# Orchid male Requirement?



## Mantis Man13 (Jul 23, 2015)

I have heard that male orchids only go to L6 while females go to L8. My male just turned L3 but my female is L2 still. I need ways to control his growth! I need a way to keep my male cooler or I need to feed him less. How much cooler and how should I do this and if I were to feed him less should I feed him every other day instead of everyday?Do I need to do both things to control his growth or just one? Thx I am looking to breed these two!


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## Mantis Man13 (Jul 24, 2015)

Hello guys?


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## CosbyArt (Jul 24, 2015)

Hello  

Seems rather quiet around here. I know it's not a really recommended thing, but I have heard/read various tricks to do it. Seems the common trend is to simply place a ad in the classifieds for a male when it is close for your female to bred. However, if you want to try to stage the ones you have, there is one easy trick.

The simplest way is to place the female higher in the room (top of a bookcase) and the male at the very bottom. Usually the extra heat found higher up will help the female molt faster, while the cooler temps down low will slow the male down.

Realistically it is only 5 degrees or so different, but it seems to work (especially as they are still so young). Best of luck.

Updated switch.


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## Rick (Jul 24, 2015)

No you don't. When I kept them I never kept the males any differently than the females. The males would always live long enough to mate.


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## Alikaren (Jul 24, 2015)

CosbyArt said:


> Hello
> 
> Seems rather quiet around here. I know it's not a really recommended thing, but I have heard/read various tricks to do it. Seems the common trend is to simply place a ad in the classifieds for a male when it is close for your female to bred. However, if you want to try to stage the ones you have, there is one easy trick.
> 
> ...


Switch around 'male' and 'female' in that 3rd chunk of your post


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## CosbyArt (Jul 25, 2015)

Alikaren said:


> Switch around 'male' and 'female' in that 3rd chunk of your post


Your right thanks for pointing it out, I got it fixed. I shouldn't post while tired


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## Mantis Man13 (Jul 25, 2015)

So should I slow down the male or not then? Or will they be able to mate without it?


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## CosbyArt (Jul 25, 2015)

As Rick said it's typically not needed; however, a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure they say. It won't hurt any if you already use a bookcase already.


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