Mexipedium xerophyticum

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JPMC

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Here's this year's blooms. A bit more robust than last year, but not as good as some I've seen on this site.

 
That's another "first" for me!!! I've never seen xerophyticum with 3 flowers open on one spike. Mine never does more than 2 simultaniously...
 
Lovely!

I have a question for all the Mexipedium growers out there. Has anyone grown this species from seed or are all the plants out there divisions of collected plants? The flowers appear to be rather small. Has anyone been able to pollinate them? Thanks!

Best Regards,
Nik
 
Lovely!

I have a question for all the Mexipedium growers out there. Has anyone grown this species from seed or are all the plants out there divisions of collected plants? The flowers appear to be rather small. Has anyone been able to pollinate them? Thanks!

Best Regards,
Nik

I heard that Norito of Paphanatic grew this from seed.

Paphman910
 
@Nick:
I have never seen any xerophyticum flasks, and the fact that they grow rather strongly has helped most nurseries not having to produce seeds or flasks. I myself have pollinated about 10 flowers (at least tried to) but never managed to get a pod. The structures are definitely too small for the human eye to be pollinating by hand (the normal way), so, specialist equipment is a "must" for these flowers.

PS: The fact that this plant carries 3 open flowers and 3 buds on one spike simultaneously and given that the flowers are differently shaped to everything I have seen before, suggest that this is a superior out-cross or a new, improved line of breeding. It would therefore be logical, as mentioned by the Paphman, that this indeed is a seed-propagated plant.
 
@Nick:
I have never seen any xerophyticum flasks, and the fact that they grow rather strongly has helped most nurseries not having to produce seeds or flasks. I myself have pollinated about 10 flowers (at least tried to) but never managed to get a pod. The structures are definitely too small for the human eye to be pollinating by hand (the normal way), so, specialist equipment is a "must" for these flowers.
There must be seed grown plants.. I have seen some Mexipedium for sale at an orchid shown, which were too small and too many and too consistent in sice and health, that I doubt they were divisions. (I did not ask whether they were as I just continued my walk after seeing the price: 150€ each little plant - they were circa 30 plants for sale)

PS: The fact that this plant carries 3 open flowers and 3 buds on one spike simultaneously and given that the flowers are differently shaped to everything I have seen before, suggest that this is a superior out-cross or a new, improved line of breeding. It would therefore be logical, as mentioned by the Paphman, that this indeed is a seed-propagated plant.

or a division of another plant collected in the wild. There is another thread here with alink to a very interesting article regarding populations of Mexipedium in the wild, one of them disappeared due to a big fire and others due to illegal collection (Note: I am not saying that JPMC's plant is wild collected itself, but the possibility of it being a division of a plant different to those originally collected is there)
 
That would be an alternative, I suppose. Yes, I could see that too.

I would however in this case suspect that we’d possibly be talking about a whole other population?! Just look at how different that inflorescence is built. I’m quite impressed with this plant, since it seems to be sending out spikes which are way different to what I have seen so far. Just the fact that there are 3 nodial-points, or branches before the fist bud actually opens is a bit new to me…let alone 3 flowers open simultaneously and on one spike. A 3rd option however would be, that I just haven’t come across a really great xerophyticum yet.
 
how big is the plant/ flower? can i get a size reference please?:)
i like the looks of this one and nice pic:clap:
 
There must be seed grown plants.. I have seen some Mexipedium for sale at an orchid shown, which were too small and too many and too consistent in sice and health, that I doubt they were divisions. (I did not ask whether they were as I just continued my walk after seeing the price: 150€ each little plant - they were circa 30 plants for sale)



or a division of another plant collected in the wild. There is another thread here with alink to a very interesting article regarding populations of Mexipedium in the wild, one of them disappeared due to a big fire and others due to illegal collection (Note: I am not saying that JPMC's plant is wild collected itself, but the possibility of it being a division of a plant different to those originally collected is there)

This plant was bought from Orchids Limited several years ago. The label says "Mexipedium xerophyticm 'Windy Hill' x self". I believe that they ship internationally with CITES certification and I'm sure I paid less than the equivalent of 150 €. I assume that they still have them for sale.
 
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how big is the plant/ flower? can i get a size reference please?:)
i like the looks of this one and nice pic:clap:

The mature spike measures 12 inches from the top of the potting medium and each flower measures 1/2 inch across. The largest growth measures 8 inches across.
 
Here's this year's blooms. A bit more robust than last year, but not as good as some I've seen on this site.
You're right, not as good - much better!

That's another "first" for me!!! I've never seen xerophyticum with 3 flowers open on one spike. Mine never does more than 2 simultaniously...
Me either - that's super! :drool: :smitten:
 
This is a lovely plant. Well done!!! What's it growing in?

Thanks.

It's in a 10 inch clay bulb pan with charcoal and sharp sand as the potting medium. This one seems to like to be grown wet (I water every day with RO water) so I water year-round. The moss started to grow and as it grew the plant kept doing better and better so I left it. I will say that it grows very well side-by-side with my cattleyas, just much more water. I fertilize "weakly weekly" with a urea-free fertilizer.
 
Thanks.

It's in a 10 inch clay bulb pan with charcoal and sharp sand as the potting medium. This one seems to like to be grown wet (I water every day with RO water) so I water year-round. The moss started to grow and as it grew the plant kept doing better and better so I left it. I will say that it grows very well side-by-side with my cattleyas, just much more water. I fertilize "weakly weekly" with a urea-free fertilizer.

Really! Sand and charcoal....hmm....maybe I'll give that a try. Thanks!
 
Such a cute, tiny flower!

Interesting how different people grow these. I have mine in diatomite and coconut chips with a little sponge rock thrown in. I learned early on that it doesn't like water like Phrags do -- I water mine once a week.
 
Such a cute, tiny flower!

Interesting how different people grow these. I have mine in diatomite and coconut chips with a little sponge rock thrown in. I learned early on that it doesn't like water like Phrags do -- I water mine once a week.

That's odd. Mine looked very bad when grown drier. It may be that the medium I use is so poorly retentive of water that I need to water more often.
 
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