Malipoense Finally Open for Business

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Only 4 months? That must be the cheetah of malipoenses! It's a very lovely flower. While I sometimes have a hard time picking just 1 favorite species, P. malipoense really is my favorite species. I love the gorgeous foliage. I love how easy it is to grow. I'm a huge fan of the tessellated green flowers. And I'm a sucker for fragrance.
 
The flowers have a very light raspberry scent esp early morning.
This is actually my second attempt to grow one, and more successful this time. Which is good because not few inches from this plant is a baby malipoense album (3 inch leafspan)! 'Mame' will coddle the little guy to puberty I hope!
 
So I discovered an interesting way to take pics of a parvi with a flashlight. I thought it was beautiful and thought I’d share it. Let me know what you think. And which one of the following is best?

3AC0ED9E-3BED-4D9D-9E61-D67FFBBFC7FE.jpeg B3988B96-EBEB-4104-B901-47C0A94A96EF.jpeg 12B8580E-B8B7-450E-809C-977414F3CBA8.jpeg 2A49905C-CF4C-47D2-A2AE-736C972C6FE1.jpeg 36CB5CBE-BE63-4899-953E-1A701F1E5F5D.jpeg D1DF022D-C1A2-428C-AAD5-A1E513A4C573.jpeg DA50BCE4-E795-42B3-A846-757E7F1E642B.jpeg F625422C-5A94-4DC6-8499-B2A8D4D398CE.jpeg
 
Paph. malipoense can be very frustrating: there is a tendency to put up buds in August when it is still hot, and the bud won't open. The bud usually just hangs there and falls off after 2-3 months. When they put up spikes in winter-spring the buds develop normally.

I know a dealer that won't sell malipoense in bud because there's a good chance the bud won't open for the customer. They seem to require cool temps for the buds to open.
 
Only 4 months? That must be the cheetah of malipoenses

I'm all with Mr. Rotter - you are in possesion of a malipoense sprinter!
With the one plant I've succeded in flowering, I had to wait agonizing 7 months from I first spotted the bud, untill the flower opened. I was a nervewreck during that time as the former attempts invariably had ended in bud blast.
And your flower is right as rain! Congrats!

PS. I find your description of the strangely lit photos very apt: 'interesting' is the word (pronounced with a posh, very british accent ;)).
To savour the flower 'an sich', I much prefer your plain, daylight photos - although, one must grant your blitz ones, maybe what could be described as a bit of a certain artistic value, i.e. with more emphasis on the photographic effect than on the subject portrayed!
 
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I have to wonder if your conditions might just be perfect for a “quick” malipoense; 4 months seems to me to be about as long a process as could be conceivable in nature. Does anybody know of the timing from spike to bloom in situ? I have a hard time believing that it could be more than 4 months and the long waits in cultivation always seem to me to be a mysterious conditions issue.
 
Paph. malipoense can be very frustrating: there is a tendency to put up buds in August when it is still hot, and the bud won't open. The bud usually just hangs there and falls off after 2-3 months. When they put up spikes in winter-spring the buds develop normally.

I know a dealer that won't sell malipoense in bud because there's a good chance the bud won't open for the customer. They seem to require cool temps for the buds to open.

I count myself lucky to be able to flower this then. It budded here and I did not move it for this period of time. The temperature range was 27C days and 16-18C nights, occasionally 15C. Watered regularly and no drying at all.
 
I'm all with Mr. Rotter - you are in possesion of a malipoense sprinter!
With the one plant I've succeded in flowering, I had to wait agonizing 7 months from I first spotted the bud, untill the flower opened. I was a nervewreck during that time as the former attempts invariably had ended in bud blast.
And your flower is right as rain! Congrats!

PS. I find your description of the strangely lit photos very apt: 'interesting' is the word (pronounced with a posh, very british accent ;)).
To savour the flower 'an sich', I much prefer your plain, daylight photos - although, one must grant your blitz ones, maybe what could be described as a bit of a certain artistic value, i.e. with more emphasis on the photographic effect than on the subject portrayed!

Sprinter among malipoenses lol... I’ll keep her then ...

I like pics of flowers that show different than the norm. Anyone can take a standard pic, but takes an artist’s eyes to give the oomph to the boring.
 
I have to wonder if your conditions might just be perfect for a “quick” malipoense; 4 months seems to me to be about as long a process as could be conceivable in nature. Does anybody know of the timing from spike to bloom in situ? I have a hard time believing that it could be more than 4 months and the long waits in cultivation always seem to me to be a mysterious conditions issue.

All malipoenses in culture have shown this affinity to long period of spike formation, which unfortunately have no long term studies in the wild mountains to verify the length of time for development. It is logical then to accept that it is their ‘nature’ if all cultured malipoenses in the world has this trait, regardless of locality.

There are only 8 new pics of the lighted malipoense. You indicated #9 which I assume was the last pic, #8?
 
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