# paphiopedilum violascens culture



## noel (May 28, 2009)

hi there,anyone has paph violascens?
i want to ask about it's detailed cultural needs
because it seems that not so many have them and there's no detailed information about it.....


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## slippertalker (May 28, 2009)

I used to have Paph violascens so my experience is from that perspective. Plants for the violascens related group are easy to bloom but difficult (impossible?) to grow to large plants. Out of a handful of plants, the largest they grew were one mature growth, a new growth starting and a dying back growth. If they suffer any setback, they aren't long for this world. 

Does anyone have a different experience?


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## SlipperKing (May 28, 2009)

I have to second Bill's experience. I never had one long enough to bloom but growing several I have. As long as I was on top of the growing everything was fine. But one minor set back and the plants went down hill and there was no stopping it.


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## Paphman910 (May 28, 2009)

They are fussy growers that require very clean water with low salt. You must repot them yearly otherwise they will decline. They like warm conditions and bright light.

Paphman910


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## @[email protected] (May 28, 2009)

I have grown and flowered several violascens without difficulty (Different strains). I was using a mixt of maritime pine bark and NZ sphagnum.

The substrate was still wet (not too much). Time, I added dolomite to buffer the pH (without excess). A growing rather warm, with a good light without excess.


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## slippertalker (May 28, 2009)

I do have to say that my plants were jungle origin plants from the late 70's and early 80's before the ban on these things. I would guess that a couple of generations of selectively bred plants should result in easier culture, but they don't appear plentiful.


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## Scott Ware (May 28, 2009)

My experience with Paphs _violascens_, _bougainvilleanum_, _wentworthianum_, and various others labeled as _papuanum_/_zieckianum_, etc. is pretty much the same as Bill's. Only ever seem to get one mature growth at a time and never seem to make any headway. They have been repotted regularly and provided with clean water and a warm environment. I wish they weren't so quick to bloom - I have even tried cutting off the bud as soon as it emerged in order to preserve strength for vegetative growth, but didn't really notice significant results. Most of these have been in my collection since the early 80's and I have probably made 10-15 attempts to grow more from seed but the labs never seem to get anywhere with them. I don't know how much longer these plants will be in my collection as the surviving growth seems to be a bit weaker each year. I suspect I will at some point be joining the "used to have" club as well.


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## noel (May 28, 2009)

whooo... that's scary
maybe the old quote"home sweet home"is true after all,because grower in indonesia had no difficulties in both growing and flowering it.maybe your condition is not so "warm",maybe you need to adjust your growing place as tropical as possible,that is the easiest way to solve your problem.mine was grown is spaghnum moss + perliteand yet the roots are healthy.i water them with tap water and yet the roots are not showing sign of burn.my tap water is hard water...


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## Eric Muehlbauer (May 28, 2009)

I have to agree with everything people have said. They are slow, but not so slow that you can't gat a spike every year. The big problem is that they spike in summer, then blast because of the heat. I agree, they do not make multigrowth plants, just stick to a single growth each year. Take care, Eric


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## noel (May 28, 2009)

hey,mine is spiking and it grow new growth,but the old growth base is yellowing,is it dying or the colours just like that?


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## noel (May 28, 2009)

hey,mine is spiking and it grow new growth,but the old growth base is yellowing,is it dying or the colors just like that?


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## slippertalker (May 29, 2009)

Noel, that seems to be what they do.......


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## noel (May 29, 2009)

huh?what do you mean by that?
are the colors of the base of the plants are yellowish
or is it dying?


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## slippertalker (May 29, 2009)

Hi Noel,

If you read the previous messages, these plants tend to bloom on a mature growth, start a new one and the back growth dies.


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## noel (May 29, 2009)

ooh i see,i keep that in mind,maybe for the details i will post some picture of it..


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## noel (May 29, 2009)

oh yeah,how long does it takes for it to bloom from the smallest spike?


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## noel (Jun 2, 2009)

hey,mine is tantalizingly slow to grow spike,what's wrong?


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## SlipperKing (Jun 2, 2009)

noel said:


> hey,mine is tantalizingly slow to grow spike,what's wrong?


Noel, Gives us a picture to see what you are concerned about.......please!


