# Paphiopedilum stonei wild in situ



## gonewild (Aug 20, 2014)

I asked a friend in Sarawak if he had a picture of what he considered a healthy natural growing wild Paph plant. 
He sent a picture of Paph stonei that he took recently and said it is part of a new population he found.

Look at the picture and you can see what a normal wild Paph looks like. 
It's not what I call dark green.
How do your plants look in comparison?


----------



## NYEric (Aug 20, 2014)

Exactly the same!


----------



## cnycharles (Aug 20, 2014)

..... I see nussing!


----------



## AdamD (Aug 20, 2014)

Hmm some darker some lighter. Thanks so much for the pic!


----------



## Rick (Aug 20, 2014)

Looks fine to me.

I have 2 that are bigger clumps.


----------



## emydura (Aug 20, 2014)

cnycharles said:


> ..... I see nussing!



Me either.


----------



## troy (Aug 20, 2014)

I wonder how much of that rock leeches off with the rain water over those roots?


----------



## Trithor (Aug 21, 2014)

Lance, that is a cool habitat picture. Are there any other pictures in the series?


----------



## paphioboy (Aug 21, 2014)

FYI, Michael Lo also has taken some photos of stonei in situ which I posted before in several threads on nutrition and also one on light. Some of which are much darker than this and flowering well.


----------



## Lmpgs (Aug 21, 2014)

Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Secundino (Aug 21, 2014)

...and? The leaf colour is the response to *all *factors that act with the plant during a given time. Without these infos one cannot recreate - why should one like to do so? - or compare with our windowsill/GH/culture.


----------



## polyantha (Aug 21, 2014)




----------



## Ozpaph (Aug 21, 2014)

one light and the other dark green...................variability in plants and environment


----------



## Camellkc (Aug 21, 2014)

My paph's leave color close to the second.


----------



## Justin (Aug 21, 2014)

Camellkc said:


> My paph's leave color close to the second.



my stonei are this color too.


----------



## cnycharles (Aug 21, 2014)

emydura said:


> Me either.



I clicked on the page and then clicked 'web
view' in tapatalk and the picture showed up there (won't display in tapatalk)


----------



## Trithor (Aug 21, 2014)

I am constantly amazed that some are able to grow this species so easily. Claims of it being easy and fast (and in some cases, the fastest grower), yet under my culture it is slow and difficult. I have tried regular fertilizer, and a K-Lite approximate, but still I struggle. I am obviously missing a vital aspect of its requirements. This is why the in-situ pictures are of so much interest. Not because of leaf colour, but the plant environment, thank you all for the pictures!


----------



## Paphman910 (Aug 21, 2014)

My stonei that is huge is medium green and grows like a weed! Lots of lava rock at the bottom half of my pot and it is root bound!

Hard to tell if the is actually dark or light green from the photos.


----------



## Justin (Aug 21, 2014)

it is very clone-dependent. It helps to have a lot of them!


----------



## troy (Aug 21, 2014)

What kind of lava rock do you use?


----------



## Paphman910 (Aug 21, 2014)

troy said:


> What kind of lava rock do you use?



Just the one from garden shop and it is reddish brown in color! Makes the pot super heavy!


----------



## troy (Aug 21, 2014)

Oops this pic went to wrong thread lol..


----------



## Paphman910 (Aug 21, 2014)

troy said:


>



Nice setup! Where is stonei hiding?


----------



## NYEric (Aug 21, 2014)

that's why you need more lights! oke:


----------



## troy (Aug 21, 2014)

I thought about getting lights but I have base table with three shelves stacked up. One light probably wouldnt hit all four spots. I get direct light in the morning for almost three hours it heats up to high 70s quick. in the afternoon theres a building right across the way painted white the setting sun reflects light in, I have single pane windows


----------



## Camellkc (Aug 22, 2014)

Trithor said:


> I am constantly amazed that some are able to grow this species so easily. Claims of it being easy and fast (and in some cases, the fastest grower), yet under my culture it is slow and difficult. I have tried regular fertilizer, and a K-Lite approximate, but still I struggle. I am obviously missing a vital aspect of its requirements. This is why the in-situ pictures are of so much interest. Not because of leaf colour, but the plant environment, thank you all for the pictures!



