# Repotting Paph. stonei specimen



## Brandon Tam (Apr 11, 2015)

Probably one of the larger Paphiopedilum species specimen in our collection. We decided to put it into a 15 inch pot today. Took a lot of time but we finally got it done!


----------



## tnyr5 (Apr 11, 2015)

O_O ok, you have my attention...


----------



## troy (Apr 11, 2015)

Lol....


----------



## phraggy (Apr 11, 2015)

That's a monster -- how old is the plant?

Ed


----------



## Orchidkid99 (Apr 11, 2015)

Awesome! I'd also like to know how old it is )


----------



## Justin (Apr 11, 2015)

wow--does it bloom every year?


----------



## paphioboy (Apr 11, 2015)

Superb! What was the old mix used?


----------



## slippery (Apr 11, 2015)

*repotting paph.stoneii specimen*

Brandon,
How often do you water a large plant
like this? It's got to be a bit tricky. 
Jerry


----------



## Gilda (Apr 11, 2015)

I'd like to see a pic of it in bloom !


----------



## 17andgrowing (Apr 11, 2015)

Wow!


----------



## Ozpaph (Apr 11, 2015)

whoa!!


----------



## MaryPientka (Apr 11, 2015)

Wow!


----------



## Migrant13 (Apr 11, 2015)

I think you should divide it....there's enough to give every ST member a division!!


----------



## SlipperFan (Apr 11, 2015)

I don't think I could lift a plant that big!


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 11, 2015)

phraggy said:


> That's a monster -- how old is the plant?
> 
> Ed



The plant was purchased in June of 1990 which means it is at least 25 years old.


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 11, 2015)

Justin said:


> wow--does it bloom every year?



Blooms reliably for us every year!


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 11, 2015)

paphioboy said:


> Superb! What was the old mix used?



Old mix consisted of seedling and medium size bark, charcoal, moss, and sand.


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 11, 2015)

slippery said:


> Brandon,
> How often do you water a large plant
> like this? It's got to be a bit tricky.
> Jerry



We water it twice a week. It actually consumed a lot of water! Never does it have a chance to rot! Fairly easy to take care of considering the size of the darn thing!


----------



## NYEric (Apr 12, 2015)

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## UweM (Apr 12, 2015)

Brandon,

which what and which high to you fertilize this large plant and your other plants?

Uwe


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 12, 2015)

We use YaraLiva Calcium Nitrate 15.5-0-0. We fertilize every time we water so we use a low concentration output through our Dosatron machine.


----------



## AdamD (Apr 12, 2015)

Keep that thing together! What a beauty! How's the flower quality?


----------



## Lance Birk (Apr 12, 2015)

This plant of P. stonei is a division of one purchased by S. Robert Weltz, the man whose collection The Huntington received in May, 2010 and he grew it well until he died in March of that year. In September 2010 I repotted this plant into a potting mix I first constructed in 1964 which I've named "Birk's Mix." The mix consists of small fir bark, chopped Green moss and washed river sand; the recipe is published in my Grower's Manual and is the best mix ever! This mix precludes the popular use of organic fertilizers since they cause/hasten decay. With most water supplies I seldom find it necessary to fertilize considering the mineral (and some organic, too) content of both the sand and water. Because of the very high light conditions now I found it useful to fertilize 1-2 times per month with water-soluble calcium nitrate, especially from March through October, the mix and irrigation water provide other necessary nutrients,

Since 2010 this plant has flourished in the greenhouse set aside to house the thousands of orchids in Bob's entire collection of fabulous, mostly awarded and/or outstanding clones of the world's finest orchids. Conditions inside were set to: High incidence of bright sunlight, very large volumes of moving air 24 hours per day, including a wet pad-and-fan system which remains open and exchanges the entire volume of inside air in minutes when operating; and lots of water. Under normal year-round conditions the collection is watered two times per week, and often a third time to thoroughly rinse/leach the potting medium. This retards the incidence of rots and salt build-up. (The Green moss being the other critical decay-inhibiting element.) 

For a plant of this mass (it was half this size 5 years ago) I incorporated approximately one-third large-size fir bark to the regular mix and packed it firmly. ( As a note - Do not be tempted to pot paphiopedilums according to size of the leaf mass only. Put large plants with small root mass into a pot to fit the roots! In this case, the roots are massive.) As testament to the mix and growing conditions, it has remained in superb condition nearly 5 years before repotting. This is not unusual under these conditions.


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 12, 2015)

I have to give credit to my two fantastic volunteers, Gayle and Phil!


----------



## Justin (Apr 12, 2015)

Brandon good thing you didn't have me as a volunteer--a few side growths would have found their way home with me


----------



## Cat (Apr 12, 2015)

Justin said:


> Brandon good thing you didn't have me as a volunteer--a few side growths would have found their way home with me


:rollhappy:


----------



## SlipperFan (Apr 12, 2015)

A few of us might have had the same thought...


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 12, 2015)

Justin said:


> Brandon good thing you didn't have me as a volunteer--a few side growths would have found their way home with me



If you guys could remove a single growth! Specimen was a tight bundle! Just trying to get the old mix out was a challenge!


----------



## Paphman910 (Apr 12, 2015)

Big stonei! I repotted my stonei earlier in the year into a 13 inch pot and it was huge. Only had it for about 7 years from a 15cm seedling.


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 12, 2015)

Paphman910 said:


> Big stonei! I repotted my stonei earlier in the year into a 13 inch pot and it was huge. Only had it for about 7 years from a 15cm seedling.



WOW! That is impressive! Does it bloom reliably for you? What was the most amount of spikes did you have on it?


----------



## Paphman910 (Apr 13, 2015)

Brandon Tam said:


> WOW! That is impressive! Does it bloom reliably for you? What was the most amount of spikes did you have on it?



Yes, every two years but last year the plant flowered 3 times because all the growth matures at different time. This plant is always putting out new growths and lost count of how many growths it has 2 years ago.

It grows non stop year round and seems like this plant only makes a spike every 2 years. I wish it would flower all at the same.

BTW You got an impressive stonei specimen.


----------



## Brandon Tam (Apr 14, 2015)

Paphman910 said:


> Yes, every two years but last year the plant flowered 3 times because all the growth matures at different time. This plant is always putting out new growths and lost count of how many growths it has 2 years ago.
> 
> It grows non stop year round and seems like this plant only makes a spike every 2 years. I wish it would flower all at the same.
> 
> BTW You got an impressive stonei specimen.



This year, we have a lot of Paphiopedilums that have different growths that bloom at different times! Very weird year! We would have a Paph. specimen that would shoot out 3 spikes now and 2 spikes a few months later! Not normal for us....


----------

