The plant w/ the big leaves I saw was a little scary; 30 growths...! 
Mexipedium xerophyticum
- Thread starter Carper
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Carper
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
Its been 10 months since I acquired this plant and the smaller growths are maturing and the two largest have thrown spikes. There are clusters of 3 flowers on each stem and further down the spike, there are also developing buds. Runners are also starting to appear so well pleased with first year!
Gary
UK
Its been 10 months since I acquired this plant and the smaller growths are maturing and the two largest have thrown spikes. There are clusters of 3 flowers on each stem and further down the spike, there are also developing buds. Runners are also starting to appear so well pleased with first year!
Gary
UK
Well done! Such delicious small flowers. Btw, the plant look very, very healthy.
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Excellent! I'm still waiting on my little bud, think it may have stalled...
SlipperFan
Addicted
They do seem to take forever...
SlipperKing
Madd Virologist
Somehow I missed this posting a year ago Gary! It looks fantastic! You really got it going on with this little fellow, Congrats!
likespaphs
some call me brian
groovy stuff!
guess i really should get me one of those...
guess i really should get me one of those...
Well you seem to be doing well with them. Mine just keep making new growths. Maybe I'll let them dry out a little.
John M
Orchid Addict
Eric, I got my little, single growth plant to spike by moving it to a warmer, brighter location in the greenhouse. I suspect it was the increased light that did it. Try boosting the light to "jolt" a blooming response out of it. My little plant only produced one flower. 2 other buds coming up after it aborted and I decided that the plant was trying to tell me it was not really ready to carry flowers; so, I cut the spike. Since then, it has increased the size of it's starter growth that had stalled during blooming. I think I made the right decision for the long-term success of the plant by cutting the spike....still, it was nice to get one flower as a taste of things to come.
It gets good sun; but I'll move it to a nuclear sun location!
John M
Orchid Addict
Actually, my point was that it might need brighter light than it is used to getting normally. That's what I meant by "jolt". It might not need really high light to bloom; but, it might need a sudden increase in light to trigger blooming. It's all relative. That means if it's in shade and it suddenly gets medium bright light, it might spike; whereas a plant in medium bright light all the time does not bloom. If it's already getting strong light, instead of nuking it in really strong light, I'd first move it to a shadier spot for a few months. Then, suddenly move it back to higher light. The sudden jump in light intensity will mimic the onset of a dry season in nature when the local trees lose some foliage, allowing more light to reach the plants which triggers a blooming response. I have no idea if that's how it works for Mexipediums; but, it does for some slippers, like Paph. sanderianum. I'm just guessing here; but, something made my plant bloom.....just sayin'.
Carper
Well-Known Member
I moved the plant from a bottom shelf to the top shelf at the beginning of the year. As our spring approached, this increased the light levels the plant was getting by 100%. I kept the watering/feeding to a minimum over winter, but as the light levels increased to our summer, I keep the plant fairly wet, feeding twice per week, which has resulted in a lot of new root growth and runners.
Gary
UK
Gary
UK