Me too! I have 2 failure experience in stonei but my other muti species such as kolopakingii, lowii, philippinese and even supardii and roths do very well under the same environmental, watering and feeding conditions. My kolo's new growth becomes a monster size now too.


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

The sun moves with the season I actually get more direct light in the winter


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

I have a paph transdoll thats real close to kolo in size. 2 growth plant bloomed once with a leafspan of 14 inches 28 inches leaf tip to tip


----------



## Camellkc (Aug 22, 2014)

troy said:


> I have a paph transdoll thats real close to kolo in size. 2 growth plant bloomed once with a leafspan of 14 inches 28 inches leaf tip to tip



Your transdoll seems to be big. FYI, my kolo's leaf size is around 60cm (24inches) each and the leaf span (the length between 2 leaves' tip) is around 110 cm (around 45 inches)


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

4 foot leafspan thats big wow, I have 2 kolo hybrids 1 is lawless tristan given to me 18 in 1 leaf 21 inch other 39 inches leaf to leaf, I think I'm gonna sell it although it has a new growth when it was given to me there was blemishes and spots on it the other I have is a large seedling kolosand x pey gift from marilyn ledoux she's awesome has good plants


----------



## Brabantia (Aug 22, 2014)

Trithor said:


> I am constantly amazed that some are able to grow this species so easily. Claims of it being easy and fast (and in some cases, the fastest grower), yet under my culture it is slow and difficult. I have tried regular fertilizer, and a K-Lite approximate, but still I struggle. I am obviously missing a vital aspect of its requirements. This is why the in-situ pictures are of so much interest. Not because of leaf colour, but the plant environment, thank you all for the pictures!


Has it a good roots system? Because usually it is the reason why plants are not growing. Paphiopedilum culture is a good culture of there roots :wink:


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

Yes


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

Whats not growing?


----------



## Paphman910 (Aug 22, 2014)

Brabantia said:


> Has it a good roots system? Because usually it is the reason why plants are not growing. Paphiopedilum culture is a good culture of there roots :wink:



What is the water quality like? Is the water low in TDS and is the pH at 6.4-6.8 range?


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

I use arrowhead spring water, I'm keeping them in business lol.. my ph is 6.5 except for my rock dwellers those get 7.0 - 7.5. I have a harold koopowitz I've had for two years going into bloom in a clear pot I can show you the roots although the blooming crown got funk on it because my humidifier dripped in it all night last november


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)




----------



## Rick (Aug 22, 2014)

troy said:


> I wonder how much of that rock leeches off with the rain water over those roots?



Given the high rate of rainfall the stuff the roots see is very dilute.


----------



## Rick (Aug 22, 2014)

troy said:


> I use arrowhead spring water, I'm keeping them in business lol.. my ph is 6.5 except for my rock dwellers those get 7.0 - 7.5.



"Spring Waters" typically have fairly high TDS, alkalinity and Calcium/Magnesium hardness concentrations.

Not unlike Perrier water.


----------



## Rick (Aug 22, 2014)

Trithor said:


> I am constantly amazed that some are able to grow this species so easily. Claims of it being easy and fast (and in some cases, the fastest grower), yet under my culture it is slow and difficult. I have tried regular fertilizer, and a K-Lite approximate, but still I struggle. I am obviously missing a vital aspect of its requirements. This is why the in-situ pictures are of so much interest. Not because of leaf colour, but the plant environment, thank you all for the pictures!



Have you tried baskets?

Are you bright and warm?

Low K turned them around for me, but keeping N high can make pot management tough to the point of chronic underwatering (to reduce root rots). These guys grow fast with lots of water, but if you end up witholding water over concern of potting mix integrity and root rots, they end up stunted.


