Hello, Ed! I just read your comments on Rick L. Orchids's channel and migrated to your channel from Georgia, USA. Thank you for this tutorial. Consider me your newest subscriber. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge on growing orchids.
......your a wealth of information Ed, I was hanging on every word....I use Epson salts in foliar sprays all the time......your collection is beautiful, ......be mindful of the heat my friend....
The heat has now gone Rick so everything seems to be back to normal. Thanks for the kind words..... and keep well.... always good to hear from a friend.
Great info and I really like the way you explain these things, I have watched a few of your other videos and felt the same way. When trying to read through the massive amounts of information, I feel like I am trying to over complicate things! I have been nervous about adding Epsom salts because many of the explanations just did not make sense. Good to know about the insect control, too. I’ll give it a go now:) I have recently branched out into Paphs. They were always some of my favorite orchids but I avoided them for years because they seemed to be so completely different than any other orchid in my collection. I bit the bullet, did some reading, talked to other growers and breeders, and picked up 9 lovey species and 2 hybrids. I’m learning to tend to them properly with a bit of help from a few Paph growers in my orchid society and videos like yours that are very calming, informative, and easy to understand. Thank you! These are fascinating plants!
I can't believe I haven't replied to your comment...I don't know how I missed it ….. my sincere apologies. I agree with you that all the information you get from books can be very confusing because they all seem to criticize each other..... I had the same problems when I started out until I decided to read every thing and then forget it!! Don't be nervous about anything regarding orchids they are very adaptable creatures and will put up with anything except incorrect watering. Just treat them all as epiphytes and you can't go far wrong. Ed
Morning Ed, I really like paphs I am just starting out with them I have about 4 now so this video helps me with instructions on watering with Epsom salt. Thank you for this video and you have a good day.
Well today I'm going to repot my only cymbidium. This is my first one and I was going to wait until next year to repot her, but after pulling her up and looking at her roots I decided to heed the advice I was given and place her in a larger pot. Cymbidium pots are hard to find so I continuing her growth into a 2 gallon pot. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the heads up on the Cattleyas; calcium deficiency! I couldn't understand how I got sunburn on one or two leaves, now I know. I don't know if I brave enough yet to flush with Epson salts. Great video Ed. We are desperately waiting for the rain to arrive, it's so humid here.
Go on Margaret ....of course you're brave enough.....give it a go. Just flushed them again with water @ 002ppm and the water run-off after flushing all the paphs was only 26ppm, After feeding earlier with a tds of almost 400ppm I would have thought it would be a lot higher.....just goes to show how much Epsom salts the plants have absorbed ....I'm going to do my paphs this way every two weeks. Hope all is good with you ( and hubby!! )' Ed.
Hi Ed, this is an older video but nonetheless important information. For watering I use melted snow with a tds of 7ppm. Besides using Epsom salts to remove excess salts from the medium, I have read that adding some to the water, one teaspoon to 2 gallons, in addition to the fertilizer is good for orchids. Do you agree with that ?
The melted snow is excellent at 7ppm Andre. One teaspoonful of Epsom Salts sounds quite a lot ....try it and see what the tds is. Magnesium sulphate is good for your plants. Ed.
Hello, Ed! I'm a recent subscriber and just did the flush this past weekend. It's too soon to tell for sure but it seems like it did something positive - my cattleya War Paint might be getting ready to bloom for the first time out of what looked like a dried up sheath. I'm taking a new approach to my orchids this spring, it's been a rough year for them. Thank you for your videos, they are already a big help and I've just started with your channel. Do you have a basic schedule for Epson salts, ferts and a clean water flush throughout the month? If you have a video on this already i apologize, I haven't gotten to it yet :)
Thank you Cee Tee and I'm so pleased that your Cattleya is showing some good signs. I try my best to make the videos informative by giving you a lot of information that I have gathered over the past 60 years of growing orchids. Thank you for your very nice words and I wish you all the best in your new ( expensive ) hobby.....take care and thank you, Ed.
