Paph. lowii ('Outreach x Dark Secret')

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Does the plant size vary a lot on this species?
Ones I saw were gigantic!

This species has a huge geographic range and can vary a lot not only from one local to the next, but culturally.

I think the clones from Borneo have the potential to get bigger than the ones from the Philippines.
 
Very small plant to be blooming, I'd check the root system and cut the spike soon if you want to keep it, very nice flower!!!
 
This species has a huge geographic range and can vary a lot not only from one local to the next, but culturally.

I think the clones from Borneo have the potential to get bigger than the ones from the Philippines.

Ok. It was very very large, about 1 meter across and only a single growth with a huge spike with many large colorful but a bit dark flowers.
The tag only said Paph. lowii.

It was tempting but I was intimidated by the size.
 
Very small plant to be blooming, I'd check the root system and cut the spike soon if you want to keep it, very nice flower!!!

This lowii has been a struggle for me. I repot yearly and even so the roots were a mess when I repotted last. It recovered but is no where near what I would expect based on other lowiis I have seen that have multiple growths. I may have to cut the spike and nurse this one to a better state as you suggested.
 
While I'm no expert on lowii, two thoughts.
One, this species is supposedly a epiphytic plant, so it might benefit from a bit more coarse mix?
Two, since you mentioned other lowii, I girded you do fine with others.
Then, it might just be a weak plant.

I know I hate it when a plan that I really like don't grow well.
I once dumped this ugly green bulldog that grew like nothing else.
Then I tossed a few all green (my favorites) bulldogs that had great flowers but would grow very slow ( if ever) and eventually develop leaf problems.
That's when I said bye and made room for new comers. lol
 
While I'm no expert on lowii, two thoughts.
One, this species is supposedly a epiphytic plant, so it might benefit from a bit more coarse mix?

This species can be lithophytic too. I saw some crazy in situ shots of a cliff face in Borneo with both sanderianum and lowii mixed together.

The premise of open mix holds for lithophytes and epiphytes. So in agreement there. Other culture of note is these places are rained on and have trickling water almost all the time (with very high humidity). And the high rate of rainfall makes everything very dilute.

So my lowii do very well in baskets, but they get watered daily with very dilute feed and humidity stays above 70%
 
Happy and Rick, thanks for the suggestions. Humidity s a challenge in the winter for me since I grow indoors under lights. And I certainly do not water as much as you Rick but then again you grow in baskets so I can understand your routine. I might try both a more course mix and more frequent watering.
 
This species can be lithophytic too. I saw some crazy in situ shots of a cliff face in Borneo with both sanderianum and lowii mixed together.

The premise of open mix holds for lithophytes and epiphytes. So in agreement there. Other culture of note is these places are rained on and have trickling water almost all the time (with very high humidity). And the high rate of rainfall makes everything very dilute.

So my lowii do very well in baskets, but they get watered daily with very dilute feed and humidity stays above 70%

I wonder if there would be any hybrids between the two??
I am just saying this without any knowledge regarding their bloom seasons.
 
I wonder if there would be any hybrids between the two??
I am just saying this without any knowledge regarding their bloom seasons.

I don't think anyone has come up with plants thought to be a natural hybrid with lowii. The sandy/lowii case in Borneo is interesting to speculate since those plants are in very close proximity, but lowii is a very widespread species so could theoretically hybridize with other species up through the Philippines.

Not only could the bloom season be different, but so could the pollinator. :wink:
 

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