Flower longevety

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Doug

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Does anyone have a list giving the expected lenth of time a flower should last for each species of Paphiopedilum? Is it all in the genes or does culture play a part? I know it varys from species to species, but does it vary from plant to plant? Should all members of the same subgenus last the same amout of time? For instance my P. armeniacum lasted 11 weeks, yet a P. micranthum only lasted a week and a half. A P. barbatum 10 weeks, yet a P. venustum only 5 weeks. None of the books mention this and if they do it is usually a casual " long lasting " or " short lived ". Thanks in advance for any input.
 
WELCOME Doug! Good mystery question! I would think culture would have some bearing, especially humidity, but that's not always the case.
 
Paph flowers will last as long as they want to. Conditions can play a big part, size of plant and roots. Maybe they were too wet or too dry for a time.
Did they get too hot or too cold. Its a bit like "why won't my orchids flower"
I've had one of the best flowerings of paphs this year that I've had for a while and from previous years some flowers didn't last as long as they had before. Its a question that will attract a different answer from most growers I think.
 
Paph flowers seem to vary quite a bit regarding the duration of their blooms. The shortest seem to be many of the parvisepalums, especially micranthum. The cool growers and their hybrids last the longest. I've never seen any studies regarding length of blooming, it would be interesting to review.
 
Roy is on target. In my experience (25+ years with Paphs and Phrags) culture is about 80% of determining how long the flowers will last. It can vary wildly between years depending on the health of your plant, the temperature, humidity and how often you are watering.
. But then there is the genetic component. Paph mastersianum comes to mind, as having famously long lastin flowers. Paph Maudiae is quite long lasting too. At the other extreem, my Ho Chi Min has collapsed after only 5 days. Go figure.
. Compiling a list would be an approximation at best, but somewhat worth the effort.
Leo
 
Does anyone have a list giving the expected lenth of time a flower should last for each species of Paphiopedilum? Is it all in the genes or does culture play a part? I know it varys from species to species, but does it vary from plant to plant? Should all members of the same subgenus last the same amout of time? For instance my P. armeniacum lasted 11 weeks, yet a P. micranthum only lasted a week and a half. A P. barbatum 10 weeks, yet a P. venustum only 5 weeks. None of the books mention this and if they do it is usually a casual " long lasting " or " short lived ". Thanks in advance for any input.

This may be a fairly easy task with so many members of the forum.
The one who starts the post lists all paph species from A to Z
Then the next person will copy that list & inserts his lasting days Number in the appropriate order. At the end we will have a fairly accurate range of maximum & minimum for each species.

for example one starts:
-acmodontum.... 15
-adductum .... 10
and so on to
-wentworthianum....8

If the next person's acmodontum flowers for 17 days, he inserts his number to the right.
then the third person acmodontum lasts for 3 days, she will insert 3 on the left hand.
It will look like this: acmodontum [3],[15],[17]....
Regardless of culture condition, we should have the range from worse to best.
 
Last edited:
Here is the paph species list to fill in the number.

acmodotum
adductum
adductum var anitum
appletonianum
argus
armeniacum
barbatum
barbigerum
bellatulum
bougainvilleanum
bullenianum
bullenianum var celebesense
callosum
chambelainianum
charlesworthii
ciliolare
coccineum
concolor
dayanum
delenatii
dianthum
druyii
emersonii
emersonii var huonglanae
exul
fairrieanum
fowliei
gigantifolium
glanduliferum
glaucophyllum
godefroyae
gratixianum
hangianum
haynaldianum
helenae
hennisianum
henryanum
herrmannii
hirsutissimum
hirsutissimum var chiwuanum

hirsutissimum var esquirolei
hookerae
hookerae var volontenum
insigne
javanicum
javanicum var virens
kolopakingkii
lawrenceanum
liemianum
lowii
lowii var lynniae
lowii var richardianum
malipoense
malipoense var jackii
malipoense var hiepii
mastersianum
micranthum
mohrianum
moquetteanum
niveum
ooii
papuanum
parishii
philippinense
philippinense var roebelenii
platyphyllum
praestan
primulinum
purpuratum
randsii
rothschildianum
sanderianum
sangii
schoseri
spicerianum
stonei
sukhakulii
supardii
superbiens
thaianum
tigrinum
tonsum
tonsum var braemii
tranlienianum
urbanianum
venustum
victoria-mariae
vietnamense
villosum
villosum var boxalii
villosum var annamense
violascens
wardii
wentworthianum
wilhelminia
 