We're supposed to have thunderstorms tonight which will be very welcome. It's far too hot to work outside for any length of time.....hope we both get back to normal soon!! Ed.
Great information! Yes I have Epsom salts on hand but never knew how useful it served to kill spider mites and thrips. Don't have that problem at the moment but good to know. Awesome paphs and randsii is one that I had to look up. Not familiar with it but a lovely flower indeed. Just a quick question. I know you pH your water to pH 5.8 when you fertilize, correct? So when flushing (either with straight RO or with RO and Epsom salts), pH of 7ish is fine? I'm particularly asking this because I've been told that root tips can turn black if the pH is not around 5.8 (esp for phrags). Any thoughts on that? Thanks ahead for your comments.
Epsom Salts help the plants to take up micronutrients . Never heard of the black tips on roots only when you repot you find soft ends on some of the roots this is quite normal and just need snipping back to live growth. A pH of around 5.8 -6.8 allows the plant to use the calcium etc., but for flushing purposes a pH of 7 will always be OK. Ed
Thanks for this Ed. So just to understand it more clearly, you fertilize with seaweed/ cal-mag etc at one time (how often?) and then flush with Epsom Salts occasionally...am i right? I usually fertilize weakly/weekly so then would it be ok to flush with Epsom salts once a month? I'll need to try this as i notice some of my Catt leaves are getting quite pale with low light levels. Thanks again!
Good morning and thanks for the comment. Sorry |I'm a little late in replying but I've had issues to deal with over the festive season. I fertilize every week and flush with pure water within 24 hours to remove unused salts. Any salts which fail to be removed can be removed by flushing with Epsom salts first followed by a flushing with RO water. It will only do your plants good to use Epsom Salts which will give them magnesium and sulphur. There are no set rules to obey when doing the above as long as you don't overdo the feeding....in my opinion!! Ed
hi Ed... it looked like a couple of pour overs does not do much... the bark looks dry... would it have been better to let them soak in the solution for 15mins or so... so that they get a good drink??? i have read that 1 tsp per your gal = 3.8lt is the recommended rate..... your thoughts... have a great day
Sorry I missed your post Chris I don't know how it came about but I give you my sincere apologies. I treat all my plants as epiphytes, so although the substrate may look dry it is always moist or with the Phrags always very wet, It's just that I use a very open mix which makes the compost look dry. 1 gallon in UK is 4.5 ltrs…….I never bother with recommended rates of use I always use my tds pen to give me the readings I like to use. Sorry again for the delay. Ed
I add epsom salts to the feed probably twice per month......My friend Rick uses it as a foliar spray..... I expect the number of times he uses it this way will depend on the weather conditions. The ground where sanderianum and rothschildianum originate together with other plants is rich in magnesium. Ed.
Hello Ed I have a question just wondering about some tips for good growing on a Paph.bellatulum. I live in the US in New Jersey so summer is hot and humid and winter's are very cold and lot's of snow. I've had a plant similar to this in the past but when winter came it died. I grow outside in summer in my kitchen in winter I keep my house 63 degrees which I think is 15 degrees Celsius. Thanks for any help you can give.
Hi Selena. In my opinion I don't think that bellatulum is one of the easiest to cultivate because they hate being moved around from place to place so I would start by giving it a home where it never needs to be moved...so I would bring this specie indoors to start with. It doesn't need strong light but just a moderate light for around 10 hours per day and always in the shade. Temperature not too warm ( which might be a problem for you ) Maximum 25c with a minimum of 18c these being for the summer months. In winter 18c going down to 12c. with a humidity of 50-60% all year round. They require plenty of water in the summer followed by a dry ( almost ) period in December through to February which will help in the beginning of the inflorescence process. So pot up with a not too large a bark with just a touch of sphagnum and a fair helping of calcium additive ...... or use Cal-mag added to the watering regime every couple of weeks. Hope this helps in some ways. Ed.
Eds Orchids Thank you Ed that was very helpful I've been reading about it but everything I find said something different. I never put the plant outside it's the only one in the house just because I wasn't sure what to do.
