Too many Magic Lanterns

[Ozpaph]

thats clever!

 

[NYEric]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Awesome!!
How old are these??
I bought my very first Magic Lantern in January 2015. It bloomed that summer and been blooming every year since.
It is now growing in four directions with over 13 growths! Time to divide as I also am an indoor grower and big clump, as nice as they are, is nearly impossible to maintain in good shape.

 

[Paphluvr]

Awesome!!
How old are these??
I bought my very first Magic Lantern in January 2015. It bloomed that summer and been blooming every year since.
It is now growing in four directions with over 13 growths! Time to divide as I also am an indoor grower and big clump, as nice as they are, is nearly impossible to maintain in good shape.n

I my original post I wrote "purchased ???" My current notebook only goes back to 2015 and they were listed in there. Haven't been able to locate my previous notebook since moving into our condo. I agree with you about repotting and maintaining large clumps of Paphs, maybe because of being an indoor grower. It's difficult to count the growths on the largest two of these. They were repotted this Spring, so next year will tell a story.

 

[tenman]

Wonderfful display! You got an easy to grow one. Rare, I think. My third plant of this grex is the size of a 6-month old seedling at four years now. The previous two did the same thing: never grew and eventually expired, though one did get close to NBS or so before giving up the ghost. I grow and flower both parents, so just assume some of these are just weak growers

 

[Paphluvr]

Wonderfful display! You got an easy to grow one. Rare, I think. My third plant of this grex is the size of a 6-month old seedling at four years now. The previous two did the same thing: never grew and eventually expired, though one did get close to NBS or so before giving up the ghost. I grow and flower both parents, so just assume some of these are just weak growers

I agree. I've seen plenty of posts were people have said they've grown Magic Lantern but had no success blooming it. Unlike you, however, I never had a lick of luck blooming Paph. micranthum. Grew it just fine, maybe had a blasted bud or two, but never bloomed it. Finally gave it the heave-ho. Paph. delenatii, on the other hand, I consider very easy to grow and bloom. I might add that I do grow these Magic Lanterns at the front off the rack, closest to the window, about 1' away from the glass. My exposure is South-West so I have to drop a light filtering screen when I start to get direct sun in mid to late afternoon.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Wonderfful display! You got an easy to grow one. Rare, I think. My third plant of this grex is the size of a 6-month old seedling at four years now. The previous two did the same thing: never grew and eventually expired, though one did get close to NBS or so before giving up the ghost. I grow and flower both parents, so just assume some of these are just weak growers

It's possible that your first three might have been "problematic" plants. Any given crosses will present vigorous plants and those not so strong, but Magic Lantern in my opinion is generally easy to grow and bloom. You see pictures of them rather often unlike certain things like say Gloria Naugle or Jade Dragon.
I have grown a flask of Magic Lantern and every single seedling turned out strong. Then, what few mid to large sized seedlings I bought on separate occasions over the years have also been fuss free. So, this has been my experience.

By the way, how do you care for you micranthum? I'm interested in winter conditions which is what I suspect that many people are having hard time with.
I have bloomed a small number of micranthum but they were all rather ugly and I got rid of them. lol
I still have two that are showing a tip of a spike at the moment.

 

[Happypaphy7]

I agree. I've seen plenty of posts were people have said they've grown Magic Lantern but had no success blooming it. Unlike you, however, I never had a lick of luck blooming Paph. micranthum. Grew it just fine, maybe had a blasted bud or two, but never bloomed it. Finally gave it the heave-ho. Paph. delenatii, on the other hand, I consider very easy to grow and bloom. I might add that I do grow these Magic Lanterns at the front off the rack, closest to the window, about 1' away from the glass. My exposure is South-West so I have to drop a light filtering screen when I start to get direct sun in mid to late afternoon.

I'm an indoor windowsill grower and I have bloomed a few micranthum. Are you drying them out too much? Too often, I see people talk about "dry rest" and coupled with too warm of a condition, I suspect if folks keep them too dry and kill the emerging bud or kill the sheath that is still deep down the center of the plant. I say this because in the last few years, I had bloomed and blasted a bunch of micranthum, armeniacum and Fumi's Delight.
I noticed that when I was not water them enough and the pots went long without being watered, well, those were the only ones that ever blasted its sheath or buds. I was looking at the annual precipitation data of their habitat, it is wet wet wet. When visitors to Northern Vietnam and Southwestern China talk about how foggy and cold it is during the winter. Not freezing although it can feel that way on certain extra cold days. And this is on low elevation. Imagine up in the mountain and forests.
So not drying out the plants too during the budding season (the entire duration from the first sign of spiking to open bloom) may be a good start. If cold enough temperature can be provided, even better.

 

[Paphluvr]

HP7, I don't think drying out too much in the Winter was the problem, I pretty much treat all my Paphs the same. I should have been able to get them cold enough in the Winter in my old house which was a drafty, poorly insulated old three story brick farmhouse. But the move to a newer construction condo didn't suit them. Had them long enough with no success that it just wasn't worth the effort.

 

[Happypaphy7]

HP7, I don't think drying out too much in the Winter was the problem, I pretty much treat all my Paphs the same. I should have been able to get them cold enough in the Winter in my old house which was a drafty, poorly insulated old three story brick farmhouse. But the move to a newer construction condo didn't suit them. Had them long enough with no success that it just wasn't worth the effort.

Yeah, it might just be the temperature being higher than they like. Did you have ML and your other super delenatii in the older house? If so, any difference in plant vigor?

 

[Paphluvr]

HP7, I can't remember where or when I acquired the ML but the delenatii that you're referring to was purchased in the late '70s from J&L Orchids when it was owned by Janet & Lee. Yes, had both of them in the old house and don't recall ever having a problem with them. However, the big clump of delenatii is no more, finally had to break it up. It wasn't doing too well as a large clump after I had the 7 spike bloom. But hey, at that point the plant was about 42yrs old (in my care).

 

[Happypaphy7]

HP7, I can't remember where or when I acquired the ML but the delenatii that you're referring to was purchased in the late '70s from J&L Orchids when it was owned by Janet & Lee. Yes, had both of them in the old house and don't recall ever having a problem with them. However, the big clump of delenatii is no more, finally had to break it up. It wasn't doing too well as a large clump after I had the 7 spike bloom. But hey, at that point the plant was about 42yrs old (in my care).

Wow!!
That delenatii must be a seedling from the selfing of the lone survivor from 1920s wild collected specimen!
I remember you splitty the plant up and giving away not too long ago.

 

[My Green Pets]

I think you have earned the title of Magic Lantern grow coach! So impressive! I got a seedling from Windy Hill in 2015 and it died in 2018 without ever reaching bloom size.

 

[Linda B]

At first glance it reminded me of a bunch of puppies lined up on the couch.