# Paph. helenae



## abax (Aug 15, 2013)

I fought a terrific battle and won a helenae in spike from mijo730. I'm
have no idea who the seller might be and am asking myself just why I
get so carried away when bidding. Has anyone done business with this
seller? I hope this venture isn't going to be a wuh oh!


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## goldenrose (Aug 15, 2013)

Congrats! I was watching it, love helenae but my wallet doesn't at this point in time!
The vendor should be fine, quite often has smaller seedlings but even an adult helenae is little!


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## Paphanatic (Aug 15, 2013)

Congrats! I was watching that listing! If I remember correctly, I got a Paph Wossner Ministar from this seller. Great plant, nicely packaged, and even had a nice note with it.


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## likespaphs (Aug 15, 2013)

you won that one?
argh!
(actually, i was the first bidder and didn't bid that much)


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## abax (Aug 15, 2013)

paaaaatucket, I won it and paid more than I intended and maybe more
than it's worth. I bought a minicompot of helenae and have managed o
kill two of them and have one hanging on...barely. The photo looked a
tad over-potted to me, but I'm determined to learn to grow helenae...
sooner or later.


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## NYEric (Aug 15, 2013)

Mijo is OK.


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## Leo Schordje (Aug 15, 2013)

Just treat helenae like you would barbigerum or henryanum, and it will do just fine. Doesn't need anything different. Easy to grow, just a bit on the small side, which makes it easy to overlook if you have a lot of plants.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 15, 2013)

Mijo is good. One time I got an order and it was missing a plant. When I mentioned it, he promptly mailed the plant off...but 2 of them. As I recall, if it's the listing I saw, I didn't bid because the photo looked to me like a hybrid rather than straight helenae. Regardless, helenae is a great plnat to grow.


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## abax (Aug 16, 2013)

All my Paphs. are growing essentially the same way in my greenhouse. The
tiny helenae compot was a trial run and I over-watered such tiny plants
and repotted too soon. I'll be much more careful now.

Eric M., the listing really didn't show very much in the photo of the plant.
What might one look for to differentiate a hybrid using helenae from the
species?


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## Justin (Aug 16, 2013)

The flower pic is def. a hybrid but the plant looks like helenae


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## goldenrose (Aug 16, 2013)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> .... the photo looked to me like a hybrid rather than straight helenae. Regardless, helenae is a great plnat to grow.





abax said:


> ....What might one look for to differentiate a hybrid using helenae from the
> species?





Justin said:


> The flower pic is def. a hybrid but the plant looks like helenae



Helenae is a rather variable species so this is a really good question, what are you looking for/at to differentiate hybrid from species especially when the plant looks helenae. When one considers other diminutive paphs I'd have a hard time considering it's a hybrid of any of those.


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## goldenrose (Aug 16, 2013)

abax said:


> All my Paphs. are growing essentially the same way in my greenhouse. The tiny helenae compot was a trial run and I over-watered such tiny plants and repotted too soon. I'll be much more careful now.


I killed an adult helenae, crown rot, so I feel they need better air circulation than my barbigerums or henrys.


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## likespaphs (Aug 16, 2013)

the auction photo looked to me like helenae x primulinum (or similar)


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 16, 2013)

I agree...the auction photo looked like a helenae cochlo cross. Certain things are variable in helenae, like color intensity and the amount of red in the pouch. But, some things are consistent. Aside from size (which may not be clear in a photo) helenae always has STRAIGHT petals, never ruffled, relatively short and narrow, somewhat forward facing.


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## abax (Aug 17, 2013)

The helenae is on it's way and in bud. (good vibes flowing for the bud to
make it here intact). The bloom should be interesting and the information
even MORE interesting. Looking again at my little one leaf wonder, I can
see the difference now that you've mentioned it. 

Goldenrose, I have LOTS of air movement in my gh, but I will take your
experience to heart and place the pot directly under the muffin fan and
try not to over-water. I'm all set and hope it stops raining sometime or
other. My Rh is stuck on 91% and has been for weeks!


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## Paphanatic (Aug 30, 2013)

Did it make it to you ok?


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## abax (Aug 31, 2013)

Indeed, it did just fine and the packing was excellent. The bud is taking its
own sweet time to open, but hasn't blasted. I'm trying not to love it to
death! It's sooooo cute. I like the potting medium too...very open and
drains well. That's very important to me because my gh is very humid.


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