4 year obsession

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ehanes7612

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In the past 4 years i have bought 65 paph flasks..here is my story..
of the 10 roth flasks i bought from OI all but one has done really well (that one was an x atticus cross,,cant remember the other parent name, but the other three x atticus flasks did very well).From the selling of extras i was able to sell enough to buy a bunch of other flasks
of the 12 parvi (species and hybrids) flasks from OI ..all of them have done decent to remarkably well
of the 6 other multifloral flasks (from OI except two)
phillipinense..all lost
lowii album..every one doing exceptionally well
platyphyllum ..everyone doing well
randsii ..lost all but 3 (but these are pretty strong)
victoria mariae ..all well
kolosand album (Springwater) ..all doing exceptionally well
liemianum (Fox Valley) ..doing well
liemianum ..doing well
Berenice album ..all did exceptionally well
parishii ..all did exceptionally well
gigantifolium..okay

of the species flasks ..i lost charlesworthii album in shipment (still fuming over that) but the rest of them are doing well..henryanum, barbigerum alba, curtisii, ..cant remember the others off my top of my head

now we come to the brachys'..i have bought brachys from several flasking sources...one source i cant seem to figure out a method to survival (and i have tried them all).. of the 17 flasks i bought from this one source (ROOTS via OI) , 12 of these perished including four leucochilum flasks and one leucochilum album in shipment
my brachy flasks from Springwater, and the others have all done well..needles to say.....

I have spent about 8 grand on flasks..and feel like i have broken even (as the roth seedlings i sold paid for the loss in flasks)
glad i dont do this as a business

i have also spent about 12 grand (last four years) on older individual plants..probably in the red about 2 grand but the loss is worth it with the collection i seem to have put together

now onto phrags ... (although i still buy parvis and the occasional odd and end paph..like an ooii)
 
jeez, I thought we were going to talk about Nicole Kidman.......(my obsession has been much longer than 4 yrs!)

If you're buying lots of expensive flasks it might be worth the plane flight to pick them up yourself?
 
or just dont buy from them anymore.. A lab that handles thousands of flasks a year should understand to put cotton in the jar to prevent jumbling . Even after the customer explicitly communicates that. Sam relies on that lab for direct shipment sometimes . This is understood by evey other flasker I know. I would still buy from Sam but only when he comes to local shows or when I am in themidwest.
 
pretty good overall (except the brachy's).. good to know about the brachy flasks...

While i haven't done nearly the volume you have, I've generally had pretty good success with flasks...one roth MM x self flask I lost all but 3, but all the other OI roth flasks i've done have grown like straight weeds.

Now I don't even want to talk about losing roth divisions...one should never buy single-growth roth divisions...even bigger roth divisions can be difficult to establish. It's truly a risk/reward proposition.
 
It's kinda like that old saying: "To make a small fortune growing orchids- start with a large fortune"
 
And Of the 5 surviving brachy flasks.. One is st Gratrix alba, one bellatulum alba and three bellatulum .. So bellatulum(reds), bellatulum seems to be Somewhat tough
 
No more flasks for me, compots only. Good luck and let me know about the Kolosand, Berenice and barbigerum albums when they're available. :)
 
sold all the Berenice album..i doubt if i sell any barbigerum album before they all bloom..the kolosand are a few years off as i deflasked them only a couple months ago
 
Ed I'm surprised at your brachy losses but they have been my nemesis too. I have a small group of survivors from some niveum and some Oto. I also lost early all of a couple flasks that had large brachy components.


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