# My Pleione trail for 2012



## Marc (Jan 8, 2012)

As allready stated in Hakone's topic I'm going to give the genus a Pleione a go in this and hopefully the coming years.

I'm starting of with five bulbs of Pleione formosana. I received two big bulbs which have 2 new leads each and then there are three smaller bulbs that have a single lead per bulb.

I've potted these in a Bonsai dish / pot. 

For preparation I started of with cleaning the bulbs I got. I started of with removing all the earth, small critters and other stuff that originated from their original growing area. The roots were all trimmed back to 2-3 cm's.

I used two small pieces of a terracotta pot to cover the drainage holes of the Bonsai pot. Then I added a thin layer of broken lava stone for extra drainage. The substrate itself consist of bark, perlite, chopped spagnum and a bit of river sand.

I started of with a layer of substrate in the pot, a bit more then half of the heigth of the pot was filled this way. Then I placed the bulbs in the pot taking care there is enough room around them to facilitate growth of new bulbs later on in the season. The room between the bulbs was filled with the rest of the substrate untill the bulbs were more or less covered for 50-60%.

I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom in the coming months.

Here is the result:


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## Dido (Jan 8, 2012)

lloks good wish you luck with them


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## Lanmark (Jan 8, 2012)

I'm interested in Pleiones, but I haven't taken the plunge.


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## Ruth (Jan 9, 2012)

How often, and how do you water them?


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## JeanLux (Jan 9, 2012)

Good luck Marc!!!! I try them again and again; with not too much success! At least the actual bulbs survived for 2 years now, but did not bloom !! A first spike is showing up (in my gh)! Jean


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## NYEric (Jan 9, 2012)

Oh..."trial".  Ok dont forget they mostly grow cool.


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## Marc (Jan 9, 2012)

JeanLux said:


> Good luck Marc!!!! I try them again and again; with not too much success! At least the actual bulbs survived for 2 years now, but did not bloom !! A first spike is showing up (in my gh)! Jean



You've got mail  



Ruth said:


> How often, and how do you water them?



For now I don't give them any wather, I made the substrate a bit moist when planting them to prevent the perlite to draw water from the bulbs. But for now they will wont get anything. 

Only after the blooming I will start watering. Till then the plant is living of the old bulb and only when roots start to form you should start watering. At least that's what I've been told / read on various pleione culture pages.



NYEric said:


> Oh..."trial".  Ok dont forget they mostly grow cool.



Yep small spelling error by me . The pot is currently on a N / NW facing windowsill of a room that isn't heated. The window is also open most of the time so I don't expect it to get a lot warmer then outside in the coming period.


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## Evergreen (Jan 9, 2012)

They look great, good luck!


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## Lanmark (Jan 9, 2012)

Marc said:


> Yep small spelling error by me .


 Here I was thinking you would eventually be transplanting them outdoors along some trail. :rollhappy: :wink:

Please do keep us informed re how your trial proceeds. I'm quite interested even if no trail is involved.


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## John M (Jan 9, 2012)

Looking good. That's a very open potting mix. You'll have to water very often to satisfy their needs, once they get some new roots. You're correct; they won't be able to absorb any water until they grow new roots towards the end of the blooming period. I have quite a few of these (P. formosana) and I love the variation from clone to clone. Your collection there should put on quite a nice show for you.


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## Marc (Jan 10, 2012)

Evergreen said:


> They look great, good luck!



Thank you



John M said:


> Looking good. That's a very open potting mix. You'll have to water very often to satisfy their needs, once they get some new roots. .....



When I made the mix I looked in the shed for some new garden / pot soil or some peat. But unfortunately my girlfriend used up everything we had that same day for some regular pot plants.

I'm planning repotting them this weekend. Need to buy some soil and / or peat to make the substrate a bit more "soily".


