# Paph. Hsinying Majakun General Care Help...



## Oddity (Feb 12, 2012)

Hey folks, I'm new around Slippertalk and new to the orchid universe. Sorry for the lengthy post ahead of time... I recently got a couple slippers at an orchid show in Michigan at Frederik Meijer Gardens with the tag, "(Makuli - Curtisii) - Maudiae x Maudiae 'Napa Valley' HCC/AOS x Sib" or a *Paph. Hsinying Majakun* I'm guessing? It was 2 for $20 and I can't say they are ultra healthy looking (to me, as a no0b) but it was pretty affordable and I never seen anything like it and thought it looked awesome.

One was already in flower when I bought it and the other is still a bud. It's been about three weeks since I purchased it and the guy that sold it to me said the bud should flower in a couple weeks... It's been three now. But I understand they can take awhile to push up.

I need advice on how to care for these. The one that's already flowered I'm not too concerned with. It's the one that's in bud form. I read up that it takes awhile for it to bloom and the dreaded "bud blast" nobody wants and I want to avoid that at all costs and am getting worried since the very tip of the bud at the bottom has a very small brown dot... The fella was sitting in my living room all this time until yesterday with pretty bright light (and cold, around 50 or 55 at night and 65-ish during the day) and since its leaves were mottled, I read that it likes less light and warmer temps so I brought it up in my room where it's warmer and dimmer but not overly dark. I have a heater in here but I steer it away from the plant so my room is around 60-70+ degrees. I used one of those frozen TV dinner steamer bowls as a humidity tray (the plant is NOT sitting in water). 

The brown dot although small and hard to capture with my phone camera, worries me as well as I've moved the plant to my room... So I'm worried I may be stressing it out too much. All that's been done with this plant is watering with minute amounts of standard fertilizer (once so far) I used that is for other phals in the house (my mother's personal phal orchid collection which is doing very well and are growing spikes all over the place). But we've never owned or cared for lady slippers until now.

My room receives some sunlight but not much but I figured since the leaves on the guy were so pale to me compared to what I've seen on the forum I think it was getting too much light. It's like a bleached out spring green crayon with some medium grass green spots. When I got it at the orchid show, they were already that pale. I didn't know any better so I picked it up anyway. 

I have a healthy Schefflera arboricola bonsai to keep the new lady slipper company. Schefflera arboricola are hardy and can do well under low-lighting conditions, and loves high humidity to grow aerial roots (although my room is rather dry it's still doing fine and growing leaves but not too actively growing aerial roots). I recently had to do away with the humidity tray since we were having a gnat problem but I seem to have eradicated them. Haven't seen one in awhile and especially not in my room. I'm sorry for the large crappy pictures, my phone has no zooming capability and poor focusing.







The leaves are so pale...
















As you can see it hasn't been repotted yet as I'm afraid of over-stressing it. The original pot its in is extremely tight and small and the roots at the top you can see have been brown... What color should they be? (Also you can't see the brown dot on the bud on this side but the other side.)





















Trying to capture the very brown dot at the bottom tip of that bud there...

Any help will be appreciated. I'll be checking back here often. :ninja:


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Feb 12, 2012)

So far so good. Your plant looks great. I do not see a small brown dot. But that, in itself, is usually nothing more than cosmetic damage. Bud blast begins with a halting of all growth in the bud. It seems OK at first, but growth doesn't progress. When it becomes apparent, its as a general browning (or tanning) of the bud...not just one small spot. While bud blast can occur at any point in development, 75% of the time its at the beginning, when the bud is just emerging.


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## SlipperFan (Feb 12, 2012)

Welcome to Slippertalk, Oddity. Your buds look fine to me -- they should be opening within a week. 

I'd like to make a suggestion, though: Please resize your photos before you post them. Your post was difficult to read because I had to scroll back and forth to read each sentence -- that's because the photos are so big, and the text follows the space of the photo.


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## NYEric (Feb 13, 2012)

HI. Welcome from NYC. The bud looks fine, the brown spot should just be a little damage when it opens. Your temps seem a little low to me.


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## Oddity (Feb 13, 2012)

Thanks for the quick replies guys!  When do you guys suggest I repot him? After he blooms and bloom falls off? The plastic black pot its in now is small and doesn't seem to hold water very well. Every time I put water through it it just runs right out again at the bottom. Should I do these drain waterings several times a week? 

Thanks again for all the help.



Eric Muehlbauer said:


> So far so good. Your plant looks great. I do not see a small brown dot. But that, in itself, is usually nothing more than cosmetic damage. Bud blast begins with a halting of all growth in the bud. It seems OK at first, but growth doesn't progress. When it becomes apparent, its as a general browning (or tanning) of the bud...not just one small spot. While bud blast can occur at any point in development, 75% of the time its at the beginning, when the bud is just emerging.