Selina Boyd Hi Selena I rebloomed my bellatulum recently. Oddly enough, it's my most actively growing brachy (calcium loving) Paph at the moment. I live in North Eastern Canada and like you the winters are cold and summers are hot. I keep mine indoors in a stand where it gets dappled SW light with supplemented lighting. Mine took 3 years to rebloom but it had to readjust to a repotting during that period. Seems to not be active in the winter months but is the first to wake up in spring. Last fall the bud started to grow but stayed dormant all through winter and finally the flower opened this spring. I do water my paphs with clean water but I sprinkle some dolomitic lime 2X year in small quantities on top of the plant. Mine is in a small pot and I try not to keep it too wet, especially in winter. That depends what medium you are using etc. Good luck! I love brachy paphs for their compact growth habit, mottled leaves and rubbery long lasting flowers😁
Hello Ed. I shall try this Epsom salts flush. When you flush later with pure water, about how many plants do you flush with your two gallons? What I mean is, the TDS of the pure water will rise after the first one you flush: what is the maximum TDS before you change the water and start again?
Hi Paul and what a good question. I will flush these with pure water shortly and will take the tds of the rrun-off water. I like to flush the plants with pure water and not use the same for this purpose/ Ed
Paul. I have now flushed all the plants with 002ppm water. they were all done with this reading and I have checked the run-off water. Seeing that I watered with a tds of almost 400ppm I was surprised that the run off water only measured 0.26ppm.and that was for 39 plants. Ed
How often do you water your Paphs that are in the net pots? I would think they would dry very quickly and need watering daily (I have Vandas in net pots with bark that need daily watering during the hottest months because it dries so quickly).
At least in the UK it cools off at night. Down here in Florida, it has been atypically hot and dry. Around 6 AM it is already 26 C (but feels like 32) because we haven't been getting the afternoon/evening storms to cool things off. I like it hot, but it has been a bit much even for me the past couple of weeks. Even some of the orchids are beginning to object!
I couldn't sleep last night because of the heat at 4am it was 23.5c We are not used to this in the north of England and it hasn't rained where I live since the beginning of May and we get a water ban the first week in August... just bring on a downpour.... soon!!! Ed
Awesome video! Didn't knew about the sulfur thing! I use Epsom salts regularly with my orchids, in combination of calcium nitrate. It does wonders for my orchids
I don't think I'm using enough Epsom Salts...only a pinch to each gallon of water with Cal-Mag. My Paphs seem to be green though...not sure why. Thanks for sharing!! It's soooo appreciated! Have a great weekend!
Hello, Ed! I just read your comments on Rick L. Orchids's channel and migrated to your channel from Georgia, USA. Thank you for this tutorial. Consider me your newest subscriber.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge on growing orchids.
Good afternoon Sugarby 2000 and thank you so much for the subscription. I hope you will enjoy my channel. Sorry for the slight delay in replying.
Ed
......your a wealth of information Ed, I was hanging on every word....I use Epson salts in foliar sprays all the time......your collection is beautiful, ......be mindful of the heat my friend....
The heat has now gone Rick so everything seems to be back to normal. Thanks for the kind words..... and keep well.... always good to hear from a friend.
Rick L. Orchids have
I also watch and learn from Rick.
Thanks for the comment,
Ed.
I learn something every time I watch you!👍🏻
You say the nicest things Sherry....thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Ed
Great info and I really like the way you explain these things, I have watched a few of your other videos and felt the same way. When trying to read through the massive amounts of information, I feel like I am trying to over complicate things! I have been nervous about adding Epsom salts because many of the explanations just did not make sense. Good to know about the insect control, too. I’ll give it a go now:)
I have recently branched out into Paphs. They were always some of my favorite orchids but I avoided them for years because they seemed to be so completely different than any other orchid in my collection. I bit the bullet, did some reading, talked to other growers and breeders, and picked up 9 lovey species and 2 hybrids. I’m learning to tend to them properly with a bit of help from a few Paph growers in my orchid society and videos like yours that are very calming, informative, and easy to understand. Thank you! These are fascinating plants!
