# Paphiopedilum philippinense



## NEslipper (Apr 26, 2021)

Acquired from Hilo Orchid Farm in 2019 as a 5-flowered first bloomer. Blooming this year with 4, but not bad for a windowsill-grown plant! Cross is ‘Red screw’ x ‘Long life’. Petals are currently 21 cm, and maybe still growing a bit. I’ll update once all are open, but I had it out to water so I snapped some quick pictures.


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## DrLeslieEe (Apr 26, 2021)

Love the long petals... over 20 cm is a good flower. I need a division lol.


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## SlipperKing (Apr 26, 2021)

Dang! Those petals are long and twisted.
The spike itself got a little twisted too.


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## emydura (Apr 26, 2021)

That is a superb clone. Lucky you.


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## musa (Apr 27, 2021)

Exellent, Congrats!!!


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## Ozpaph (Apr 27, 2021)

lots to like about this one.


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## NEslipper (Apr 27, 2021)

DrLeslieEe said:


> Love the long petals... over 20 cm is a good flower. I need a division lol.


Thank you! This is one area where it seems my culture is lacking, I really struggle to get plants to clump. This sent up 3 leads last year, but 2 of them stalled out. The main lead is going strong, as you can see in the second photo. I’m slowly ramping up my feeding, hoping that will help, and I’m considering getting some nutricote to top-dress the multis. Any other suggestions?


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## NEslipper (Apr 27, 2021)

SlipperKing said:


> Dang! Those petals are long and twisted.
> The spike itself got a little twisted too.


Yeah, I think I staked it too early the first time, the stem started bulging and twisting like crazy. I “un-staked” it for a while before the final setup. Something else to get better at!


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## NEslipper (Apr 27, 2021)

I couldn’t resist these photos. This is it with my Taiwanese Roth (Link). The roth started opening March 8 so it’s fading now, and I expect the blooms will drop this week. Still, I can’t believe I have these two growing on my kitchen windowsill. These two plants are the reason I fell in love with orchids thumbing 

through Orchids magazine as a kid. Really a testament to the selective breeding for vigor and ease of culture over the last few decades.


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## JimNJ (Apr 27, 2021)

Amazing blooms! For those who have grown these a lot, how heritable are petal twistiness and length? The parents of my plant are supposed to have very twisted long petals - mine have neither - is there only a small % that will inherit those traits?


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## NYEric (Apr 27, 2021)

Cool, thanks for sharing. Sadly, these are why I like mini-multis; like Marilyn LeDoux's tiny phil that was teacup size.


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## NEslipper (Apr 27, 2021)

JimNJ said:


> Amazing blooms! For those who have grown these a lot, how heritable are petal twistiness and length? The parents of my plant are supposed to have very twisted long petals - mine have neither - is there only a small % that will inherit those traits?


I can’t claim to be an expert, since I haven't raised a large number from flask, but genetics are only going to be one component. Even with long-petaled parents there are going to be a range of outcomes. The other large component with the long-petal species like Philippinense and Sanderianum is going to be water and humidity. Without high humidity and good, even moisture the petals can stop growing. So even a plant that bloomed previously with very long petals could bloom with short ones if it dries out during bud/flower development. I’ve had my Philly parked next to the humidifier while the buds opened up, and I constantly check it to make sure it doesn’t dry out (it’s in a very sunny, south-facing window). I’m not sure what your conditions are, but I find that growing indoors can present challenges to getting the same flower quality as greenhouse growers, even on the same plant!


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## JimNJ (Apr 27, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> I can’t claim to be an expert, since I haven't raised a large number from flask, but genetics are only going to be one component. Even with long-petaled parents there are going to be a range of outcomes. The other large component with the long-petal species like Philippinense and Sanderianum is going to be water and humidity. Without high humidity and good, even moisture the petals can stop growing. So even a plant that bloomed previously with very long petals could bloom with short ones if it dries out during bud/flower development. I’ve had my Philly parked next to the humidifier while the buds opened up, and I constantly check it to make sure it doesn’t dry out (it’s in a very sunny, south-facing window). I’m not sure what your conditions are, but I find that growing indoors can present challenges to getting the same flower quality as greenhouse growers, even on the same plant!


Thanks! This is very helpful - my plant is indeed grown indoors. I will try to increase rel hum for the next blooming.


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## Michael Bonda (Apr 27, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> I couldn’t resist these photos. This is it with my Taiwanese Roth (Link). The roth started opening March 8 so it’s fading now, and I expect the blooms will drop this week. Still, I can’t believe I have these two growing on my kitchen windowsill. These two plants are the reason I fell in love with orchids thumbing View attachment 27235
> View attachment 27236
> through Orchids magazine as a kid. Really a testament to the selective breeding for vigor and ease of culture over the last few decades.


Just fantastic flowers on both your Philip and Roth. Congrats!
Just add a stonei and parishii and a sanderanium and your falling in love with Paph slippers will happen all over again.


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## Greenpaph (Apr 27, 2021)

Not an expert either; but have grown many in another life. A large majority had twists. This is a superb clone!
Thanks for sharing.


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## DrLeslieEe (Apr 28, 2021)

I am impressed with your kitchen growing skill. Kudos!! Who knew that these species can adapt to those conditions with line breeding!


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## musa (Apr 28, 2021)

Stunning plants!!! I'll have to switch my phil. some day...


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## NEslipper (May 3, 2021)

Thanks for all the comments! Here’s the final four open. Sorry about the distracting background, but I find the colors are more realistic than when I try a solid black background. Final petal length on the largest flower is 23.6cm! Now to get it to clump!


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## h_mossy (May 4, 2021)

Beautiful philippinense! Thanks for the photos.


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## DrLeslieEe (May 4, 2021)

Wow... just fantastic color and petal length.... I love the dark red twisting petals. Hope mine looks like that (if they bloom lol).


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## musa (May 4, 2021)

That is probably the best philippinense I've ever seen...


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## JimNJ (May 4, 2021)

NEslipper said:


> Acquired from Hilo Orchid Farm in 2019 as a 5-flowered first bloomer. Blooming this year with 4, but not bad for a windowsill-grown plant! Cross is ‘Red screw’ x ‘Long life’. Petals are currently 21 cm, and maybe still growing a bit. I’ll update once all are open, but I had it out to water so I snapped some quick pictures.View attachment 27218
> View attachment 27219
> View attachment 27220
> View attachment 27221
> ...



Amazing blooms! Do the petals get longer as the plant matures? I have one with 15 cm petals on first bloom- nicely proportioned, but just wondering what to expect in the future. 

Also, how do you buy retail from HoF?


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## NEslipper (May 4, 2021)

JimNJ said:


> Amazing blooms! Do the petals get longer as the plant matures? I have one with 15 cm petals on first bloom- nicely proportioned, but just wondering what to expect in the future.
> 
> Also, how do you buy retail from HoF?


Thanks! I think it’s pretty common for multis to get larger and more numerous blooms on a mature plant, certainly Rothschildianum and Sanderianum can (water an humidity also play a key role). I don’t think a 20 cm petal would ever be 30 cm, but it could pick up a couple of centimeters. This is my first blooming of this particular plant, and it hasn’t started to clump yet, so I can’t speak from experience with Philippinense.
HoF posts plants on eBay from time-to-time under the username jfan7262.


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## GuRu (May 7, 2021)

Very impressive plants and flowers....your P. philli as well as your P. roth.   As to the petal lenght....these more than 20 cm long twisted petals are great.


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