Good to know! I'm just a worry-wort. 




SlipperFan said:


> Welcome to Slippertalk, Oddity. Your buds look fine to me -- they should be opening within a week.
> 
> I'd like to make a suggestion, though: Please resize your photos before you post them. Your post was difficult to read because I had to scroll back and forth to read each sentence -- that's because the photos are so big, and the text follows the space of the photo.



Thanks for the welcome! Awesome. I'm looking forward to this.

Sorry about the large images. I'll resize them in the future. Some forums have an automatic resizing ability within the code.



NYEric said:


> HI. Welcome from NYC. The bud looks fine, the brown spot should just be a little damage when it opens. Your temps seem a little low to me.



Sounds good. Temps too low? I live in Michigan and it's been a little cold lately with all the snow but I try my best to keep it around the 70s at least in my room. Should I be worried about airflow? The minute I open my door the cold air gets in.


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## Marc (Feb 13, 2012)

Oddity said:


> Thanks for the quick replies guys!  When do you guys suggest I repot him? After he blooms and bloom falls off? The plastic black pot its in now is small and doesn't seem to hold water very well. Every time I put water through it it just runs right out again at the bottom. Should I do these drain waterings several times a week?



First of all I would like to start of with saying welcome to the forum from the Netherlands.

As far as repotting is concerned, if the substrate your growing the plant in looks good and isn't degrading quickly I alwas prefer repotting after blooming. Repotting can cause stress that might cause the plant to abort the flower. So as long as the plant is healthy wait till after the flowering.

About the water running through the pot, this is exactly what you would want. If the pot would retain water the substrate would stay too wet which would cause the roots to degrade and in the end rot away.

For Paphs you would like to keep your substrate always a bit moist. They don't like their roots getting bone dry but they don't want to have them soaking wet all the time either. During the winter I water less then once a week, during the summer I tend to water twice a week.

I hope this helps you out a bit but I'm sure others will share their view as well.


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## Oddity (Feb 13, 2012)

Marc said:


> First of all I would like to start of with saying welcome to the forum from the Netherlands.
> 
> As far as repotting is concerned, if the substrate your growing the plant in looks good and isn't degrading quickly I alwas prefer repotting after blooming. Repotting can cause stress that might cause the plant to abort the flower. So as long as the plant is healthy wait till after the flowering.
> 
> ...



Hi Marc! I've seen some of your orchids posted around here. They look great!

Your advice is helpful, I'll keep the watering thing in mind.


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## SlipperFan (Feb 13, 2012)

Oddity, you must live over by Grand Rapids. I think you should look into joining the Grand Valley Orchid Society. They have a lot of excellent growers and can help you with "hands on" orchid culture. They are a great group.


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## Paphman910 (Feb 13, 2012)

I think your plant is quite healthy and will need to be repotted when new roots are showing at the leaf base. It will produce a new growth as well very soon! I would try to find a 3.5 inch pot and use fine bark, perlite, charcoal with a bit of sphagnum top dressing and use lava rock at bottom of pot as drainage.

Paphman910


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## NYEric (Feb 14, 2012)

Oddity said:


> Temps too low? I live in Michigan and it's been a little cold lately with all the snow but I try my best to keep it around the 70s at least in my room. Should I be worried about airflow? The minute I open my door the cold air gets in.



Yes, that's a little cool for "tropical" slipper orchids. You need to move to the tropics!


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## Dido (Feb 14, 2012)

Nice plant and welcome to the forum


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## Oddity (Feb 14, 2012)

SlipperFan said:


> Oddity, you must live over by Grand Rapids. I think you should look into joining the Grand Valley Orchid Society. They have a lot of excellent growers and can help you with "hands on" orchid culture. They are a great group.



Indeed I do! That sounds like fun. Thanks for the suggestion! I actually go to school right in downtown as well. Neat!



Paphman910 said:


> I think your plant is quite healthy and will need to be repotted when new roots are showing at the leaf base. It will produce a new growth as well very soon! I would try to find a 3.5 inch pot and use fine bark, perlite, charcoal with a bit of sphagnum top dressing and use lava rock at bottom of pot as drainage.
> 
> Paphman910



Thanks Paphman910 for the info. So when I see the little roots come out, I should really bury them under the potting mix right? Or else they'll turn brown? I think I have the perfect pot for it. Hopefully its not too shallow. It's a circle pot that's 3.5 inches at its widest and only 2.5 inches deep. That good?



NYEric said:


> Yes, that's a little cool for "tropical" slipper orchids. You need to move to the tropics!



I will gladly move once I graduate with my degree aha! I much prefer heat over cold. I'm trying my best with the temperatures. >.<



Dido said:


> Nice plant and welcome to the forum



Thanks Dido!


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## biothanasis (Feb 15, 2012)

Very beautiful plant!!!!

Welcome to the forum!


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