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## monocotman (Jan 10, 2012)

*pleione culture*

Marc, 
it looks like you are doing all the right things. I grow mine in a very similar compost mix and they do pretty well. They are still sat in an unused fridge in the garage for the next few weeks.
(I've grown them for maybe 15 years and have several hundred bulbs, mostly hybrids, maybe 50-60 different crosses, mostly from Ian Butterfield)
You should be able to sit the pot outside in a shadyish place for most of the summer. I find they prefer this to inside either a house or a greenhouse.
They seem to like moving air around them.
As you say, the only really tricky thing with pleione culture is to make sure you avoid too much water in the compost early in the season. 
Allow the bulbs to shrivel slightly whillst flowering and just after.
Once the leaves are growing fast then they can be watered and fed well to encourage large bulbs.
If you decide to expand your collection then look out for the large flowered clones from the grexes 'Rakata' and 'Shantung'. They're still amongst the best and cheaper to buy than more recent crosses.
They are also easy to grow compared to many species and increase at a much faster rate. You don't really get the full effect of pleiones until you have a potful in flower.
Ian Butterfield has the best selection of pleiones anywhere ( and very decent prices) but absolutely no web presence. 
You need to write to him later in the year to obtain a paper catalogue.
His address can be found on Paul Cumbleton's pleione web site on the 'suppliers' page.
Regards,
David


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## John M (Jan 10, 2012)

Hey David,

I got a large order from Ian Butterfield about 16 years ago. He sent some really good bulbs and I had a great collection. Unfortunately, one autumn, I left them outside when the weather report was calling for +3C and it actually went down to -8C! It was a weather report from a local radio station, which I think was an old report and which got read on-air again by accident. I lost every bulb! Very disappointing. I've since got back into Pleiones; but, only with formosana. I do have trouble getting the bulbs to grow large. I put them outside, water well and feed regularly. Are you saying that they need a lot more feeding than regular orchids? Do you have a recommendation for a fertilizer that I could use? Thanks!


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## monocotman (Jan 10, 2012)

*pleione culture*

Jon,
I am at a bit of a loss as to what you can do to improve the size of your bulbs.
I use bog standard white powder feed when I remember - it can be haphazard. I feed with high potash tomato food later in the season when the bulbs are starting to develop.
I try to keep the plants alive for as long as possible. This year was an excellent year for growth and they didn't die down until late October/early November.

David


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## John M (Jan 10, 2012)

Thanks David. When you say "compost mix", do you mean that there is a soil component to it? If so, perhaps that is giving the right nutrient boost that my plants seem to be missing. The thing is: when got my original bulbs, they were huge, like small apples. Now, I'm lucky if they get to a large enough size to bloom the next year. I have no trouble growing them and I don't lose any. In fact, they multiply like crazy with new bulbs and plenty of bulbils; they just never grow as large as I know they can.


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## monocotman (Jan 10, 2012)

*pleione culture*

Jon,
I have no soil in the mix - it is reconstituted NZ spag, perlite and small grade orchid bark in roughly equal proportions. You can reuse it for a second season.
It sounds to me like your original bulbs were 'oversized'. It is possible to produce huge bulbs by feeding at every watering. 
The comments I've seen suggest that they don't flower any more than smaller bulbs. However I've never done this myself.
How many of your mature bulbs flower?
David


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## John M (Jan 11, 2012)

If it's a mature bulb, it flowers. So, the answer is 100%. However, many bulbs that are from the original huge bulbs finish growing at a size that is so small, it produces only a single, small flower; or no flower at all. The original huge bulbs produced one or, often two stems, each with one or two very large flowers. I had a lot of these very large bulbs that produced two stems, carrying 4 large flowers in total. I never see that now.

I think I'll try feeding with every watering during the summer growing season. In other years, I've fed about every two weeks at about 1/4 strength. I guess that's not enough. Thanks for your advice.


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## Marc (Jan 11, 2012)

On another forum a user even recomend feeding with a product called "Blaukorn". Didn't really look into it yet but it more or less looks like a slow release fertilizer like Osmocote.

Product info in dutch:
http://www.compo-expert.com/fileadm...f/technische_fiches/COMPO_Folder_Blaukorn.pdf


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## Hakone (Jan 11, 2012)

"Blaukorn" is on the use of outdoor area as fertilizer. When used in the pot, the risk of salinity is much higher. Your pot is small .


