Phrag experiment

As I am getting more into phrags, the space limitation in my orchid tanks bothers me more and more. Because phragmipediums are not exactly small plants. I could not convince my family to convert useless small room under the basement stairs into my orchids place, so the last resort - large window that became empty since tanks appearance.
For experiment Phrag Eric Young was selected because it appears quite healthy and costed me only $20, so will be easy to replace if things go wrong. It was still blooming, had one opened flower and new developing bud at the experiment start. there were also few new shots starting to grow.
I have adjusted the pot by placing a layer of sphagnum moss at the top so the top of the medium does not get dry as fast. I put some pebbles on the flat plastic boxes from Ferrero Rocher chocolates to create sort of humidity trays:



When I moved plant here from nice and cozy orchid tank I expected some negative reaction like buds drop, growth stunting, brown tips on new leaves. But it seems Eric Young likes the new spot. It has been there for a little over three weeks and during this time it opened the bud ans stated to grow new one, new fans continue to grow nicely too.




I should mention that now we have -21C outside so the heater works like crazy to keep the house at 22C and brings the humidity in the house way below 30%. However my small window environment has RH hovering between 45 and 55%, although temps are down to 15C, but it doesn't seem to bother this phrag.
Well, now there it is - all the room for my newly pre-ordered 4 phrags...

Phragmipediums update

So, one month passed since my initial "phragmipediums assessment", now it is time to see how they are doing.

Phrag. besseae is still blooming, roots are growing. Small green nub of the new shot is now much larger and starts to hang out of the pot:



Phrag. Eric Young is still blooming too.
New growth on the front fan is developing well:



Two new fans on the back growth are growing nicely:



One of the formations on the old middle fans got a green point and most likely will become yet one more new fan:



And here is the best part. Month ago no green root points were visible in the Eric Young pot, now there it is:



All in all I think they passed the test and seem to be staying. To celebrate this "graduation" of my test phrags I went to Ecuagenera website and pre-ordered three more hybrids: Hanne Popow, Fritz Schomburg and Eumelia Arias...

Phragmipedium Eric Young

My second phragmipedium purchased in October Phragmipedium Eric Young bloomed now.
The flower is not as bright colored as besseae and the shape is different too:



Picture with flash:



Looks quite pretty but I think I look the besseae bloom a bit more. Here they are together. With flash:



Without flash, the blooms are backlit:



If they survive until spring my next purchases will be besseae var. flavum and any type of caudatum species that I can find...

New phrags, what is going on.

I had my new phrags for couple weeks now. One of them bloomed, other is growing a bud. I really like besseae and its hybrids so I want to keep an eye on these two "test plants" to see if they will progress or decline and decide if I want to buy more when the shipping season restarts.
So, here are my observations.

Phrag besseae has one old growth which does nothing and one new growth which currently blooms. Through the walls of clear pot I can see quite a few nice green roots with growing points:



Blooming fan also started new rooots at the base:



And there is a green nub of the new fan coming out:



Phrag. Eric Young has four fans: two in the middle are old previously bloomed fans, two others - one in the front and one on the back are new. This plant didn't have any green roots with fresh growing point, all roots were brown but firm and not mushy.
New fan at the front currently grows a bud:



It also has started new root at the base and a new fan:



Back fan didn't spike yet but it is busy, two new green nubs poked out and one of them already has tiny leaves. Although direction of the growth is somewhat strange:



Two old growths have some white formations at the base too, but they don't look like the green new fan starts yet, so I am not sure what will come out of them, if anything:



All in all both plants look happy in the tank. I water them every day with rain water and keep their pots in the saucers with rain water which I change every day too.
Let's see their status in a month...

New phrags

This is something I always wanted but didn't dare because of dry conditions in the house. Now with tanks I decided to try.
So, here is Phrag besseae :



It came from John Marcotte at Orchids Canada. The plant is just perfect: immaculate leaves, nice healthy roots and a spike! We'll see if it will bloom or drop.

The second plant is a hybrid between besseae and longifolium - Phrag. Eric Young:



I got it at the show in Montreal. The foliage on it is not perfect and has some damages, so normally I wouldn't buy such plant but three reasons made me do it anyway:
1. it has a spike;
2. damaged are old leaves, there are 4 fans,
one new growth:



and each of the mature growths has a small green nub which I hope will become a new fan:



So, even though it does not look all that nice now, I think it has a potential.
3. it was really cheap.

I put them into the larger tank: