Paph. fairrieanum, Easy?

[jjkOC]

Hi all, I am interested to find out whether Paph. fairrieanum is an easy species to grow and bloom. Have you found fairrieanum amenable to growing into specimen plants, or do they have temperamental tendencies?

I'd love to hear about your experiences with this species! Thanks!

 

[Ernie]

I think they're a little tricky, but doable. Intermediate to barely warm summers, well watered. Winters cool to intermediate, less water. They really don't like high heat in my experience. Not too picky on light, not too dark, not too bright. As long as you keep them happy, they clump up well and fairly fast.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Definitely not easy to keep alive. Except for my first one, I haven't had one survive much more than a year...That said, getting them to spike is easy, if they stay alive. Completing development to full bloom is more challenging, but overall they fall into the "hard to keep alive, easy to bloom" category. When the bud develops, keep them as cool as possible. That will give you a much darker flower, with much more red in the dorsal. Warmer, its mostly white.

 

[Pete]

for some reason ive always had a hell of a hard time with this species. they grow and flower, but they need a lot more attention than the majority of the others to do so.

 

[emydura]

Every Paph book I have read says this is an easy species to grow. My experience is that it is one of the most difficult. I got a small seedling to flower but from there it struggled and eventually died. You very rarely see them here in Australia which suggests to me that few people can grow them as they would be very common otherwise.

David

 

[paphioboy]

You very rarely see them here in Australia which suggests to me that few people can grow them as they would be very common otherwise.

That's true to my observation also. I don't have one but their comparative rarity to other cool growers like insigne, spicerianum, charlesworthii and villosum might suggest that they are a bit more finicky. That said, I know Jason Ong (aquagem) has grown and flowered fairrieanum in Singapore. I am not sure if he has it in his glasshouse though...

 

[goldenrose]

Not easy and I have no trouble with charlie, insigne or villosum, go figure!

 

[Shiva]

I bought my first two fairries from Sam in spring and found one had no roots at all. I potted that one tighly in sphagnum moss and the other one in Aussie Gold. So far, despite the rather hot summer we have here also, they don't seem to suffer. I hose the plants down at least once a day and more than once for the masdevallias. I've even got a bright red coccinea with at least two spikes in 30°C plus heat and partial sun. That one seems to need warmer temps to flower. To quote Rose: Go figure!

 

[jtrmd]

Never had any issues with mine,and wish I would of held on to it.I grew it somewhat warm (high of 90f from time to time) in the Summer ,and on the cool (no cooler than 50f) side in winter.Watered when needed,maybe 2-3 times a week.

I have heard the Alba forms are a pain in the a$$ to keep happy.

 

[Erythrone]

I bought one plant in spring 2010. Easy grower for me.... But I don't know if it will bloom or be easy to keep alive after that!!!

 

[goldenrose]

Interesting thread, thanks for starting it Jennifer!

....I have heard the Alba forms are a pain in the a$$ to keep happy.

Since my earlier posting, went out to the GH to do my thing before it gets so ungodly hot. I have a regular & an alba. The regular is in the aquarium with the masdies as it had no roots, so in a ditch effort I gave the sphag another try, it seems to be doing fine. If my memory was serving me correctly, I thought I knew where the alba was/is, & sure enough it was there! It's multi-growth, looks great, was repotted this spring in a deep pot. I got the plant, in bloom, 3 growths in 2/'07 & although this one grows fine I think it's only bloomed one time since then

 

[jjkOC]

Hmm... everyone's sharing is making me think this Paph is mysterious in its culture. I've seen many photos of specimen fairrieanums at the shows in Japan, I wonder what their secret is...

 

[nikv]

I find the species to be difficult to keep alive more than a year, but the hybrids make up for it. I find them to be rather easy to cultivate under average household conditions.

 

[Rick]

My experience with this species is that its easy as long as you keep it away from potassium.

My first couple (which I'm nursing back a small division of one) grew like mad and produced lots of division, then started the "amazing shrinking plant" syndrome.

I've picked up one since, and kept it away from alot of ferilizer, and augmenting calcium and magnesium (they have been very responsive to epsom salt addition).

So we'll see how it goes from here, but same for spicerianum. Keep these guys away from monovalent salts and plenty of divalents (ca and mg) and I bet they'd be easy as pie.

 

[quaker]

I bought 3 seedlings over 12months ago. One flowered when only 3 inches across then lost it's roots as did the other 2. I placed them in a small aquarium with a reptile heater on the outside bottom. All three are still living,growing very little { if at all !! )with one of them after all this time developing a few roots.I took this one out of the tank last week so we will see what the future will bring. I must add that on the bottom of the tank I placed some wet sphagnum moss, sealed the top with glass and didn't open it for about 8 months. So upto now I have only one with a few roots. They are not only difficult but VERY difficult in my opinion.

Ed

 

[Rick]

The divisions of the plant I'm presently nursing along were from a plant I purchased in June 2002. It was a fantastic plant, blooming and putting up multiple divisions every year until sometime after I bred it with a plant I purchased in 2004 (probably sometime in 2005). Sometime in 2006 is when it got bad about loosing roots, and growths getting smaller and smaller. I got one seedling back from that breeding and its alive but stubborn about growing well.

Moving both of these plants into the sphag basket system, and changing the nutrition looks like they are turning the corner. Keep in mind the original plant has been abused for 9 years now.

A clone I got in bloom from Sam a year or so ago (which hadn't been subjected to my old fertilizer regime) is moving along quite nicely even though it is still in a bark mix.

So of all the unsuccessful cases, how many are being grown with no fertilization, or with very low fertilization with calcareous supplementation to the potting mix? You might compare what your feeding regime and potting mix was to QuietAustralian's regime for his Paph concolors

 

[Bolero]

They aren't to bad so far, I have a tray of about 25 out of flask growing well. Initially they didn't do well but over the last couple of months during winter the leaves are growing well and they are looking very nice. Don't grow them to hot though.

 

[ran]

I cant say P. fairrieanum is hard to grow, in fact it is the easiest and fastest Paph out of 20+ species i grow from flask.
These seedlings were deflasked about 2 years ago, and i think the biggest ones are approaching blooming size by now.
I dont treat them very special, they grow in a bark mix with charcoal and perlite added, and get watered 3-4 times a week with ~200-250 ppm hydroponic fertilizer under t5-fluorescents.
Few weeks ago they were much more light green until i started some foliar feeding with kelp extract and epsom salts, now they look much happier


Greetings from Germany,
chris

 

[paphioboy]

looking very good, chris... Hope they bloom soon..

 

[Rick]

and get watered 3-4 times a week with ~200-250 ppm hydroponic fertilizer under t5-fluorescents.
Few weeks ago they were much more light green until i started some foliar feeding with kelp extract and epsom salts, now they look much happier


Greetings from Germany,
chris

Can you give us the specs on your fertilizer and make up water?