# Back in the club - I have slippers.



## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

After a four year hiatus from growing orchids, I am slowly getting some new plants, and just recently added a few slippers to my shelf.

So far, I have the following...

Paph. druryi
Paph. gratrixianum (two different breeders)
Paph. delenatii

Very soon, I will also be adding...

Paph. superbiens
Paph. henryanum
Paph. victoria-regina (chamberlainianum)

I've also started inquiring about some barbigerum, but haven't really made any progress finding one I like. I have also been trying to convince myself to like charlesworthii, but I just don't feel any excitement when I see one like I do with druryi or henryanum.

I am also limiting my selections to plants that are miniature/compact growers, so I don't think I have many choices left. I can't easily find some of the new miniature species, so I will have to wait.


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## mormodes (Sep 13, 2011)

Welcome back. Don't go too crazy, they'll be tough enough to flower. *G*


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## Lanmark (Sep 13, 2011)

Woohoo! :wink:


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## paphioboy (Sep 13, 2011)

roth! roth! roth!


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## koshki (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi John,
I am not a paph grower...I know, heresy.

I recently asked a fellow OS member about trying the delenatii, which really appeals to me, but he told me it is difficult to grow (I'm in Michigan, and would have to grow at least part of the year under lights.) 

Do you have any recommendations on growing it?

Thanks!


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## Rick (Sep 13, 2011)

Those are good species John. Not sure how loose your definition of "compact" is though.oke:oke:

There's lots of species left that stay smaller than gratrixianum and druryii. Even a few multis (like wilhelminea and richardianum).

Time to go crazy!!!


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## SlipperFan (Sep 13, 2011)

Good new beginning, John. How about niveum & godfroyae -- they are certainly compact.


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## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

koshki said:


> I recently asked a fellow OS member about trying the delenatii, which really appeals to me, but he told me it is difficult to grow.



That sounds wrong to me. I have always heard that delenatii is a really great beginner paph, because it is easy to grow. I have also heard that it is one of the best "under light" orchids. So maybe others will chime in.

I can't really help you with growing tips, because I just started growing it myself.  I am growing mine with all my other orchids. I grow in an east window. The paphs get about two hours of filtered direct sun very early in the morning, and then indirect bright shade the rest of the day. I am adding a single bulb T5 fixture to supplement for the druryi and gratrixianum.


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## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> roth! roth! roth!



Don't tempt me. I really want a roth, but no room. 



SlipperFan said:


> Good new beginning, John. How about niveum & godfroyae -- they are certainly compact.



Nobody loves white flowered orchids more than me. I am an Angrecoid junkie. But for some reason these two don't appeal to me. I don't understand why.


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## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

Rick said:


> Those are good species John. Not sure how loose your definition of "compact" is though.oke:oke:
> 
> There's lots of species left that stay smaller than gratrixianum and druryii. Even a few multis (like wilhelminea and richardianum).
> 
> Time to go crazy!!!



It's so hard to know what is truly "miniature" or "compact." I read the website descriptions of these plants, and it doesn't tell you much if you've never seen one in person. I read that wilhelminea is compact, but what does that compare to? Compact compared to a multigrowth roth could still be quite large, you know? 

The gratrixianum that I have are blooming size plants, and they each have about four growths, but the leaves are less than 10 inches long. The druryi I have are seedlings with 6 inch leaves. How much larger are they going to get? I thought they were around the ten to twelve inch long mark on the leaves?

I would love some suggestions for other small growing paphs. Pictures with some sense of scale would be great too. I need to stick to leaves under 10 inches long if possible, in order to fit my grow shelf.


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## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

My shelf is twelve inches high. The gratrixianum leaves are 8" long. As they grow, I will lose the tray and spread them out some.






Front row: gratrixianum x2 and delenatii x2 seedlings
Back row: gratrixianum x2 and druryi x3





Seedlings 4 to 6 weeks out of flask


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## Rick (Sep 13, 2011)

Sirius said:


> I
> 
> I would love some suggestions for other small growing paphs. Pictures with some sense of scale would be great too. I need to stick to leaves under 10 inches long if possible, in order to fit my grow shelf.



If 10-12" leaf length is about your limit then:

Just about any Barbata species
Just about any Brachypetalum species
Just about any Parvi species (though malipoense my be pushing it)
Probably about 1/2 of the Paphiopedilum subgenera (single flower/plain green leaves) like henryanum, gratrixianum, and druryii. 

That leaves out the bulk of the two multifloral groups and the sequential bloomers. 

Wilhelminea generally has leaves less than 6" and richardianum about 8". You can find some pigmy clones of philipinnense, but most get big. Dianthum may be just under your size limit.

Sequentials can get surprisingly big, but primulinum stays under your 10" limit. 

Some of the Barbata and Paphio species can vary a lot based on growing conditions and nutrition. My old conditions for druryii produced compact growths no taller than 8". I picked up a clone from Sam that is pushing 12" under the nutrition regime I'm using now. Similar for something like exul. I got the plant in 2001/2002 and for years never got more than 8" now with better nutrition and higher humidity its pushing 10-12" leaves.
The first time I grew tonsum I never got leaves longer than 6-8 inches on flowering growths (the plants eventually shrunk out of existence). A new tonsum I got from Windyhill started with 6-8 inch growths, but is now producing leaves close to 10 inches long. 