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## Marc (Jan 11, 2012)

Hakone said:


> "Blaukorn" is on the use of outdoor area as fertilizer. When used in the pot, the risk of salinity is much higher. Your pot is small .



Thanks dor the heads up. Allthough i wasn't planning on using that product. I'll just use my regular feed.


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## Dido (Jan 11, 2012)

Blaukorn is one of the oldest fetilizer 

In Old days, where a lot of farmers could not reall read they made the fertilizer in different colour, 
Blaukorn was one of the fertilizer with all ingredients. 

Now there are new generation with micronutrients. 

I am using this kind for all my orchids and my Cyps really like it. 

It is not so salty like the granulated ones. 

http://www.compo-hobby.de/blaukorn_novatec_fluessig_(blefl)_produktinfo_11-12_adl_3_5775.file


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## Hakone (Jan 11, 2012)

Germane Fertilizer

red : 13-13-21 , N/P/K
yellow : 15-15-15 , N/P/K
blue ( Blaukorn ): 12-12-17 , N/P/K



*Source :*

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehrnährstoffdünger


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## Marc (Feb 12, 2012)

Well my order from Albiflora is delayed because of the freezing tempartures but for some reason  my Pleione collection is allready growing. This is how it looks currently:







The small ceramic pot in the front holds a different clone of formosana, not quite sure yet if they will stay in the pot or I'll repot them in a somewhat bigger and deeper plastic pot.

Two pots with big and medium sized pseudobulbs, these were labelled as Pleione white, I expect them to be a white form of formosana.











Bulbils + small bulbs of both the previous shown white form and some coloured form that I found in the same pot, due to the color difference of the bulbs it's easy to keep them apart so I have no problem with putting them in the same pot.


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## Lanmark (Feb 12, 2012)

New growth! How exciting! I look forward to your continued updates. :clap:


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## John M (Feb 12, 2012)

Looking good! Please post pics when they're blooming.


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## SlipperFan (Feb 12, 2012)

Almost like watching a birth...


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## NYEric (Feb 13, 2012)

MMmmmm. placenta stew!


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## Marc (Feb 13, 2012)

Thanks all. 

Today I was contacted by Albiflora to ask if it was ok to have the order shipped. I checked the weather sites and send a mail back confirming that it's ok to ship the plants.

So expect an update by the end of the week!


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## Marc (Feb 16, 2012)

Yeeeha my goodies from Albiflora arived, unfortunately no big fat bulbs with more then one new growth but that's no surprise as they will probably be used for vegetative reproduction.

The bulbs themselves were wrapped with lightly moist spagnum moss and then wrapped with kitchen foil. Each package was clearly labelled with it's contents.






Front left: limprichtii
Front right: pleionoides incl. 2 bulbils that I didn't pay for. Weeee free gifts!!! 
Center: formosana Alba Clara
Back left: voltolinii
Back right: speciosa Red Leaf


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## Dido (Feb 17, 2012)

Great purchase, we want to see the flowers
wish you luck with them


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## W. Beetus (Feb 17, 2012)

Exciting! I've always wanted to try Pleiones.


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## quaker (Feb 19, 2012)

I have difficulty with Pleiones . I took this pic at our local show which was entered by a very old lady. She said that she keeps them in rockwool and uses a toothpick to test if they need watering and keeps them cool. I'm sure you will agree that these are fantastic.

Ed


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## Lanmark (Feb 19, 2012)

quaker said:


> I'm sure you will agree that these are fantastic.
> 
> Ed


Wowser! :drool:


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## SlipperFan (Feb 19, 2012)

Fantastic -- yes -- the right word!


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## NYEric (Feb 19, 2012)

quaker said:


> I have difficulty with Pleiones .Ed


I thought you were going to say, this was your collection!


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## quaker (Feb 20, 2012)

NYEric said:


> I thought you were going to say, this was your collection!



