miscellaneous species

[Martin]

Hangianum and thaianum have been legal for years. One species he shared has never been approved for export by the country it is native to. I care because I have already been warned about our Government looking into my collecting efforts. There have been bogus claims a variety of this species from its large neighbor but I'm sure they were illegal exports also. I know they have been sold as flasks in another country but the technology to flask them does not exist in the native country. It is a shame because they have been collected to near extinction.

Yes thats a sad story. So this is why its so important that we propagate it artificial. Its a pity that we have to do this illegal, it seems like.

Martin, what a bunch of first class flowers. I like especially the P. argus and P. victoria mariae. May I ask where you got it from. Here in Germany only 'Orcids and More' offer this species.

You a right! Its from O&m. There were nice BS plants when i was there last time.

 

[musa]

Any idea how to induce flowering with canhii? They are growing well but not blooming.
Anybody uses limestone gravel apart from pumice and lavarock? As it is described growing on limestone...

 

[Hien]

One of my friend was in Vietnam.He told me and made few pics too on the local flower market.There were thousands of wilde collected orchids and sold not per piece but per kilogram.One kilogram dianthum was 10 usd eg.

I posted this a while ago for full post , see this
https://www.slippertalk.com/threads/paphiopedilum-ooii.48950/#post-681817
There is a famous orchid grower in Vietnam, who told the story that when hangianum was first discovered in Vietnam, the price was minimum some thousands of dollar in Europe and it was so rare in European countries, yet at the same time , the sellers from Vietnam highland could not even get rid of the plants in Vietnam, every week , sacks of plants came down to the city, he had to buy so many to save them , because otherwise they would just die if the wholesalers could not find new owners who would want them .
He paid about 20,000 Vietnam Dong (equal to 1.43 US dollar exchange rate for the year 1999 ) for 1kg which he said depending on the size of the plants , average 35 hangianum plants a kg (but these hangianum are big mature plants) so it was 4.08 US cents a plant. In the end, he had to get a big warehouse to store all of the plants he saved, which were 100,000 hangianum plants (it was tough for him, because 4,000 US dollar was a lot money there and then , Vietnamese did not make that much of money 20 years ago).
Then when they started to flower , he sent an employee carry them on an ox drawn cart around the city to sell them off. Nobody wanted them even in flower. At the time Vietnamese didn't care about slipper orchids , even today they still prefer dendrobiums (go figure)

 

[cnycharles]

What a heroic effort to attempt at saving something

 

[NYEric]

"This species is such a good example for that CITES isnt working. So no need to mention it." - oh yes, BTW about this. I would not post photos of things that are not legal especially in a country that is known for seizing personal collections from those outside certain groups.

 

[Martin]

Some more which were in bloom last weeks:

Exul from fibre



Barbatum



Conco album, plant is a Division and Just weak. So i hope that the flower will improve

 

[DrLeslieEe]

I like the intensity of colors in the barbatum. Some of mine are in bud too.

 

[Ozpaph]

really nice!

 

[GuRu]

Martin, what a feast for the eyes they are. The P. exul and P. barbatum are realy coulorful. Great!