What Should I Buy?

[emydura]

I would get a delenatii, Magic Lantern, Ho Chi Minh, Pinocchio, villosum, insigne, spicerianum, Satin Smoke, Deperle, or Norito Hasegawa (or all of the above ). There are tons of easy-growing Paphs out there. These are just some of my suggestions based on my own experience.

While the paphiopedilum group (villosum, insigne, spicerianum) are generally very easy to grow, most of them need a cooling period in order to flower. The growing conditions described in the terrarium are very warm. I think you would have a snow flakes chance in hell of flowering an insigne at these temperatures. I think you are largely restricted to the warmer growing Paphs.

David

 

[Paphman910]

Your growing conditions are similar to my conditions in the apartment except that I grow them under 400W Metal Halide lights. My Paph delenati vinicolor compot grows really well under warm conditions.

Paphman910

 

[parvi_17]

While the paphiopedilum group (villosum, insigne, spicerianum) are generally very easy to grow, most of them need a cooling period in order to flower. The growing conditions described in the terrarium are very warm. I think you would have a snow flakes chance in hell of flowering an insigne at these temperatures. I think you are largely restricted to the warmer growing Paphs.

David

You are probably right about that. I forgot about the warm winter temps when I mentioned insigne. Easy to grow, but does need a significant cool period to flower. However, I flower spicerianum and villosum easily in my warmer growing area, although even it is probably a little cooler than 19C at night in the winter, I'd say closer to 17C.

 

[parvi_17]

Joe's a wise man. Must've heard one of my lectures.

-Ernie

Actually, I missed your lecture when you came to Edmonton, but not by choice. I hope you will return in the future!

 

[goldenrose]

I have never had any problems with any of the Parvis I mentioned. As a matter of fact, I have never had problems with any Parvis, but I listed some of the ones that are cheaper, easier to get, and easier to bloom. For me, they have been strong, vigorous growers and are easy bloomers (though Ho Chi Minh tends to grow slower). Satin Smoke in particular is very easy to grow, no more difficult than a Maudiae type. It blooms reliably each year and clumps up quickly........

I just have one question Joe -
why doe you have to live in Canada? I'd love to get some of these plants from you! I don't know if in the states these are going to be cheap or easy to get but sometimes if one is not looking for that type they don't recognize how available they might be. I would certainly think that with prim as a parent of Satin Smoke it should be easier, but that's what I thought of Brecko Bubble with liemianum as a parent too. Would you find it makes a difference as to which one is the pod parent?

If air movement is the issue here, I'm surprised you didn't question Leo's recommendation of Brachys, which are perhaps more prone to rot than any other type of Paph (By the way Leo, I'm not falsifying your recommendation, just mentioning it for the sake of this argument.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, please don't feel like I'm picking on you! I didn't question Leo's comment, thinking more along the lines of niveum & delenatii are usually 2 easier brachys. When slow growing is factored in, I feel one needs to try to hit every aspect of culture right, there's less room for error. Beginners or experienced, we can all make mistakes or miss something and it could just boil down to that particular plant.
.... something told me I was making a mistake with that previous post!:wink:

 

[parvi_17]

I just have one question Joe -
why doe you have to live in Canada? I'd love to get some of these plants from you! I don't know if in the states these are going to be cheap or easy to get but sometimes if one is not looking for that type they don't recognize how available they might be. I would certainly think that with prim as a parent of Satin Smoke it should be easier, but that's what I thought of Brecko Bubble with liemianum as a parent too. Would you find it makes a difference as to which one is the pod parent?

It's actually not as easy as you may think to get plants in Canada. In the States, cities are much closer together. If you live in New York, you can travel to a different city in Pennsylvania or New Jersey in a couple hours, but in Canada (particularly in the part of the country where I live), you have to travel accross the second-largest country in the world to get anywhere, so shipping is the only option for buying from distant nurseries, which increases costs and risks. Because we have 1/10 the population of the States, there is also less demand for orchids, so there are far fewer vendors, meaning less selection overall. Therefore, if I want to get the rarest plants, I either have to buy from the States or Europe, or wait for those vendors to come to me. Every vendor in the States that ships outside the country has a $1000-2000 minimum order (thanks to CITES), so that's out of the question, and it can take a long time for the vendors I like to come to our show or society meetings! I am grateful, however, that the largest orchid nursery in Canada (Paramount Orchids) is in the fairly close-by city of Calgary, and we have many members in our society that buy abroad and sell divisions and extras from flasks, etc. So, it could be worse.

With that little rant out of the way, Satin Smoke is the only micranthum x Cochlo cross that I have grown, so I can't say much about the others. I also only have one cultivar of this hybrid, so if others are having difficulties, it could be that I got lucky with a strong individual, or more likely, a strong cross, as the nursery I bought it from continues to sell the plants (which presumably are from the same cross) and they turn up at shows in flower.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, please don't feel like I'm picking on you! I didn't question Leo's comment, thinking more along the lines of niveum & delenatii are usually 2 easier brachys. When slow growing is factored in, I feel one needs to try to hit every aspect of culture right, there's less room for error. Beginners or experienced, we can all make mistakes or miss something and it could just boil down to that particular plant.
.... something told me I was making a mistake with that previous post!:wink:

No hard feelings here! I was just having a discussion with you. Sometimes I can come off as a little excited (in a negative way) when I talk about orchids online. But I didn't mean any harm.