I can't believe I haven't replied to your comment...I don't know how I missed it ….. my sincere apologies. I agree with you that all the information you get from books can be very confusing because they all seem to criticize each other..... I had the same problems when I started out until I decided to read every thing and then forget it!! Don't be nervous about anything regarding orchids they are very adaptable creatures and will put up with anything except incorrect watering. Just treat them all as epiphytes and you can't go far wrong.
Ed
Morning Ed, I really like paphs I am just starting out with them I have about 4 now so this video helps me with instructions on watering with Epsom salt. Thank you for this video and you have a good day.
Many thanks for the comment Brenda and I wish you the best of luck with your Paphs
Ed
Thanks Ed, you have info I wasnt sure I needed, but turns out I DID👍👍👍😁
I have never heard of Epsom salt for bug/fungus control 😲
THANKS AGAIN!!
My pleasure Becky and that you for your kind comment........take care,
Ed.
I am starting my Paph collection and this video has been very helpful!!
May I wish you the best of luck in your new venture.
Ed.
Very nice information, Ed. Thank you.
Thankyou Fernanda and I hope all is well with you and it's not too hot for the orchids,
Ed
Thank you Ed, I am very much ok and around here it is not as hot as usual, rather cooler, in fact :))
Well today I'm going to repot my only cymbidium. This is my first one and I was going to wait until next year to repot her, but after pulling her up and looking at her roots I decided to heed the advice I was given and place her in a larger pot. Cymbidium pots are hard to find so I continuing her growth into a 2 gallon pot. Fingers crossed.
Wow! 2 gallons is a big pot ..... hope all goes well with the repot.
Ed
Eds Orchids me too. I would post a picture but can't.
Thanks for the heads up on the Cattleyas; calcium deficiency! I couldn't understand how I got sunburn on one or two leaves, now I know. I don't know if I brave enough yet to flush with Epson salts. Great video Ed. We are desperately waiting for the rain to arrive, it's so humid here.
Go on Margaret ....of course you're brave enough.....give it a go. Just flushed them again with water @ 002ppm and the water run-off after flushing all the paphs was only 26ppm, After feeding earlier with a tds of almost 400ppm I would have thought it would be a lot higher.....just goes to show how much Epsom salts the plants have absorbed ....I'm going to do my paphs this way every two weeks. Hope all is good with you ( and hubby!! )'
Ed.
Your orchids are looking very healthy to me!
Don't know how I missed your comment.....I do apologise.
Thank you so much for your very kind words.
Ed
Hi Ed, this is an older video but nonetheless important information. For watering I use melted snow with a tds of 7ppm. Besides using Epsom salts to remove excess salts from the medium, I have read that adding some to the water, one teaspoon to 2 gallons, in addition to the fertilizer is good for orchids. Do you agree with that ?
The melted snow is excellent at 7ppm Andre. One teaspoonful of Epsom Salts sounds quite a lot ....try it and see what the tds is. Magnesium sulphate is good for your plants.
Ed.
Hello, Ed! I'm a recent subscriber and just did the flush this past weekend. It's too soon to tell for sure but it seems like it did something positive - my cattleya War Paint might be getting ready to bloom for the first time out of what looked like a dried up sheath. I'm taking a new approach to my orchids this spring, it's been a rough year for them. Thank you for your videos, they are already a big help and I've just started with your channel.
Do you have a basic schedule for Epson salts, ferts and a clean water flush throughout the month? If you have a video on this already i apologize, I haven't gotten to it yet :)
Thank you Cee Tee and I'm so pleased that your Cattleya is showing some good signs. I try my best to make the videos informative by giving you a lot of information that I have gathered over the past 60 years of growing orchids. Thank you for your very nice words and I wish you all the best in your new ( expensive ) hobby.....take care and thank you,
Ed.
Do you have any orchids in water culture? If so how do you flush them please x
No water culture for me Liz although many growers swear by this way of cultivation..............take care,
Ed.
How much epsom salt to how much water?
