Phal species

[momokev]

Hello everyone!

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good reading material about species phals, either on line or book form. My collection is growing and I want them flourish!

Lisa

[OrchidTraci]

I wish I could help you. All I know is mine seem pretty happy on a humidity tray and heavy spraying everyday and watering 1x a week.

[Aerides]

I looked around on the web and couldn't find a web source that deals in any detail with the genus as a whole.

Check this site. When you get to it, type "phalaenopsis " into the search "bar."

http://orchidsbooks.com/browse.asp

You might also browse here:

www.mcquerryorchidbooks.com/

Good luck.

John

[momokev]

Thanks for the help, John. I searched and found one I might buy. I hope it's what I'm looking for. While my plants are doing okay, I know some have different needs than others, and I hate "flying blind."

Has anyone gotten any culture sheets from this site?

http://www.orchidculture.com/COD/

I wonder if it's worth subscribing to?

Lisa

[LJA]

Lisa, the sample sheets they offer sure look thorough, and the couple I read were very accurate. Might be worth a shot if they have sheets on what you're growing. Maybe there's a way to find out before you actually subscribe?

[Aerides]

These are the Charles and Margaret Baker culture sheets. The Bakers are widely reknown and respected in the orchid world for their field work. Margaret Baker recently passed away - within the past year.

The taxonomist, Dr. Guido Braem, collaborated with the Bakers in his recent Paphiopedilum monographs, which I have, and included their cultural information for species paphs in those volumes.

He will sometimes comment on microcosm conditions for a plant's habitat that affect the Bakers' reported climatic conditions in favor of the plant. For example, although reported temperatures in a given area may be extremely cool, the plant grows in a protected location, so would not necessarily get the full force. That sort of thing. In other words, the sheets would be most helpful in determining general trends of habitat conditions throughout the year, but perhaps not to be taken too literally in regards to specifics.

$10 for 10 sheets seems extremely reasonable. A small investment to find out whether they would be useful to you or not.

I know what you mean about not liking to fly blind.