# Major collection boost...



## The Mutant (Apr 28, 2012)

Otherwise I would have continued with my other thread, but there are so many new orchids I felt they needed a thread of their own. 

So, this week almost all of my orders have arrived, which means, all in all, 32 orchids! :rollhappy: Of these, 10 were Paphs and the rest Phals. I will do a bit of copypaste from OB since I'm too lazy to write the same things again, so here we go:

First out is the order from Orchideen Lucke from whom I ordered a Phal. Braquestris 'Melmi' and a Phal. Sweety Sigrid 'Tainan' and got a bonus plant as well (it came without an ID so I emailed them and asked; so far no answer though):






Second order to arrive was my Schwerter order consisting of 14 Phals. First are four of my babies, from left to right (the upper row) ; Phal. philipinensis (this guy actually came in bloom despite being so small - evil me cut it since it needs its energy elsewhere) and Phal. stuartiana var. nobilis, the lower row, from left to right; Phal. lindenii and Phal. celebensis:






Next, three thirds of the Phal. equestris crew, from left to right; Phal. equestris 'Apari' pink which doesn't have that many roots unfortunately, and Phal. equestris 'Apari' which is in much better shape than its colleague. The smallest one is the Phal. equestris var. coerulea which might make it, or it might die - it's hard to tell:





Here is my MONSTER! It's HUGE! It's a Phal. equestris aurea, and I somehow feel the great orchid god decided that I deserved some compensation for the aurea I lost a couple of months ago, and made sure this specimen (if one can't use the term "specimen" to describe this monstrosity, I don't know how big the plants must be before one can) made its way into my home:





Here are my two Phal. Ambotris where the one to the left has a P. amboinensis white as one of the parents, while the other has a regular amboinensis. It's going to be interesting to see if there will be any difference between the flowers (if I get them to bloom that is):





And the two odd ones; Phal. Equalacea (Phal. violacea var. Indigo x Phal. equestris var. alba) and my tiny Phal. pulchra, I hope this little guy will survive the shipping:





And finally; Dtps. Liu's Berry and Dtps. Purple Gem 'blue', both in excellent condition:






Next are the orders I picked up yesterday from three different vendors, Popow, Elsner, and Asendorfer (finally time for some Paphs!), first out are the plants from Popow:

First out is the Phals from Popow; the ones in the back are equestris 'Blue Lip' and those in front are equestris Ilocus. Two of these are being shipped on Monday to a friend of mine that I ordered together with. The thing I'm concerned about when it comes to my 'Blue Lip' is that it has a black spot on the stem. It looks like some kind of possible bacteria/rot spot which I'll have to do something about as soon as possible. The other three Phals look to be in good condition:






I ordered four Pahs from Popow as well, an appletonianum, a helenae, a purpuratum, and a venustum. Unfortunately, the Paphs were in a not as good a condition as the Phals, mostly due to the not too great packaging. The purpuratum have been squeezed, almost crushed underneath another plant and only have one nice fan - the others will hopefully recover somewhat and not die (don't let the picture fool you). The helenae looks like it has been infested with some pests at some time (it might still be, so I'm going to isolate it from the rest of the noobs and again, don't let the picture fool you). The rest of the Paphs look more or less fine, all have some slight damages due to rough handling when being packed, and due to not enough protection between the plants in the package.

Anyway, here they are; the upper row from left to right; purpuratum, appletonianum, venustum (this guy has the most gorgeous foliage I've ever seen!), lower row from left to right; superbiens (bonusplant) and helenae:






Here's the order from Elsner. The overall impression I got was that the quality of both the plants and the packaging were much better than the Popow ones. All the plants look very fine and healthy, the only one that makes me a bit worried is the big guy in the back Paph. robelenii which also looks like it has or have had some sort of pest infestation, I'll keep a close eye on this one as well. The other plants are as follows, middle row from left to right; Phal. Little Sister, Phal. Venus, Phal. Buena Jewel x equestris alba (depending on what the flowers look like I might keep it or I might sell it), Phal. Rainbow Chip x Lius Bright Ruby (same as with the previous one), Phal. Equiwilson, Phal. equestris 'Blue Lip':






And finally, my little Paph order from Asendorfer. I ordered three; a barbatum var. nigritum, a lawrenceanum, and an urbanianum. I got a little surprise in my package since I got a robinsonii (bullenianum) as a bonusplant. This guy was on my wishlist so I got real happy to receive one! The quality of the plants totally blew me away, they look very healthy all of them and since they were so well packaged, they've received no damage due to the transportation. Not only were the Paphs so healthy looking they were practically shining, even the substrate looks fresh! These guys I don't feel I'll have to re-pot, all I need to do is take a little peek at their roots and then they can go straight back in again.

Anyway, here they are, from top to bottom, left to right (you know the drill by now, right?); lawrenceanum, robinsonii, urbanianum, and barbatum var. nigritum:


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## Gcroz (Apr 28, 2012)

Nice helenae!