 

[orcoholic]

Paph Pinocchio, as suggested above is a good choice. It sepuential. Just keeps blooming and blooming off the same spike.

 

[cnycharles]

so parvisepalums don't handle being sprayed with neem oil well? I was thinking about doing just that to some armeniacums...

 

[parvi_17]

so parvisepalums don't handle being sprayed with neem oil well? I was thinking about doing just that to some armeniacums...

I have sprayed mine a few times (including my armeniacum) and haven't seen any damage...

 

[goldenrose]

Whew - glad I didn't offend you & none taken on my end! I'm not always the most tactful person & I try to watch what I'm saying/typing, when we hang out long enough online we get to kinda get to know one another, (or at least we may think so :wink, & say things that a newcomer/stranger might take differently. I have taught pet obedience classes for 25 yrs. & when someone says they're a beginner I go into a different mode!

so parvisepalums don't handle being sprayed with neem oil well? I was thinking about doing just that to some armeniacums...

I have sprayed mine a few times (including my armeniacum) and haven't seen any damage...

Rose had a moment, yesterday was goofy - 3 different jobs in one day! Sorry it's the brachys that are sensitive to neem.

 

[NYEric]

Um, in the description of his growing areas [terrariums w/out fans] I would not recommend any of the Chinaparvis either.

 

[Rabbit]

I like P. Norito Hasegawa and Pinocchio but the flower spike (in some pictures I've seen) are very tall. Are they?

And for the benefit of some of you who are doing the he/she thing - Rabbit is a she.

 

[Clark]

One could always start a new grow area.

 

[luvsorchids]

One could always start a new grow area.

Enabler oke:.

Susan

 

[parvi_17]

Um, in the description of his growing areas [terrariums w/out fans] I would not recommend any of the Chinaparvis either.

I would not recommend any Paph for a terrarium with no fans. You will find no article on Paph culture (or orchid culture for that matter) that doesn't say high humidity should be coupled with good air movement. Parvis are in no more need of this than other orchids. But it doesn't hurt for her to try, especially since she already grows orchids, including Paphs, in it. Obviously something about the terrarium is working.

 

[parvi_17]

I like P. Norito Hasegawa and Pinocchio but the flower spike (in some pictures I've seen) are very tall. Are they?

And for the benefit of some of you who are doing the he/she thing - Rabbit is a she.

Either can get very tall, especially P. Pinocchio since it is a sequential bloomer. I've seen Pinocchio spikes that are 2 feet tall. The spikes on my Norito get about 16-18" tall. I've seen them shorter though. It may depend on how much light they get - the more light, the shorter they are. It could also be genetics.

 

[Rabbit]

I understand the skepticism of some of the posters. I wasn't sure of my success either, when I started this terrarium thing a year and a half ago. Some info I had at the time was discouraging, and some said to do it.

But when My lone Maudiae rebloomed, I rescued 3 more sorry looking ones from a local nursery. I wasn't even sure of the colour because they were finished blooming. Well a couple days ago, I found a new bud on one of them. Another one I bought more recently, still in bloom, is also sending out buds.

Time will tell if I can sustain this growth. Maybe because I'm home all day ( I work at home) fiddling and fussing with the terrariums and removing the tops, the air doesn't get too stagnant.

I appreciate all your comments and ideas, even those that are not all positive.

 

[Paphman910]

Either can get very tall, especially P. Pinocchio since it is a sequential bloomer. I've seen Pinocchio spikes that are 2 feet tall. The spikes on my Norito get about 16-18" tall. I've seen them shorter though. It may depend on how much light they get - the more light, the shorter they are. It could also be genetics.

A suggestion: Cut off the flower spike!

Paphman910oke:

 

[NYEric]

And for the benefit of some of you who are doing the he/she thing - Rabbit is a she.

OOPS!

 

[parvi_17]

I understand the skepticism of some of the posters. I wasn't sure of my success either, when I started this terrarium thing a year and a half ago. Some info I had at the time was discouraging, and some said to do it.

But when My lone Maudiae rebloomed, I rescued 3 more sorry looking ones from a local nursery. I wasn't even sure of the colour because they were finished blooming. Well a couple days ago, I found a new bud on one of them. Another one I bought more recently, still in bloom, is also sending out buds.

Time will tell if I can sustain this growth. Maybe because I'm home all day ( I work at home) fiddling and fussing with the terrariums and removing the tops, the air doesn't get too stagnant.

I appreciate all your comments and ideas, even those that are not all positive.

I call the success you have had encouraging, and I don't think it would hurt to try something different. Good luck, and let us know how it goes! We love photos!