Thank you for the information. I hadn’t realized epsom salts were so useful with orchids
@@kerriesutton5567 About 50ppm in every gallon,
Ed.
Thank you for the information, great video
And another big thank you for the comment.....they mean so much to me.
Ed
Hi Ed is rain water good for Epsom salts and flushing the orchids later
Rain water is perfect....thank you for asking.....pleased to subscribe to your channel.....thanks again and take care,
Ed.
Thank you
It's the heat Ed, I don't know my back from my front at the moment ;-)
We're supposed to have thunderstorms tonight which will be very welcome. It's far too hot to work outside for any length of time.....hope we both get back to normal soon!!
Ed.
;-)
Great information! Yes I have Epsom salts on hand but never knew how useful it served to kill spider mites and thrips. Don't have that problem at the moment but good to know. Awesome paphs and randsii is one that I had to look up. Not familiar with it but a lovely flower indeed.
Just a quick question. I know you pH your water to pH 5.8 when you fertilize, correct? So when flushing (either with straight RO or with RO and Epsom salts), pH of 7ish is fine? I'm particularly asking this because I've been told that root tips can turn black if the pH is not around 5.8 (esp for phrags). Any thoughts on that?
Thanks ahead for your comments.
Epsom Salts help the plants to take up micronutrients . Never heard of the black tips on roots only when you repot you find soft ends on some of the roots this is quite normal and just need snipping back to live growth. A pH of around 5.8 -6.8 allows the plant to use the calcium etc., but for flushing purposes a pH of 7 will always be OK.
Ed
Thanks for this Ed. So just to understand it more clearly, you fertilize with seaweed/ cal-mag etc at one time (how often?) and then flush with Epsom Salts occasionally...am i right? I usually fertilize weakly/weekly so then would it be ok to flush with Epsom salts once a month? I'll need to try this as i notice some of my Catt leaves are getting quite pale with low light levels. Thanks again!
Good morning and thanks for the comment. Sorry |I'm a little late in replying but I've had issues to deal with over the festive season. I fertilize every week and flush with pure water within 24 hours to remove unused salts. Any salts which fail to be removed can be removed by flushing with Epsom salts first followed by a flushing with RO water. It will only do your plants good to use Epsom Salts which will give them magnesium and sulphur. There are no set rules to obey when doing the above as long as you don't overdo the feeding....in my opinion!!
Ed
hi Ed... it looked like a couple of pour overs does not do much... the bark looks dry... would it have been better to let them soak in the solution for 15mins or so... so that they get a good drink???
i have read that 1 tsp per your gal = 3.8lt is the recommended rate..... your thoughts... have a great day
Sorry I missed your post Chris I don't know how it came about but I give you my sincere apologies.
I treat all my plants as epiphytes, so although the substrate may look dry it is always moist or with the Phrags always very wet, It's just that I use a very open mix which makes the compost look dry.
1 gallon in UK is 4.5 ltrs…….I never bother with recommended rates of use I always use my tds pen to give me the readings I like to use. Sorry again for the delay.
Ed
Awesome orchids. How often do you use epsom salt to fertilise to your orchids? Thanks.
I add epsom salts to the feed probably twice per month......My friend Rick uses it as a foliar spray..... I expect the number of times he uses it this way will depend on the weather conditions. The ground where sanderianum and rothschildianum originate together with other plants is rich in magnesium.
Ed.
Hello Ed I have a question just wondering about some tips for good growing on a Paph.bellatulum. I live in the US in New Jersey so summer is hot and humid and winter's are very cold and lot's of snow. I've had a plant similar to this in the past but when winter came it died. I grow outside in summer in my kitchen in winter I keep my house 63 degrees which I think is 15 degrees Celsius. Thanks for any help you can give.
