How long until this P. gratrixianum blooms?

[The Orchid Boy]

I have a Paph. gratrixianum with about an 8 inch leafspan and the biggest leaf is about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch wide. The site with paph data sheets says this about Paph. gratrixianum leaves: Leaves: 4-8, up to 30 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, above green, below purple-spotted at base.

How far away is this plant from blooming? I was thinking somewhere around 2-3 or 3-4 years. And do individual leaves really get up to 30 cm (about a foot) long? If so, a mature plant could have a leafspan of about 2 feet? Or is this incorrect? Thanks.

To Leo Schordje- Do you know the flask or deflask date and what the specific cross is? If you don't that's ok. Thanks.

 

[Rick]

Leaf span and leaf length don't really correspond well with plants with upright stiff leaves (like gratrxianum).

Unless you are pulling the leaves out horizontal to measure leaf span, a gratixianum with 8" span could still have leaves 10-12 inches long and it would be a mature plant. Plus I've seen a lot of variation in blooming size gratrixianums based on culture differences.

A better way to predict maturity and chance of blooming in gratrixianum is the development of new growths. I have gratrixianums blooming with 6" leaf spans,(individual leaves 8-10 inches long), but always with at least one new growth started.

Also we are coming up on the typical time of year for this species to bloom, so I'd expect to at least see some bracts over the next couple of months if its going to do it this year.

 

[Leo Schordje]

Patience, that is a seedling, only about 19 months out of flask. The flask was planted out January of 2011. The cross is one made by Troy Meyer at the Meyer's Conservatory, really a good place to buy seedlings of various species of orchids. He is good with the odd ball stuff. His Stanhopea collection is extensive.

The cross is gratrixianum ('MC4992' x 'Todd B'). You can dig through his website and see what info Troy has about the parents. http://www.troymeyers.com/

If your culture is perfect, and the genetics and epigenetics of the seedling are all set for rapid growth, you could see it bloom in as little as 2 years from flask. However, I certainly am not a perfect grower, nor is it reasonable to expect anyone to be, so I would predict 4 or 5 years from flask. Since I got the first year out of the way for you, you could see it bloom sometime 2015.

About patience, if you are feeling impatient, it simply means you need more orchids. :evil: I can help you with that. :evil: I found the only way to avoid feeling impatient is to have enough orchids you can't quite keep track of all of them. Then the slow ones can sit in the back of the collection and grow, and you don't remember to be frustrated with them because you are so busy trying to keep up with the rest of the collection. :rollhappy: Sadly, I'm finding in recent years that it takes fewer and fewer plants to loose track of them. But that is why the computer was invented, now if I could only remember where I put my notes to transfer to my inventory database.

My advice to people just getting into Paphs, don't buy too many seedlings, a good percentage, maybe half, say every other plant, should be a Paph in bud or bloom. Reason is, you want to have some blooms to enjoy while you are waiting for your seedlings to mature. A collection that is all young seedlings will aggravate and frustrate you until they are big enough to start blooming.

Hope this helps

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Thanks. Patience is definitely needed with orchids.

 

[Rick]

The cross is gratrixianum ('MC4992' x 'Todd B'). You can dig through his website and see what info Troy has about the parents. http://www.troymeyers.com/

That is one of my crosses Leo. It's another Slippertalk collaboration with plants from me and Toddy Bear.

I have one seedling from my batch that is 8" leaf span and just added 2 new growths this summer. It might bloom this fall, for sure next year at this rate. But out of 25 (or so) this one is way ahead of the others and I would guess about 2 more years before blooming (like you said).

Yes Orchid Boy. I would get somewhere around 100 adult plants so something is almost always blooming. Then its easier to have patience for all the seedlings that are growing up over the years.