)
oh wow. I didn’t realize these types of repercussions to Brexit. Certainly makes it harder on the orchid hobbyists and home growers to expand their collections. But at least you’ll have the sense of pride and accomplishment raising your young PEY plant to maturity and blooming stage! I’ve bought some seedling plants also (other varieties) so I can appreciate that aspect and the payoff of the eventual blooms!!
@@tara_27244 Many thanks for this comment and the interesting points it contains. There's very few places you can buy orchids here now because all the few dealers we have are under the same regulations of Defra and Cites. I know it sounds crazy but everything over here just doesn't make sense when we Brits have to put up with the Mafia Euro Commision in a lot of respects......you couldn't make up some of the stories!!!.....take care and have a good week,
Ed.
I'm very thankful that you share your fertilising knowledge. I thought about buying the CalMag you show (Shogun), but TNC and Mills are more easily available where I live. May I ask if there's anything I have to pay attention to when I buy CalMag?
Good morning and thanks for the comment. You will be OK with the Cal?mag which is easily available to you..... they are all virtually the same.....there should be at least 3 times more calcium than magnesium in the mix.
Ed.
Very helpful video. Thanks.
Glad you found it useful Bernie.
Ed
Ed, when the Ph went too low. Why didn't you just add a little bit of Baking Soda to raise it up?
Hi Paul. I didn't want the feed to be heavy on all kinds of elements. I like to know the limits I use and a new batch, to me, was the correct thing to do. Thanks you very much for your comment.
Ed
@@EdsOrchids Thank you Ed...Always a reason for the things we do for our hobby.
Ed, I’d you don’t mind my asking, the lower PH target of 5.5 suggests to me you’re targeting the optimal intake of micro nutrients as opposed to a 6.5-7.0 which would be optimal for micro + macro nutrients.
May I ask why? What’s the rationale behind this? Or are you alternating the PH with your watering?
Good morning Sharon. yes I do alternate my pH when fertilizing. If I use just seaweed extract I mix it with RO water which is around 6.8. If I'm using a mix of calcium nitrate and magnesium etc the pH will drop to around 6. If I use RainMix with the RO water it then drop into the 5pH zone. Hope this has helped a little......take care,
Ed.
@@EdsOrchids it certainly does. Thank you 🙏🏼
Do you find if the roots are on the edge of the pot they stop growing. I have put several air holes on the side of my pot with a soldering iron and I am getting conflicting advice about this.
Although Paphiopedilums grow on the forest floors they are definitely not growing in the ground....they only come into contact with soil during heavy rainfall when some soil may get washed over them. I say this because in reality they are really epiphytic growing only in leaf debris on the forest floor and receiving copious amount of air.....so the holes in the pots are a good thing I can't tell you for any certainty why the good roots suddenly stop growing especially in plastic pots. I can understand if they were in terracotta pots where the nature of the pot absorbs not only water but fertilzer as well making the roots continually in touch with fertilizer. Hope you can make sense of all this and take care,
Ed.
@@EdsOrchids perfect. All the information I read I came to your conclusion. Thank you for your reply. Just watered my paphs this morning and found my first new fan, super excited as I now know this one is a multi floral.
Good one -- I looked for your Paph pots, " we nada" in Escondido. Tired of burningvholes in mine. 😶😎😉 Do you ever " re use the water/ fertilizer. I see the ph ppm goes up, thanks John
It doesn't matter if I use the same water to feed the Paphs. I flush so often to remove salts the run-off water never raises more than a few ppm.
Ed
Hi Ed, do you stake the flower spikes on your Paphs from the very moment they start to grow? Thanks
No I put a stake in where I think it will be needed but I don't stake until the spiking is big enough.
Ed.
@@EdsOrchids thank you😄
Can i ask what media mix do you recommend for paps barbatum and maudiae hybrids?
Growing conditions
Indoor under grow lights
Temp variation
Ac setting: 61-71
Relative room temp 70F upwards to 83f
Relative humidity
-area without humidifier
40%-60%
-with humidifier up to 80%
I use a medium sized bark with perlite in a 5 to 1 ratio. A little bit of calcium and if you have moss just a small portion of that wont go amiss especially if it's live moss.
Thanks for your comment and have a good weekend.
Ed.
Ed, are you using 1 gallon buckets?
I use two gallon ones Barb...thanks for the comment and have a good weekend.
Ed.
How often do you water your paphs?
Hi Ngarie. I water them before they become dry and that a different time scale for watering is impossible to say because of the different environments we all live in. If the plants are dry for a day or so it doesn't really matter but don't let them go dry for long periods. I use bamboo skewers in the pots to tell me if they need watering. If you remove the skewer and just touch it to your lips and it feels damp it doesn't need watering......take care and thankyou,
Ed.
Thank you
How often do you feed them?
Every two ir three weeks eith regular flushings of pure water in between......Thank you and take care.
Ed
@@EdsOrchids thank you ❤️
oh wow ; even when in bloom u feed them?!?
Paphiopedilums have to be kept DAMP all the time, Phragmipedium WET.
Ed
that is good to know! u really are the king of paphs/phrags! :) thanks for the advice as i really need them.. i will continue to watch more of ur vids re this genera
@@arlcbalce .....Thank you.
I hate it when I mess up a batch of water, it takes hours to make and I only make 25 liters at a time
25 ltrs is a lot to me I only use around 20litrs for around 100 plants.
Ed.
I like to soak the mounts that takes a bit of water, and I like having some extra ( I have around 125 at this moment)
I've used sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to bump the pH up when I've dropped it too low. Is there a specific reason why you don't or is it just easier for you to start with new water? (not criticizing, just curious)
Live on my own Michael and don't do much baking. Never had to raise the pH before so I must get some baking soda......just in case I make the same mistake again.
Ed
@@EdsOrchids Baking soda has so many uses. Probably 99% of of mine gets used for cleaning, not baking. 🙂
What is inside Phostrogen?
Everything you need to care for the plants..well known and unbeatable.
Ed.
thank you
My pleasure bruce.
Ed