Regarding your comment about venustum: someone called the markings "cobra skin" and I thought that was apt. It is lovely foliage.

Great new additions. Congrats! :clap:


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## Shiva (Apr 28, 2012)

Great plants! It reminds me of the time I was working and I could buy any orchid I wanted. Now I'm retired and I must live on a budget. Enjoy this time fully!


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## Lanmark (Apr 28, 2012)

Sweet! :clap:


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## Marc (Apr 28, 2012)

Wow that's a lot of plants. Good luck with them.


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## eggshells (Apr 28, 2012)

The helenae was a good size. Nice purchases.


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## Paphman910 (Apr 28, 2012)

Nice Phal and Paphs. They will grow well!

Paphman910


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## Justin (Apr 28, 2012)

the Paphs look like they will be fine. nice haul!


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## W. Beetus (Apr 28, 2012)

That's quite a nice set of plants!


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## The Mutant (Apr 28, 2012)

Thanks guys! I really hope I'll be able to care for them all. I need to check up on the requirements of all the Paphs, the calcicolous part is the easy one, now it's the rest! Watering, temps, humidity etc. Have I bitten off more than I can chew mayhaps?

About the Popow Paphs, I repotted them today and noticed that they were all overpotted and, unfortunately, I didn't have any other pots than those they came in so they had to go back. I added packing peanuts to the medium to increase the airflow and prevent root rot. Was this okay to do?

I'm extremely pleased with all of my plants, although my poor Paph purpuratum got rather squashed during the transportation and I think all but one fan will survive.

Here's how the plant looked before repotting, luckily the newest fan was the one that got spared:


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Apr 28, 2012)

Congratulations! That is quite the haul!


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## eggshells (Apr 28, 2012)

The purpuratum is okay! It was a bloomed a growth anyway. the old growth will still serve a purpose however slightly unsightly. Can we get a closeup on the helenae so we can tell you if its insect damage or mechanical damage.


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## paphioboy (Apr 29, 2012)

Nice haul! Can you say 'instant collection'?


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## The Mutant (Apr 29, 2012)

eggshells said:


> The purpuratum is okay! It was a bloomed a growth anyway. the old growth will still serve a purpose however slightly unsightly. Can we get a closeup on the helenae so we can tell you if its insect damage or mechanical damage.


It was two bloomed growths, but yes, I think It'll pull through (if I can care for it properly that is). I only removed the leaves that were the most damaged and left the rest since the plant needs them.

Sure I can, it was quite difficult to get any good pictures of the helenae's leaves, but I think you'll be able to see what I'm talking about (I honsetly don't think there's anything to be worried about now, since all of the new leaves are very nice looking):


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## Dido (Apr 29, 2012)

Nice plants was at Asendorf last week, it was dreamy, and I forget to take fotos, had only eyes for this hughe amount of small paph, and the flowering ones. 
Only wanted to pick up my vinicolor, but get out with a big armeniacum. 
Funny thing is no calcium in pots no sights of calcium no oystershell. 

He told me he dont work with that any more. He told me he repot every years, thats a better key...


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## SlipperFan (Apr 29, 2012)

Congrats--You are on the way to addiction!


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## eggshells (Apr 29, 2012)

Looks like a good helenae to me! Just a few mechanical damage in otherwise a healthy and good size plant.


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## The Mutant (Apr 29, 2012)

SlipperFan said:


> Congrats--You are on the way to addiction!


I would say I've passed the point of addiction and gone through to the other side! I've warned a fellow OB member since she plans to get her first Paph that they are highly addictive. :rollhappy:



eggshells said:


> Looks like a good helenae to me! Just a few mechanical damage in otherwise a healthy and good size plant.


I figured as much after the initial worry had settled. It IS blooming sized, isn't it? Or do they need some more growths to bloom? This guy hasn't bloomed apparently which I thought was a bit strange.


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## eggshells (Apr 29, 2012)

They bloom on 1 1/2 growths. Should bloom for you this fall. Goodluck.


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## Stone (Apr 29, 2012)

Nice score! all very:drool:


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## NYEric (Apr 29, 2012)

Big acquisition. Hopefully you have a good program of pesticides and maintenance until they are acclimated to your conditions.


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## The Mutant (May 1, 2012)

NYEric said:


> Big acquisition. Hopefully you have a good program of pesticides and maintenance until they are acclimated to your conditions.


No, I can't say I have, not really... All I'm doing is keeping them separate from the rest, and I've washed the new plants with some water with dish soap in it, treated all cuts with hydrogen peroxide and cinnamon, sprayed them with pesticide (to be one the safe side), and that's it. For now I'm only keeping an eye on them to see how they come along.

Oh, and I've repotted almost all of them, I'm not done yet but I expect to be done by Thursday at least. I won't repot the Paphs from Asendorfer though since the medium they are potted in is so fresh.


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