Paph micranthum in low bud

[xiphius]

Finally. After about 5 years, I must have finally (by accident) hit the right conditions last winter. The plant has been growing like crazy and now the 4 largest growths are all showing signs of budding!

They are moving VERY slowly though. I dunno if this is typical of micranthum or if it's just still unsure it really wants to bloom. At this rate it will be at least another 2-3 months before I actually see flowers. Hopefully it doesn't blast before then. If I can get 4 flowers open at once, that would be an incredible display!

 

[NYEric]

Good luck. What's your secret?

 

[xiphius]

Well, the cross country move happened. Most of the moss on top of my pots died off during the move and I had a struggle to regrow it due to lower winter humidity in my new growing space. It has just recently gotten back to the point I like to see (the moss is kinda my litmus test - if the moss is happy, paph roots tend to be happy). They did get chilled during the move, but that was only for a day or so... so I doubt that had much impact. My best guess is that the lower humidity and lack of live moss made them drier in spite of my obsessive over-watering . Funny thing is that they didn't start to bud (at least not visibly) until after I was able to get the moss back (an indicator that they are fairly wet down at the root zone). So maybe they need to go from a few weeks dry --> wet to induce flowering?

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Congratulations. Quite an achievement.

I haven't tried to grow P. micranthum yet. I've always been warned it's tough to flower (and sometimes even tough to grow) in my area. Given that it can be a bit pricey to purchase a good sized, healthy plant or two, I've always opted for stuff I feel like I at least have a chance of being successful with. I know of people who grow or have grown micranthum around here, but blooms seem to be pretty elusive. If they were more plentiful and cheaper, I might even be willing to experiment with leaving them out in the fall/winter until nights start dropping into freezing temperatures to see if that helps induce flowering. But I think most people would be hesitant to push the limits and lose their plants. Ramble. Ramble. Ramble.

On the plus side, the NC mountains are only a few hours drive away, and at higher elevations where temperatures are cooler, people seem to have decent luck, so I get to see the results when they bring them to shows!

 

[kiwi]

I flower quite a few of these now. I think letting them get down to near freezing during the winter is beneficial to flowering.

 

[xiphius]

Thanks for the tips! I knew they liked to get cool in the winter, I didn't realize they liked it quite that extreme.

 

[StreetVariety]

Did anyone try growing Mics outdoors all year?

 

[Ozpaph]

Did anyone try growing Mics outdoors all year?

always - it does depend on where you live!

 

[NYEric]

We usually kill them because we over-water.

 

[Don I]

I love it. I'm a little nervous about leaving mine out all year. I've had one for 6 years and as Erc said I set it back quite a bit from over potting. Even though it was in a basket it stayed too wet, so over watered in a round about way.
Don

 

[xiphius]

Interesting... mine has always seemed to like it quite wet...

I used to have them in 2.5 inch deep rose pots but when I went to repot them, I kept finding that they were sending out tons of runners which were just plunging straight down to the bottom of the pot and circling. So I went ahead and repotted all of them into a large tub (10+ inches) so that the runners have more room to stretch and it seems happier now - from the runners I was able to bring to the surface, there are now about 7-8 small growths. I have them potted in bark with some crushed oyster shell and a top layer of moss. The moss is always very wet and they don't seem to mind.

I think I probably just got lucky and landed with a super vigorous clone though. When I initially got it and was repotting it, (it came as two, two-growth pieces... not sure if they are divisions of the same plant or different plants) a small piece of rhizome with a few scraggly roots broke off while I was repotting it. I threw this in a bag and was intending to discard it. But a couple weeks later when I went to throw it away, I glanced in the bag and that scraggly broken piece was sprouting three new growths!

Needless to say, it did not get thrown away...

 

[NYEric]

!!!

 

[Markhamite]

Congrats!!

 

[Ozpaph]

well grown

 

[Happypaphy7]

Yes. Micranthum, armeniacum and their primary hybrids can go mad with runners. I feel bad for mine trapped in small pots. Most if the runners end up dead somewhere inside the pot. lol
Agressive growers, often.