C. acaule

[TheLorax]

Say parvi, look for your x andrewsii here-
http://www.orchidmix.com/cyps.htm

I just spotted the plant you were looking for thanks to Eric M in another thread.

 

[parvi_17]

Hey TheLorax,

Unfortunately I do not have a CITES permit at this time; this is something I need to get in the future but cannot afford it right now. I have actually found a few sources for x andrewsii, but they all either require a CITES permit or have high shipping costs. I'll get one eventually; I'm just waiting 'till I am a little more flush and I can buy enough plants to make the shipping worth it. Thanks for the link though! Oh, and by the way, I have the book by Ritterhausen too; great book. One more thing: if you are into tropical slippers, Cribb has released three versions of his book "The Genus Paphiopedilum" which are all REALLY good, and another really good one by him is "Slipper Orchids of Vietnam".

 

[TheLorax]

Good to know the Ritterhausen book is a keeper. I sort of browsed through the first one he bought me and thought, "Oh, that's a nice picture book for a coffee table" and didn't bother looking at the other book which you say is a great book.

Since I have a particular fondness for mottled leaf paphs, please tell me which of the three versions of Cribb's book "The Genus Paphiopedilum" to look for. I will order one of them along with his other book "The Genus Cypripedium". I am going to take a pass on his "Slipper Orchids of Vietnam" for right now. I grow my paphs in a bathroom of all places. Our home has humidity of around 35% during the winter but in that particular bathroom my husband takes a shower every morning and at night I run the steam shower for my plants. My bet is the humidity in there is somewhere around 40-50% most of the time which they seem to like. There's something I love about the flowers of my paphiopedilums. Most of them bloom twice a year which is an added bonus for me.

I hear you on the CITES. The other deal with that type of permitting is that they really check your background thoroughly. At least here in the US they do. You may or may not be aware of this but I believe seed of Appendix II species should be ok for you to import without a permit. Please check this out though before you do anything. I believe there to exist a weight limit of x grams.

 

[parvi_17]

Oops I got confused with the Paph books - Cribb only made two. Get the second edition, as it is more current. It cost me $170 though!

 

[TheLorax]

I'm in need of some smelling salts here-
http://www.orchidsbooks.com/book.asp?id=100&look=look

And now I'm in need of a defibrillator-
http://www.amazon.com/Genus-Cypripedium-Botanical-Magazine-Monograph/dp/0881924032

John Tullock's book was only around $20 and Philip Keenan's book was only around $30. I can afford $50 for two books. $500 for two books would really be pushing it. You must have bought your books a while ago. Looks as if they've gone up in price. I don't think I will be owning a copy of either of those books any time soon. I think I'm done book shopping now Time for me to get off the fainting couch and go back outside to pull some more weeds while it's still cool out there.

 

[parvi_17]

Oh wow the Cyp book really went up in price. 2 years ago I paid $60 for it... The Paph one I did pay $170 for though. I believe they're both out of print now that's why.

 

[TheLorax]

(Sigh) I will not be getting either of his books. Must wait for a new edition of both.

 

[TheLorax]

Unexpected change of direction here. I am going to be receiving a gift of an acaule. The plant is a Wisconsin genotype from Marinette County. The parent plants were salvage plants that were legally collected when a road was widened. I am told the plant is a bloom size. He indicated he would also give me a few Goodyera pubescens. I don't recall where he stated the Goodyera was from.

parvi 17- if I send you a private message with my personal e-mail address, would you be able to photograph the pages of the Cribb book that cover acaule for me and e-mail them to me? I don't know that you even have a digital camera or the time to take photos but if you do, I would be greatly appreciative. I tried an interlibrary loan and evidently my public library system does not have either one of his books.

Eric Muehlbauer- you mentioned sinking a large nursery style pot in the ground. Would you please be more specific. Are we talking a 5 gallon, 10 gallon, or larger? I have a location in mind and the area is somewhere around 50% shade. Does this sound ok to you? As far as digging up natural soil, I can dig a little bit from my own property, maybe a few gallons. What other medium could I use to mix with about 2 gallons of natural soil? And this pot that will be stuck in the ground... does it stay in the ground year round or do you want me to lift it out of the ground and move it into my heated garage for the winter where the temps are not allowed to drop below 38° F?

 

[goldenrose]

Great gift!

