# Separating paphs by temperature



## Elf (Dec 19, 2019)

As my collection of paphs grows, I am focusing more on separating them by temperature. In my research about cool vs. warm vs. intermediate, I found some discrepancies, but came up with the following general list based on what I have in my current collection of species and hybrids:

Warm - bellatulum, callosum, philippinense, rothchildianum, tonsum, delenatii, vietnamense, liemianum, callosum, parishii, sanderianum

Cool - fairrieanum, venustum, spicerianum, villosum, hirsutissimum

I'm especially unsure about delenatii, seems like intermediate is actually its category? 

Any thoughts, corrections, ideas, experiences are welcome! I was growing all my paphs together, but I do have two locations with slightly different temperature ranges (and a little brighter light in the warmer location), so I thought this was a good next step into doing right by these plants.


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## Stone (Dec 19, 2019)

Elf said:


> As my collection of paphs grows, I am focusing more on separating them by temperature. In my research about cool vs. warm vs. intermediate, I found some discrepancies, but came up with the following general list based on what I have in my current collection of species and hybrids:
> 
> Warm - bellatulum, callosum, philippinense, rothchildianum, tonsum, delenatii, vietnamense, liemianum, callosum, parishii, sanderianum
> 
> ...


Bellatulum likes cool nights. So does parishii


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## Happypaphy7 (Dec 20, 2019)

I think such a categorization is rather misleading without specification as to what is meant by warm and cool.
From a quick look at what you have there is rather confusing to me.

The reason is because many species see day time maximum temperature as high as over 30C during the hottest months of the year. So, brief exposure of unusually high or low temp can be tolerated by many. Going by monthly average high and low temp will give you a better idea about what kind of temperature environment these plants really like.
Some species rarely see temp exceeding 30C as many paphiopedilum species occur in high elevation.

Some of the species that enjoy mostly constant warm or mild (over 20C and rarely below that) temperature all the time includes all the species in the section Cochlopetalum with the exception of victoria-mariae, lawrenceanum, stonei, exul, sanderianum, niveum, leucochilum, thaianum . Last three actually will fit into warm or even hot growers as they come from near sea level with no distinct seasonal changes.

Almost all others go through cooler months. Some see a lot cooler (down to slight freezing even) winter than others and these are mostly the ones in the section Paphiopedilum and Parvisepalum. Of the parvis, delenatii has the highest winter average temp range (mid to high 60s F, sorry about mixing the units, but I'm writing as things pop in my head, so bear with me haha) in the habitat. This might be one reason why this species is much easier to grow and bloom at home while many people have hard time with others like micranthum and armeniacum, both of which come from much higher elevation with cooler day time temp and night, and much colder winter months.

Now, of the ones in your list, parishii does not like warm/hot temp. and everythign on your warm list with the exception of philippinense, sanderianum and liemianum, needs cooling off during winter months. Some more than others. Tonsum, callosum, delenatii will be fine with just below 20C. Others will need much cooler temp.

The ones you have in the cool list basically go throuh warmer summer and cooler winter, so I'm not going to go into specifics.

Under cultivation, some will be more tolerant and forgiving than others. Since you are in Pacific NW, you have wide options.


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## Elf (Dec 21, 2019)

Thanks, both of you for these types of details. To be clear, the type of temperature guidelines I'm looking at are http://www.aos.org/orchids/culture-sheets/paphiopedilum.aspx

Based on my shelving locations, all are in front of windows so do experience some temperature fluctuation along with seasonal changes. I'm recording 24 hours temperature extremes in both locations to monitor the range. The winter temperatures are currently only fluctuating by 10 degrees, now that windows are closed and heating systems running. I can see that this is ideal for many of these plants but others will be unhappy with the consistency. I probably need to look at moving some of these plants into a more unheated part of my house during the winter to get the cooler nights. 

Thank you!!


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