Paphiopedilum/ Slipper orchid

[paphioboy]

Interesting technique, harris... So you mean the sudden exposure to sunlight after kept in darkness (relatively dark) triggers flowering? BTW, niveum is a species which grows on limestone.. I use aquarium limestone for most of my limestone loving paphs like primulinum, stonei (and nep northiana)..

[harris]

that is true paphioboy...
a sifu has use it for his rothchildianum and i tried for my barbatum and maudiae and it works. by covering and then exposing the plants to the sunlight, we're simulating the seasons the paphio usually bloom in their original habitat. they usually flower in hot season after monsoon/rainy season. so, by covering it, we're simulating rainy season where the sky is usually dark and there is minimal sunlight. then, when we expose it to sunlight, it simulates the hot/dry season where there are sunlight...

BTW, my maudiae has fully bloom...

[paphioboy]

Thanks for the info, harris.. I always thought it was a drop in temperature that induced blooming.. So its actually light intensity... i'll try with my barbatum, see if it works...

[paphioboy]

Great Maudiae album, BTW... I saw 2 plants for sale the other day but didn't buy them because they were rather pricey and a bit shaky in the pot.. When I asked the seller, he actually took them out of the pot and showed me the roots.. I didn't want to take a chance with plants with such few healthy roots..

[harris]

Originally Posted by paphioboy

Great Maudiae album, BTW... I saw 2 plants for sale the other day but didn't buy them because they were rather pricey and a bit shaky in the pot.. When I asked the seller, he actually took them out of the pot and showed me the roots.. I didn't want to take a chance with plants with such few healthy roots..

where did you find them? as for myself, everytime i found a paphio i'll buy it because it is such a rare find i my area (but depends on the price as well ). both my barbatum and maudiae were bought when they're not flowering. but they're at a decent flowering size for RM20 each at my neighbourhood pasar malam. there's no tag or ID on the pot so it is my luck to get a maudiae since the leaves are similar to barbatum and i thought i'm buying anther barbatum . i have 4 pots of barbatum but the gene pool in Malaysia is so diverse and all 4 pos produce flowers with different purple and green intensity!

[paphioboy]

Oh, I saw the Maudiae albums for sale at Ipoh orchid show 2 weeks ago.. Oh, you can get paphs at pasar malam..? How lucky.. I have to get from nurseries and they're not cheap either.. Yup, I agree.. Barbatum is very diverse so we hope to get the lowland varieties cos the highland forms won't bloom here without nocturnal cooling...

[funkychips]

I've always had a definite failure of trying to even grow pahpios, let alone make it flower. I wonder if it's the low humidity affecting my garden. If I put it in shade, it grows fast but it rots just as fast, offshoots and all. If I put it higher up, its growth becomes slow and stunted, only putting out a complete leaf in 3 months time.

[harris]

hehehe, that is the only time i found it sold in pasar malam. i was in cameron highland last week and found a lot of paphio sold there, but the price is just outrageous and cut throat!!

funkychips,
i have a barbatum and niveum clump (about 15+ shoots) but they haven't flower yet. they keeps on producing new shoots but no flower, will try and use the same technique that i use for the barbatum and maudiae and hopefully, will give the same result.

[paphioboy]

a niveum with 15 shoots..

!! How did you get your niveum so huge? From my own experience, its very difficult to grow niveum into a large plant, because as new shoots emerge, the old ones will die off, so it remains at approximately constant size.. How long have you had that plant? BTW, there's a nursery at CH that sells rather large plants of lowii at only RM30.. Pretty reasonable, I think.. But good luck trying to grow and bloom it well in the lowlands here...

funkychips, could your problem be with the medium instead of temp? You must bear in mind that paphs are NOT CPs.. Most paphs do not do well if just left in the sphag that they come in.. You must repot with a very open media that stays just moist enough.. Contrary to popular belief, paphs can stay dry for a bit rather than being kept over-wet... And barbatum is not the easiest to begin with either.. if you want to try again, try callosum.. its more forgiving and easier to bloom...

[paphioboy]

harris, niveum, godefroyae and angthong can take brighter light than most paphs.. Higher light levels triggers blooming..