 

[TheLorax]

Yes, but somewhat premature on the acaule because I got cold feet the more I read. He didn't know I had decided against trying an acaule for a few years. He just heard I was interested and wants me to go for it. That plant I will be receiving this fall. Time to get out the stakes and chicken wire so the squirrels don't get into the area.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

I used a 3 gal nusery can...(in my NYC yard). 5 gal would have been better. I did not use a soil mix. I dug up enough soil from my LI property to fill the can, then sank it into the ground- permanently. The acaule's eventually died, not because of the soil, but because my location got overgrown by other plants (azaleas, Japanese maple, and Aesculus) and became too shady for them. C. acaule must have some sun to bloom- best situation is with open trees overhead, so that it gets continual patches of sun during the day, alternating with shade. Direct sun is OK in early spring before trees leaf out. Take care, Eric

 

[TheLorax]

I'll go for a minimum of a 5 gallon and if at all possible, I'll try to get a 10 gallon. I might just have a 10 gallon here from a Pagoda Dogwood I planted this past spring.

I'll switch locations to an area that has more dappled shade. Leaving it in the ground year round sounds wonderful to me. I do need to enclose it in staked chicken wire. Squirrels are already beginning to do their thing with hickory nuts.

Thank you very much for all of your help. Guess I'll be going for my first Cyp here shortly. I sure hope it does well.

 

[parvi_17]

Unexpected change of direction here. I am going to be receiving a gift of an acaule. The plant is a Wisconsin genotype from Marinette County. The parent plants were salvage plants that were legally collected when a road was widened. I am told the plant is a bloom size. He indicated he would also give me a few Goodyera pubescens. I don't recall where he stated the Goodyera was from.

parvi 17- if I send you a private message with my personal e-mail address, would you be able to photograph the pages of the Cribb book that cover acaule for me and e-mail them to me? I don't know that you even have a digital camera or the time to take photos but if you do, I would be greatly appreciative. I tried an interlibrary loan and evidently my public library system does not have either one of his books.

Yeah, I can do that, no problem. Nice gift, by the way!

 

[TheLorax]

Thank you parvi.

 

[TheLorax]

I have been given this exact planter/water feature from a neighbor for free-
http://www.maccourt.com/products/ponds/pp3814.html

Somewhat larger than the 3-5 gallon recommended but I could take a 1/2 inch drill and go at the bottom of it to provide proper drainage. Think this would work for one plant if I add more soil from an area in which cyps grow?

I do have a 10 gallon pot here that I could also sink in the ground but I keep looking at this 34 gallon patio water garden and thinking that it might be better just in case I do ok with the acaule and want to plant another one in the future. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of adding another plant at some point in time.

 

[TheLorax]

One of the books I ordered came in. I've got Keenan's "Wild Orchids Across North America" in my hands. Still waiting for the other book to come but at least I've got a book for the road. Very please. Te book looks good.

 

[TheLorax]

I was able to read all of Keenan's book while I was on vacation. It was of no help to me in the acaule department. I found that Tullock's book had been delivered here sometime while I was gone. I will get around to reading that cover to cover as soon as I have time.

While I was on vacation, we were able to get to the site where acaule is growing up on hummocks of sphagnum in relatively deep shade. Really neat. I am going to admit to pulling one up out of the sphagnum to look at the roots. We all gathered around to take a peek before putting the plant back. The roots of acaule growing on sphagnum hummocks go straight down. They are nothing like the roots of the acaule I was given that spread out. The difference is quite remarkable.

Speaking of which, my acaule are here. I was given four not one. Somewhat concerned about having received more than one because I only brought one 5-gallon bucket of soil home with me. If I would have known I was getting more than one plant, I would have brought home four 5-gallon buckets of that soil. I don't suppose there is a way to innoculate the medium I will be planting them in by purchasing the fungus I need is there? Am going to hunker down today and begin bailing water out of the hole that was dug for me before I left. Think I will have to dig it down a foot or so deeper and add some sort of drainage but then again 20+ inches of rain is unheard of for this area at this time of year particularly in such a short time frame. The gravel I had ordered to be delivered while I was gone is the wrong gravel. I wanted river rock not the decorative white limestone and had specifically told them I wanted the multicolored round type gravel. Time to start rinsing the coarse sand, at least they delivered the right sand. I'll take photos of what I am doing for the acaule but have no idea how to post photos.

 

[NYEric]

Good luck sounds like you have your hands full. I'm sure you can put a few plants together to temp. share the bed. There are threads here instructing how to post photos, I recommend Photobucket, but do it at your leisure.

 

[TheLorax]

More so than I imagined. Back outside to rinse sand. I've got a photobucket account. I guess I'll have to search for the threads on how to use the pictures in it.

 

[TheLorax]

I have just finished getting the acaule in the ground. I'm going to share what I did and why along with photos that hopefully will post and not knock anyone out who has a dial up.

Here' goes. It was the holiday weekend and nobody would deliver the river rock gravel I wanted to go around the planter so I began driving my car back and forth to a materials yard that was open and I took a shovel and got my own materials. I made something like 4 trips with 5 gallon and 10 gallon containers. I think I about passed out in the heat which zoomed back up to 90. My husband was definitely not thrilled with me carrying that much weight in my car but I didn't want to put off getting the plants in the ground.