Paph. liemianum 'Charlie'

[John M]

My one and only Paph. liemianum. I got this years ago and it grew well for me. By early this year, it was multi-growth and looking fine. However, rot hit it hard. It lost the largest growth. I repotted and treated it and hoped for the best. It came back with tons of vigour. Then, it lost all the new growths and half of one older; but, not yet bloomed growth, to rot again. At the same time, that growth was in spike. This is a photo of the first flower. I'm getting annoyed with this plant and decided to self the flower to hopefully get some seeds before "mom" croaks. Maybe there'll be a few seedlings that have the quality of "mom" without the tempermental attitude about conditions in my greenhouse.

It's down to just half the leaves on one blooming growth and the rot has finally stopped again. I sat it about 12 inches away from a 48" exhaust fan. It's in a gale force wind now as the air is sucked past the plant and through the fan. In fact, I see new starts coming up from the base. Still, I'm wary of it's intensions. Once I could see that the capsule had taken and was good, I broke off the remaining stem to stop the sequential blooming habit. The plant can concentrate on maturing this seed capsule and producing the new growths that it's just started. May the best means of propagation win! Hopefully, both will win!

 

[goldenrose]

:clap: I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! It's really quite nice!
Interesting about the growing comments. This group, shall I say, can be a bit confusing. I have a plant from Orchids Unlimited, it's label reads victoria-regina var. liemianum, easy bloomer/grower. Now I also have a plant labeled chamberlainianum, from OU, slower grower, hasn't flowered yet. I expected that they be somewhat similar in their growing but apparently not!

 

[Bob in Albany N.Y.]

I'm sending good vibes your way. I hope that the you end up with a strong plant and lots of flasks.

 

[Donw]

I like Bob

 

[nikv]

I so love this species! :rollhappy:

 

[W. Beetus]

Stunning bloom. Very nice!

 

[paphioboy]

Splendid liemianum bloom... What kind of rot did it suffer from? the dark brown rot that starts from leaf tips or the one that starts at the leaf axils?

 

[SlipperFan]

That's beautiful, John.

I've had a lot of problems with rot this summer, also, mostly on my multiflorals and Phrags, but also on the other Paphs.

 

[emydura]

That is a lovely clone John. It would be ashamed to lose it. Fingers crossed for the plant and the pod. I had a similar problem with my glaucophyllum. It went down to one growth but it now seems to have stabilised.

David

 

[Rick]

Classic!

I think these are mostly dripping limestone cliff dwellers. I lost a moquet and 90% of my original var. purpurescens to similar story to yours. My recently purchased glauco was starting to act up too.

Cut the K and beef up the Ca/Mg The new leaves I've been getting on these plants have so much more substance than in the past.

 

[rdlsreno]

Very nice!:clap:

Ramon

 

[John M]

Thanks everybody.

This plant went on to lose all the remaining leaves. All that is left is the flower stem and a very large bract about half way up the stem...and the capsule at the top. The capsule is doing just fine and the rot (which was Erwinia rot....creeping up from the leaf bases), has stopped. However, so has any movement on the new growth starts, which hardly got started. I suspect after I harvest the capsule, the starts will jump into action. Fingers crossed!

Rick, I use 7-11-27 with Cal Nitrate; plus epsom salts. However, I cut the ratio of the 7-11-27 to CalN from 3 to 2 respectully, to 3 to 1. I guess I should go back to the manufacturer's recommended ratio of 3 to 2 to boost the Calcium. The plants could stand a bit more N anyway too. Thanks for the advice.

Also, when I last repotted the plant, I included a lot of rough pea gravel. I suspect that there is some calcium contribution from that too.

 

[Marc]

How long till the seed pod is mature? I hope everything turns out well and that this plant may generate lot's of offspring. Good luck!

 

[JeanLux]

I like it a lot, maybe also because of the great Pic !!! :clap: Jean

 

[John M]

Thanks again! The capsule will mature enough to harvest for green pod culture at about ~6 months. However, if all is going well, I'll leave it longer. I don't know exactly how long it will take the capsule to ripen fully and begin to split.

 

[Shiva]

Beautiful one John and good luck. From what I've seen so far, you seem to be very good at turning around what appeared to be ''lost causes.''
As for bacterial rot, I heard from a very knowledgeable source yesterday that it can be stopped dead by pouring 3% hydrogen peroxide on the infection.

 

[Paphman910]

What are you using to stop the rot?

Paphman910

 

[Rick]

Thanks again! The capsule will mature enough to harvest for green pod culture at about ~6 months. However, if all is going well, I'll leaf it longer. I don't know exactly how long it will take the capsule to ripen fully and begin to split.

Cochlopetalums seem to go faster than a lot of other paph species. I looked up my records for breedings of Paph moquetianum (6.5 months) and two breedings of Paph primulinum var purp.( 5 and 5.5 months).

The moquetianum matured over winter too, so unless leimianum is special you may see a mature pod by 6 months. Push come to shove you might be able to green cap in 3-4 months.

 

[John M]

I've heard about using hydrogen peroxide as a topical remedy. I should give it a try on something and see what results I get. So far, all I do is remove all the affected leaves and any potting medium crowding the area to allow more air in. Then, I dust with either garden sulfer or cinnamon. Plus, in the summer, I'll put plants near the exhaust fan to vastly increase the air movement.

Also, now according to Rick's findings, a little calcium in the mix helps as well as increased Magnesium (epsom salts). I've known this about Brachy's and certain Phrags (especially besseae). When they are prone to rot, if you add some limestone screenings or feed with a high calcium fertilizer and suplement with epsom salts, rot becomes much less of an issue. What I didn't know is that it's the ratio of Calcium and Magnesium to Potassium that is important, not the total Ca and Mg alone. Too little Ca and Mg and too much K will encourage rot. Reverse this and rot is discouraged.

Edit: Okay. Thanks Rick for the capsule info. I need to check the date on the cross tag and make sure that I don't miss the best time to harvest. In order to save the plant, if possible, I'd like to get the capsule off as soon as possible.

 

[Shiva]

What are you using to stop the rot?

Paphman910

I used to use Physan but it's not available anymore in Canada. Now that my old reserve is all gone, I bought a no name bactericide from my orchid club and I have no idea of the dose required. So I'm testing it on some sacrificial orchids at full strenght to see how it affects them. I had some erwinia rot last summer and nothing really effective to fight it, apart from cutting off the infected leaves or growths.
if the plants show no toxicity to this product, I will use it next time I have rot. And I will also buy a bottle of 3% Hydrogen peroxyde as a comparison.