Your Experience with Fumi's Delight"& its parental species.

[Happypaphy7]

I just saw that SVO listed Paph. Fumi's Delight in bud.
Very tempting, beautiful leaves and in bud. but it might blast and not sure if I want to pay $60. Plus, I have quite a few myself already.

In his item description, he says it takes 5+++ years to reach flowering size.
I take those triple crosses as saying "a lot more than 5 years usually"?

I know parvis can take a lot of time to reach flowering size, but then it can vary quite a bit depend on the batch even among the same cross or species.

Piping Rock once had (about two years ago at Deepcut) this plant, a hybrid of parvi, and he said it was flowering for the first time in 12 years!!!

Now, I have had a multiple growth Fumi's Delight for a little over three years.
It was a three-growth plant when first bought. One smallest growth died that year. The plant continued to grow but very slowly. It turned out that bush snails were eating the roots.
I repotted two years ago and it is now back to three growths. The original two growth is of the same size except half the older leaves have since been replaced by the new ones.

I also have a few single-growth plants that are supposedly of a mature size that have been with me for a couple of years.
One is in low sheath now. Yay!!! One is slowly losing leaves and roots. No snails there. I guess it just got hit by something. Oh, well.

Then I have a bunch of Fumi's Delight hybrid, FD x micranthum, FD x armeniacum. I can't wait for the flowers of FD x armeniacum especially!
but these have been growing at the rate of about one leaf a year. still quite small.
Sooooo frustrating.

Oh, and last, I have a couple of armeniacum left after one lost by a sudden rot earlier in the spring. They have been slowly growing a leaf.
I have three micranthum, all mature size, slowly growing a leaf.

One member mentioned that he or she has a lot of micranthum and that way, there is always at least one plant in bloom each year, but none of the plants would bloom every year.

What are your experience with Fumi's Delight? Micranthum and armeniacum?
I am already aware of the armeniacum basket case and let's not talk about that one since I consider that as a rare oddity.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NYEric]

I don't know if those baskets are a rare oddity; just a favorable conditoin for those that can maintain it. I know baskets did not work for me!
I have a bunch of Gen1 and Gen2 Parvi crosses, I just know I am not the best at growing them so I am patient. You grow Parvis pretty well, YOUr Armeni White for example, so just be patient, or if not you can sell it to me!

 

[Happypaphy7]

It is an oddity because it grows and blooms well under conditions that are very different than its habitat. The owner keeps it fairly warm even in winter (min 68F, if I remember correctly), also, the blooming habit is out of wack in a good way as it freely blooms on and off throughout the year.

Normally, armeniacum does not behave like that.
She just found an "odd" plant that happens to do well in her conditions.

My Armeni White is also a bit of an oddity, but in one way. It was great right from the start.
The cross is known to be easy, nothing like armeniacum or Fumi's Delight.
Delenatii is also considered easier than the other two species in discussion here. Deleanatii also have a lot warmer winter minimum in nature while the other two go through quite cold winter period.
Yet, my Armeni White is a very good grower and bloomer even for the cross I think.
It was clumping up and blooming very frequently when very young.
This year, it has decided to bloom for a very long season instead of one big show. I have been having two spikes in bloom since September. I see a lot more coming but all in different stages.

 

[TDT]

My Parvis seem to grow and flower "well" for me - as in flowers every year for some (i.e. malipoense, Armeni White), every other year for others (Fanaticum, Lynleigh Koopowitz).

I purchased a Fumi's Delight in 2009 as a healthy little seedling along with many other Parvis and aside from Joyce Hasegawa, this is the last one to show signs of blooming - it's been in bud for 2-3 months now and I'm agonizing over it!

So yes, in my experience this one requires patience!

 

[Happypaphy7]

Thanks for your input.

It looks just like one of mine. Broad ( relatively speaking) leaves with patterns resembling a certain variety of micranthum.
All others I have have narrow sharp leaves looking more like armeniacum.

Hopefully yours will turn out pretty!