Hi Selena. In my opinion I don't think that bellatulum is one of the easiest to cultivate because they hate being moved around from place to place so I would start by giving it a home where it never needs to be moved...so I would bring this specie indoors to start with. It doesn't need strong light but just a moderate light for around 10 hours per day and always in the shade. Temperature not too warm ( which might be a problem for you ) Maximum 25c with a minimum of 18c these being for the summer months. In winter 18c going down to 12c. with a humidity of 50-60% all year round. They require plenty of water in the summer followed by a dry ( almost ) period in December through to February which will help in the beginning of the inflorescence process. So pot up with a not too large a bark with just a touch of sphagnum and a fair helping of calcium
additive ...... or use Cal-mag added to the watering regime every couple of weeks. Hope this helps in some ways.
Ed.
Eds Orchids Thank you Ed that was very helpful I've been reading about it but everything I find said something different. I never put the plant outside it's the only one in the house just because I wasn't sure what to do.
Selina Boyd
Hi Selena
I rebloomed my bellatulum recently. Oddly enough, it's my most actively growing brachy (calcium loving) Paph at the moment. I live in North Eastern Canada and like you the winters are cold and summers are hot.
I keep mine indoors in a stand where it gets dappled SW light with supplemented lighting. Mine took 3 years to rebloom but it had to readjust to a repotting during that period. Seems to not be active in the winter months but is the first to wake up in spring. Last fall the bud started to grow but stayed dormant all through winter and finally the flower opened this spring.
I do water my paphs with clean water but I sprinkle some dolomitic lime 2X year in small quantities on top of the plant. Mine is in a small pot and I try not to keep it too wet, especially in winter. That depends what medium you are using etc.
Good luck! I love brachy paphs for their compact growth habit, mottled leaves and rubbery long lasting flowers😁
Hello Ed. I shall try this Epsom salts flush. When you flush later with pure water, about how many plants do you flush with your two gallons? What I mean is, the TDS of the pure water will rise after the first one you flush: what is the maximum TDS before you change the water and start again?
Hi Paul and what a good question. I will flush these with pure water shortly and will take the tds of the rrun-off water. I like to flush the plants with pure water and not use the same for this purpose/
Ed
Eds Orchi Thanks, Ed. Paul
Paul. I have now flushed all the plants with 002ppm water. they were all done with this reading and I have checked the run-off water. Seeing that I watered with a tds of almost 400ppm I was surprised that the run off water only measured 0.26ppm.and that was for 39 plants.
Ed
Eds Orchids That's incredible! They've absorbed all that in just a few hours. How often would you do that? Once a month when flushing?
I've only just started doing it Paul but I am going to do it every two weeks and see how it goes.
Ed
How often do you water your Paphs that are in the net pots? I would think they would dry very quickly and need watering daily (I have Vandas in net pots with bark that need daily watering during the hottest months because it dries so quickly).
In this heat you are quite right they can need watering every day.......twice today.
Ed.
At least in the UK it cools off at night. Down here in Florida, it has been atypically hot and dry. Around 6 AM it is already 26 C (but feels like 32) because we haven't been getting the afternoon/evening storms to cool things off. I like it hot, but it has been a bit much even for me the past couple of weeks. Even some of the orchids are beginning to object!
I couldn't sleep last night because of the heat at 4am it was 23.5c We are not used to this in the north of England and it hasn't rained where I live since the beginning of May and we get a water ban the first week in August... just bring on a downpour.... soon!!!
Ed
thanks Ed!
My pleasure Terry..
Ed
Awesome video! Didn't knew about the sulfur thing! I use Epsom salts regularly with my orchids, in combination of calcium nitrate. It does wonders for my orchids
Sulphur is far more important than people think it is, Calcium nitrate...Epsom Salts..... perfect additions to tegular fertilizers.
Ed
Magnesium sulfat+calsium nitrat,. twice a week?what about kalium nitrat,can I use it to fertilze too?
I use Epsom salts in about the same way.
Well that can only be good Denise... hope you had a great weekend.
Ed
I don't think I'm using enough Epsom Salts...only a pinch to each gallon of water with Cal-Mag. My Paphs seem to be green though...not sure why. Thanks for sharing!! It's soooo appreciated! Have a great weekend!
Hi Terry..... the Epsom Salts will help the plant to take up further nutrients. Take care and keep well.
Ed