If only!! if only NYEric

Ed


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## Roth (Feb 20, 2012)

quaker said:


> I have difficulty with Pleiones . I took this pic at our local show which was entered by a very old lady. She said that she keeps them in rockwool and uses a toothpick to test if they need watering and keeps them cool. I'm sure you will agree that these are fantastic.
> 
> Ed



Very well grown...

For my pleione, I used to grow some thousands of many species, as it was a popular good market a couple years ago. 

The main point, never do anything that can kill the roots, or it is a mess to restart the plants.

Second, there are limestone loving species, and acid loving species. The former perform better in bark and coir with lime, latter in bark and sphagnum. I usually liquid feed them like all the orchids here, but they get nutricote 13-13-13 when the new leaves are about 3-5 cm. Roughly 20-30 granules for a 12 cm pot. This way it is possible to get 2 mature bulbs at least from one big one. If they are not fed properly, they dig up the reserves in the old bulb mostly, and the new bulbs are too small. 

The bulbs that are green can be potted leaving the top 1/3 out roughly. The bulbs that are pink, or whitish must be buried close to the top. In fact some pleione species grow quite deep in the ground, unlike the legend. The only reason many growers advise never to pot them too deep is when you water too early in the season. If the bulb is too deep, the leaf starts at the junction of the potting mix, and it can rot because of the water. If you let them quite dry until the leaf emerges a bit, you are safe and fine.


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## Faan (Feb 20, 2012)

I would not mind having the variety as displayed in the photo. I only have formosana. It is quite difficult to get more plants in South Africa.

What I do is once the leaves are dry I remove the leaves, take the bulbs out of the growing medium (coconut chips), clean the bulbs a bit and put in a dry container into the fridge for the winter. They will come out of there towards the end of spring and put back in the medium in a shallow pot/container. Water at this stage is sparingly. Once they start growing and making flowers they get the same treatment as all my other plants(Paphs). 

I started a few years ago with about 5/7 bulbs and I think there are at least 30 - 40 now. I have even been able to keep the small bulbs to survive. 

At present I am waiting for the leaves to die off so that they may go for their winter sleep!

If there is someone around who could tell me how to obtain a few more I would appreciate it.


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## Marc (Mar 4, 2012)

Here's the Pleione aurita bulb I picked up at the Bad Salzuflen event this weekend.






My Pleione's seem to respond very well to the coming of spring.

Pleione formosana





Pleione voltolinii


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## Lanmark (Mar 4, 2012)

Oooh sweet! ^ :drool:

Great advice from both Roth and Faan above. :clap:


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## biothanasis (Mar 4, 2012)

Very nice!!


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## Dido (Mar 5, 2012)

Nice we look forward for the flowers


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## Marc (Mar 18, 2012)

First Pleione flowers can be found here:

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24830


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## Marc (Mar 24, 2012)

Here is an update on what is to be expected to show up on this forum in the coming weeks.

Pleine formosana alba Clara






Pleione aurita





Pleione ??? ( Was told that it would be another clone of formosana but I think it's some sort of hybrid. )





Pleione limprichtii





Pleione pleionoides


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## biothanasis (Mar 25, 2012)

Great :clap:


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## Dido (Mar 25, 2012)

looking forward to see them bloom.


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## Lanmark (Mar 25, 2012)

I love these updates! :clap:


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## Marc (Apr 2, 2012)

A couple of the Pleione's don't seem to open their flowers fully. For instance the NOID and the formosana alba clara MC. 

However the aurita developed was in a big bud yesterday but today when I came back from work it was allready open.


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## NYEric (Apr 2, 2012)

Photos!


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## Marc (Apr 3, 2012)

NYEric said:


> Photos!



Ok Ok you will find them in the photo section


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## Marc (Dec 7, 2012)

No pictures this time but I've stored my Pleione's in the basement.

I unpotted the Pleione's in the bigger pots and I'm very pleased with the root growth that I encountered. Of course the roots were old and shrivlled but a good network was formed this growing season.

Seems that my substrate mix of spagnum / peat / bark / perlite / river sand actually worked


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