Paphiopedilum/ Slipper orchid

[caseyhoo]

That is nice slipper orchid!!! May I know where you grow them? What is temperature?

I decided not show yours thread to my wife... Else, my house sure will full of sliver!!!

[harris]

Originally Posted by caseyhoo

That is nice slipper orchid!!! May I know where you grow them? What is temperature?

I decided not show yours thread to my wife... Else, my house sure will full of sliver!!!

hi casey,

i grow it in my orchid house as well, but i put it close to the floor because they only need 20-30% light intensity, if you give them more there is a tendency of the leaves yellowing and die. the most important thing about paphio is to know the original habitat. for example, niveum and barbatum usually grows in leaf litter close to rocky mountains. so, in your potting medium you have to include some mountain rock chips (i use granite chips), if not it is very hard to get them to bloom.

[paphioboy]

Great paphs, harris.. i just got 2 pots of barbatum, supposedly lowland kind... My niveum died bcos of scale attack.. sigh..

[funkychips]

I think my niveum is lacking in granite chips. It's not flowering and growing extremely slowly. I grow it in perlite, rock chips and a bit of peat moss but still its' not helping I guess

[harris]

I have a few pots of paphio and not all of them has bloom. It is quite tricky to trigger the flowering but when you managed to make it bloom, it is an achievement!

A friend of mine managed to get his paphio rothchildianum to bloom using this technique. In order to 'stress' the paphio, he made a box covered with paranet and use it to cover his paphio for 6 weeks. the cover is only opened for watering the paphio. After 6 weeks, remove the paphio from the box and expose it to 10-20% light and hopefully it will bloom.

I've tried this technique, and after 5 weeks out of the box this is the result!



Left: barbatum, Right: Maudiae

[funkychips]

Harris, your paphio maudiae is nice. Do you have javanicum as well? I have a soft spot for green flowered orchids
Oh by the way, I got a bottle of pure calcium supplement meant for reptile consumption, as I have pet lizards. Can these be used as a subsititute for increasing the alkalinity and boosting growth and flowering other than the technique described by you as above? Just curious, please advise

[kentosaurs]

Huisay.......Beautiful orchids or flowers :D.....They look so elegant

Ken