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## wonderlen3000 (Jun 5, 2009)

violascens is very slow growing. They don't make multiply growth easily as other species from the same section. Like what other say above, the plant tent to flower, then make one new growth and as the old one dying and by the time the new growth is mature, the old ones is dead. If you can keep this trend going on, it will be consider you are doing a pretty good job. lol 

Just grow like another other paph, but keep it warmer and pay attention to media. violascens hate the salt and media decay. and if you do manage to get the plant in bloom, don't keep it one the plant for too long. Cut the flower spike after a week or so, so it will not zap all the energy from the plant. good luck.


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## Roth (Jun 6, 2009)

noel said:


> whooo... that's scary
> maybe the old quote"home sweet home"is true after all,because grower in indonesia had no difficulties in both growing and flowering it.maybe your condition is not so "warm",maybe you need to adjust your growing place as tropical as possible,that is the easiest way to solve your problem.mine was grown is spaghnum moss + perliteand yet the roots are healthy.i water them with tap water and yet the roots are not showing sign of burn.my tap water is hard water...




It's not true, I know Indonesia very well, and I do not know of anyone who grows paphs past 2 years. Do not be fooled by the sellers story, they store the plants for a couple of months or a year before they sell them, never more. Its storage, with massive losses, and some plants that simply stay alive a little bit longer. After a year the plants looks already ugly... And many jungle plants from thoses species can look like seed grown wonderful plants... From the pics you have shown, I would say they are all freshly wild collected, max 1 month, so the people who sold thoses to you cannot advise anything about cultivation.


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## noel (Jun 6, 2009)

oh no,that's not the seller advice,i simply know that they are wild collected plants and yes,indonesia was always like this,normally people in indonesia prefer dendrobium and doesn't specialize in paphs.but those conclusion are drawn by myself..and not related to the seller or anyone..i know and fully aware that all of my paph is wild collected..but after buying them i immediately reppot them myself and yes,some of them are freshly collected and have terrible roots and right now i'm trying to fix this...but i have red a lot of orchid books more than you imagine...maybe 2-3 hours a day,so my theory is not that weak and i'm sure that i'm able to rejuvenate them and grow them into healthy plants once more...about my violascens,mine is grown in spagh+perlite and that's not the original media from the seller,and i adjusted it to(50%perlite:50%spaghnum)or(70%perlite:30%spaghnum)and it proves to be very suitable media for my culture,because it drain quickly and i have no problem eventhough i water them twice a day and yet it's not soggy or wet,and it has drying period between watering...i think about them myself and my paph violascens appreciated them and even they are growing multiple growth(which is rare among paph violascens)mine in the pot has one separated single growth(currently spiking and still growing new growth) and one multiple growth(which consistent of 2 old growth and two new emerging new growth....)if you grow paph in the tropics,you might as well try this media....


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## paphioboy (Jun 6, 2009)

Noel, I have to agree with Sanderianum. It is a sad fact that paphs are collected from the wild in a terrible state, often with broken roots and leaves. If one starts with such a plant, it would take some time for the plant to recover before putting out flowers. i know because I have tried the 'easier' species like callosum, javanicum and appletonianum, but they barely lasted a year. Sometimes these plants will appear to grow well for the first few months you get them home (because they still have the growing 'momentum', I guess), then all goes downhill. It also depends on the species. Barbatas and brachys are very difficult to establish from wild plants, but some like rothschildianum and exul grow very easily.

Reading a lot does not mean that all the knowledge gained can be applied in the tropics because most orchid literature is based on greenhouse growing in Western countries. Believe me, I have read a lot too but the most applicable knowledge comes first-hand from growers who have had their plants surviving and growing beautifully for quite some time (especially those who breed their own slippers). It is a very common mistake for growers in the tropics to 'keep the paph constantly moist' because this ultimately leads to root rot. Sphagnum is a main culprit, in my own experience. I do think that watering twice a day, under your conditions, is rather excessive as the sphag wouldn't be able to dry out between waterings. But it is all up to you, and you do have the advantage of a suitable climate for violascens, so good luck!


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## noel (Jun 7, 2009)

oh,i see,i keep that in mind..
anyway,thank's for telling me about that,so that i might prepare in the future
anyway,it's true that my media dries out between watering,because the moss only act as topping and moisturer(not much in proportion) in the media..i know it because this morning i dug my paph gigantifolium and found out that the topping is dry and the moss inside the media is near total drying and not soggy,i used them because i heard that it's good to rehabilitate wild collected paphs in this media....if you still don't believe me you might thats up to you,but i'm telling you the truth and when i'm watering them at 6:00 am,at the`9:00 it's already dry,not only the topping but the inside also and i tell you again, i'm telling you the truth.......and i know that paph needs drying period between watering.....


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