I'm just lurking as well...
My Magic Lantern was only around 14 days. *sigh* I don't know if it is a cutural problem, maybe direct sunlight could have been a issue too. Perhaps the micranthum influence?
On the other hand paph judge philip has only its first bloom and is still going
My paph insigne hybrid (suspected Totonka) was be the longest lasting bloom for two months
 
Here is the paph species list to fill in the number.

acmodotum
adductum
adductum var anitum
appletonianum
argus
armeniacum
barbatum
barbigerum
bellatulum
bougainvilleanum
bullenianum
bullenianum var celebesense
callosum
chambelainianum
charlesworthii
ciliolare
coccineum
concolor
dayanum
delenatii
dianthum
druyii
emersonii
emersonii var huonglanae
exul
fairrieanum
fowliei
gigantifolium
glanduliferum
glaucophyllum
godefroyae
gratixianum
hangianum
haynaldianum
helenae
hennisianum
henryanum
herrmannii
hirsutissimum
hirsutissimum var chiwuanum

hirsutissimum var esquirolei
hookerae
hookerae var volontenum
insigne
javanicum
javanicum var virens
kolopakingkii
lawrenceanum
liemianum
lowii
lowii var lynniae
lowii var richardianum
malipoense
malipoense var jackii
malipoense var hiepii
mastersianum
micranthum
mohrianum
moquetteanum
niveum
ooii
papuanum
parishii
philippinense
philippinense var roebelenii
platyphyllum
praestan
primulinum [66]
purpuratum
randsii
rothschildianum
sanderianum
sangii
schoseri
spicerianum
stonei
sukhakulii
supardii
superbiens
thaianum
tigrinum
tonsum
tonsum var braemii
tranlienianum
urbanianum
venustum
victoria-mariae
vietnamense
villosum
villosum var boxalii
villosum var annamense
violascens
wardii
wentworthianum
wilhelminia
 
I'm just lurking as well...
My Magic Lantern was only around 14 days. *sigh* I don't know if it is a cutural problem, maybe direct sunlight could have been a issue too. Perhaps the micranthum influence?
On the other hand paph judge philip has only its first bloom and is still going
My paph insigne hybrid (suspected Totonka) was be the longest lasting bloom for two months

Fren,
I think Dough is looking for just species now.
We can also start another list for hybrids, but that will be a very long list, for sure.
 
Hien, is that your collection list?
No, I have only collected parvi so far, and not many species yet. (the bulk of my past collection are cattleyas, phalaenopsis, dendrobiums & oncidium intergeneric & vanda) lately I branch into phrags & gave away most of the other types.
This is the list of all paph species for everyone to add the length of the blooming period.
Look at Rose post , you see that she fills in the length for primulinum at [66] days.
My thought is the next person using Rose's post & add more blooming data to the list. (and the next person ...)
 
I don't have many species paphs but my P. callosum ranged from 55-65 days. P. sukhakulii ranged from 55-74 days. P. barbatum ranged from 38-66 days. P. purpuratum ranged 39-61 days. So even within the same growing conditions, the ranges can be dramatic.
 
Todd - that is quite a range you have but isn't that the idea of this list? Go ahead & enter them.
In alot of cases I have when the bloom opened but didn't enter when it was over & done with. This will give me some incentive!
 
Too many paphs, too many species. Here are my observations: cochlopetalums are short lived, about 2- 3 weeks. I can't speak for all parvi's- delanatii, about 3-4 weeks....emersonii, 10-14 days, but the flower increases in size most of the time...armeniacum, 3-4 weeks. Insigne and related plants, 6 weeks, sometimes 8. Multis- haynaldianum, lowii-3-5 weeks. Brachy's- about 4-5 weeks. The longest lasting paph species bloom was urbanianum, 3 months. Overall, I find that paph species tend to last about 6 weeks, averaging all extremes. Hybrids last longer. Maudiae and complex types last 2-3 months, usually closer to 2. Temperature and overall health of the plant are important- cool temps and a healthy plant could give you 3 months on a Maudiae or complex hybrid. Good luck on extending the life of cochlo's and emersonii though! Take care, Eric
 
I haven't kept specific records of flower longevity but have some anecdotal memories. And I'm sure we are talking about the longevity of individual blooms and not total flowering time for multis or sequentials.

I can't really think of any that have made it 11 weeks. Possibly esquirolie. In general they seem to last the longest for me. 5 to 7 weeks seems about average for most other species.

Environment seems to play a very big role, because as Roy said, he's seen allot of variation within the same plant from year to year.
 

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