The other part of size will relate to the plants ability to clump. A lot of these plants may not get tall, but can eventually fill up a 6-8 inch pot.
I've seen 12" pots of exul, gratrixianum, venustum, callosum, spicerianum, hirsutisimum and many others. So what didn't necessarily get tall, spread out sideways.


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## NYEric (Sep 13, 2011)

micranthum album
canhii
thaianum
oke:


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## paphreek (Sep 13, 2011)

Send me a PM, if you're interested in barbigerums. I have quite a wide range of color and form, some dividable. I also still have seedlings from the AQ cross, and flasks on the way.


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## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

Rick said:


> Wilhelminea generally has leaves less than 6" and richardianum about 8". You can find some pigmy clones of philipinnense, but most get big. Dianthum may be just under your size limit.
> 
> Sequentials can get surprisingly big, but primulinum stays under your 10" limit.




I am looking into wilhelminiae. All the others you listed I would probably have to see the plant. I would love a nice insigne or exul, but they might be too big.

I did get the larger growing victoria-regina. I guess I will just have to see how it goes. As plants clump and move up to a larger size pot, I will reconfigure. If stuff grows too large or blooms, and I don't like it, I can trade them out for something else.


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## Sirius (Sep 13, 2011)

NYEric said:


> micranthum album



Ha ha ha. Thanks but no thanks, moneybags.


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## NYEric (Sep 13, 2011)

We will see this fall when I go down to Florida!


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Sep 13, 2011)

John- insigne sanderianum and sanderae have slightly smaller foliage than the regular insigne....but even then, insigne is pretty much in the same size range as gratrixianum, maybe a little larger. While villosum can be pretty big, I have seen some clones that are small...certainly no bigger than gratrixianum.


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## eggshells (Sep 14, 2011)

paph helenae is tiny.


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## goldenrose (Sep 14, 2011)

:clap:Welcome back!


koshki said:


> ......I recently asked a fellow OS member about trying the delenatii, which really appeals to me, but he told me it is difficult to grow (I'm in Michigan, and would have to grow at least part of the year under lights.)
> Do you have any recommendations on growing it?
> Thanks!





Sirius said:


> That sounds wrong to me. I have always heard that delenatii is a really great beginner paph, because it is easy to grow. I have also heard that it is one of the best "under light" orchids. So maybe others will chime in.
> 
> I can't really help you with growing tips, because I just started growing it myself.  I am growing mine with all my other orchids. I grow in an east window. The paphs get about two hours of filtered direct sun very early in the morning, and then indirect bright shade the rest of the day. I am adding a single bulb T5 fixture to supplement for the druryi and gratrixianum.


I grow dele well, doesn't always bloom for me, so I'm told more light which makes sense. It's a good choice for underlights as it should have at least 10 hours / day year round.


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## koshki (Sep 14, 2011)

Thanks, John and Rose! I am going to ponder this one a bit, and wait until after everyone comes in doors to see how much room under lights I really have.


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## John M (Sep 19, 2011)

Katherine, delenatii is NOT difficult. It used to be, shortly after it was discovered; but, that was many decades ago. This was because all delenatiis in cultivation were decended from a single plant. Originally, only two plants were collected from the wild. One was given to Kew Gardens and they described the new species and pressed their plant for storage in their herbarium. The other plant was given to Vacherot and Lecoufle, who wisely took better care of their plant and propagated it. However, due to the extremely limited gene pool, causing severe inbreeding, many weak and difficult to grow plants were the result, until a concerted effort was made to select only the most vigorous of clones to propagate with and resist the temptation to use weaker and more finicky clones. Eventually, through selective breeding, vigour was been enhanced to the point where delenatii became an easy grower. Also, new wild genes have been recently introduced into the worldwide captive population with the rediscovery of this species in the wild.....further invigorating the species in cultivation.

Paph. delenatii is a great choice for a greenhouse, windowsill or under lights. Unlike the other Parvisepalums though, it does not want any limestone added to the mix. Also, unlike other Parvi's, it likes a neutral to slightly acidic medium, instead of a slightly alkaline one. Feed sparingly, as you would most other Paphs. Grow with warm days and cooler nights....ideally, about 75F to 80F days and about ~60F to ~65F nights. I wouldn't hesitate to get one of these if you like it. They're a very good choice for a new Paph grower.

John (Sirius), I hadn't realized that you were without any orchids at all! Welcome back to the world of Paphs! 'Glad that you're able to get back in the game.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Sep 19, 2011)

100% agreement. Delanatii is definitely among the easiest of paph species to grow and bloom. A multigrowth one will bloom more than once a year. I grow them basically more like phrags than paphs, but without as much water.


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## Ernie (Oct 26, 2011)

Sirius said:


> Very soon, I will also be adding...
> 
> Paph. superbiens
> Paph. henryanum
> Paph. victoria-regina (chamberlainianum)



John, please pm or e-mail me. Thanks!


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