A few species in bloom

[Trithor]

I have been unable to take and post any pictures as my camera met with an accident on my Red Sea trip. I have still not bought a new camera, but resurrected an old camera to use in the interim. As spring moves closer there are a few plants starting to show a bit of colour, ...

A Paph primulinum var purpurascens (I have now pulled the pouch off and pollenated it with pollen sent by SlipperKing, thanks Rick. Here is hoping, as the first attempt some months ago did not take)


A villosum seedling, from Hung Sheng breeding. I imported a flask a few years ago, this is one of the first seedlings. Fair colour I think/ I have harvested pollen and put it onto one of my old villosums which dates back to the early 80's (sorry for not posting a picture of the mother to be, but her pouch met with a 'slug accident', making her the logical choice (especially seeing she carries blooms on very lofty stems and has good colour as well as documented provenance (rescued by self :wink)


An exul, not the best, but it is the only plant I have! (if there is a visitor coming our to the WOS who can bring me a good clone, it would be much appreciated!)


A wilhelminae. Sorry for the distorted bloom, but I was not expecting it to flower so early and it was hiding under a Yang-Ji Apple. Its flower spike got a bit twisted and in removing it from its 'contortion predicament' I inadvertently broke off the second bloom. This spikes appears to be a bit of a 'prem' as it has 3 other emerging spikes.


A sukhakulii. I have had this clone for a number of years, and have just got it to 'turn around'. For years it has sulked and refused to grow, but last year with a few minor changes I have managed to get it to grow two mature growths (both now in bloom) and there are 5 emerging new growths. So at long last it seems it may clump!


Paph virens, and yes, this is very near the real colour. It has an almost 'unreal' cast to its colour. Very surprising. I am quite happy with this one.


A tonsum. This clone came to me as part of a collection that the owners were getting rid of as they downscaled their growing. The tag shows it to have been purchased by them at a local show in 1993 (from whom it does not say). I have struggled with it for a number of years, as it arrived in a bit of a sad state, but at long last seems to be on the mend!

 

[paphioboy]

Beautiful bunch! I want them all...

 

[Justin]

great pics, the sukh and virens are awesome. like the wilhelm too.

 

[Lmpgs]

Excellent. The primulinum var purpurascens is amazing.

 

[troy]

I agree with all the others, very well bloomed

 

[Carkin]

I love them all! Especially the fluorescent green on the virens!

 

[PaphMadMan]

Very nice bunch. Even a 'not the best' exul can be very nice. The sukhakulii ad virens are amazing.

Just a thought... Paph Leslie (exul x sukhakulii) can be a very interesting flower. oke:

 

[Ozpaph]

a very pleasing bunch of blooms to herald spring.

 

[trdyl]

Very nice!

 

[Secundino]

Great plants, great pics - just lovely! Thanks for sharing!

 

[papheteer]

Great blooms! The barbatas are very pretty!!! Congrats!

 

[SlipperFan]

Lovely, all. It looks like your old camera still takes pretty good photos, also.

 

[gnathaniel]

Great crop! The virens is particularly amazing.

 

[NYEric]

Nice. We don't see a lot of virens!

 

[kellyincville]

All lovely but the virens in particular stands out as something really special!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[eggshells]

Way to show off Gary. Welcome back. Very nice blooms. I on the other hand has 0 blooming right now but its going to change soon! Cross fingers.

 

[abax]

I especially love the prim and the suk. I'm not familiar with virens, but
the photo is a wow-er and I'd love to have one.

I'm very sorry to hear about your underwater camera casing leak and
ruining your camera. That's really a *****! A pro photographer once told
me the only reason to pick up a camera that's been dropped in water is
to throw it further out. I threw the best camera I've ever had further
out diving off one of the Cayman Islands. RIP

 

[Spaph]

Great blooming on all these! Your exul is nice in my books! Wish I had it :drool:

 

[paworsport]

Very very nice:clap::clap:
What do you change for the sukh?

 

[Trithor]

Thanks all! This time of the year is always a bit nerve wracking for me. Because I don't heat, I tend to grow very dry in winter so all my plants are a bit stressed as Spring approaches. I have to be very careful with my watering as the weather warms as we still get a few cold fronts moving through, also rots set in very easily (a combination of stress, cold nights and soft new growths starting to emerge). All my plants get a drenching with Captab now, and then Zineb in a couple of weeks. So not only do they look very stressed, sad and limp, but they look very ugly with the white fungicide residue as well.

What do you change for the sukh?

I switched to a finer mix with chopped sphagnum added in. Previously I used a much coarser bark with charcoal on all my Barbata types, but they never seemed happy. So now 9mm bark with perlite and chopped sphagnum. Because they stay wetter for longer now, I increased the air circulation by moving them nearer one of the fans.