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

My fertilizers I've been using have very low numbers 5-2-1 and other stuff I've been putting together very low numbers all my plants are growing very well. the water I'm using a while ago I took to my hydro shop and had a few gallons tested and it came out very low I forgot the numbers but the duehickey they used to test it costs $150.00 lol.. it was digitaI, I have quite a few plants about to bloom I've been growing for a long time


----------



## troy (Aug 22, 2014)

I'm trying to stay away from large number potassium nitrate, I've been thinking about baskets if I go with baskets I'm going to have to get a water rettentative addition to my potting mix because my temps are up to almost 80 in the afternoons my humidity is never lower than 65


----------



## Trithor (Aug 23, 2014)

Brabantia said:


> Has it a good roots system? Because usually it is the reason why plants are not growing. Paphiopedilum culture is a good culture of there roots :wink:


The roots seem fine. I have 4 clones and all seem slow (way slower than my roths plants). I tapped one out of the pot and the root growth is good, not fantastic, but certainly good.



Paphman910 said:


> What is the water quality like? Is the water low in TDS and is the pH at 6.4-6.8 range?


It has been a while since I tested my water. The other plants seem to be doing OK with the water, kolo, wilhelminae, roths, and a whole range of multi hybrids all seem happy with the water.



Rick said:


> Have you tried baskets?
> 
> Are you bright and warm?
> 
> Low K turned them around for me, but keeping N high can make pot management tough to the point of chronic underwatering (to reduce root rots). These guys grow fast with lots of water, but if you end up witholding water over concern of potting mix integrity and root rots, they end up stunted.



I have quite a few plants in baskets now after your success (henryanum, villosum, philippinense) but no stonei in baskets yet. Perhaps I should move one to a basket today? The problem is that my humidity is perhaps a bit low for basket culture. I am planning on fitting a misting system this coming summer.
This is the South African 'Highveld', things don't get much brighter than this. Excessive light is one of the major problems that we have. Warm in summer, definitely yes! But in Winter we get cold, this might very well be one of my biggest problems as I don't heat at all. Our winter night temps drop to around zero C quite often, but by 10 in the morning the greenhouse is above 22 C. My lowest greenhouse temp this winter was 3 C (but only a brief period just before dawn)


----------



## cnycharles (Aug 23, 2014)

For your cold times if you had some big drums that you could fill with water and paint black that could help hold done heat through the coldest part of the night and it would probably help


----------



## Trithor (Aug 23, 2014)

I don't have the space unfortunately. I am considering extending the greenhouse next year to incorporate the swimming pool. No one swims in it anymore now that the kids have grown up. I am hoping that the increased volume of the greenhouse, coupled with the large volume of water will stabilize both temperatures and humidity?


----------



## cnycharles (Aug 23, 2014)

It should. You could also pump some water from pool to misters in GH to raise humidity and that would also help cool (think swamp or fan pad cooler)


----------



## Rick (Aug 26, 2014)

Trithor said:


> Our winter night temps drop to around zero C quite often, but by 10 in the morning the greenhouse is above 22 C. My lowest greenhouse temp this winter was 3 C (but only a brief period just before dawn)



This may well be a big problem Gary. I never let the GH get below 15C

But this winter I probably had extended periods (cloudy and freezing worse than usual) when I never got above 20C.

Hard to account for the extreme exposure duration. Any other warm growers (low elevation Phaleanopsis) that have problems in your collection?


----------



## Trithor (Aug 28, 2014)

I have some vandas and similar growing in the same conditions. I will post a picture of them tomorrow. I am sure that the low night time temps are a problem, the question is how much of a problem. Our daytime temps are most often above 15, with greenhouse temps above 23. The temps drop quite sharply at sundown, with a lag of a few hours in the greenhouse drop, so that most winter nights the greenhouse only gets to about 10 just before dawn and starts to climb as soon as the sun hits the greenhouse.


----------

