Paph micranthum - one of my first

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Leo Schordje

wilted blossom
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This Paph micranthum is one of the first I ever bought. I picked it up in 1987 from Ray Rands. At the time Rands advertised these as coming from China, no specific location, so I think of this as the typical race of micranthum. I find micranthum very slow growing for me, but otherwise they are tough enough, true survivors. In the 21 years I have had this plant it has survived power outages, drought, new puppy dogs chewing, my occasional extended absences, watering by other people, various insect infestations of the 'collection' and all manner of periodic episodes of less than ideal growing conditions. That said, in the 21 years it has only bloomed 4 times. It has settled into a pattern of blooming every 3rd year. I really like it, even though it is too small for award consideration, but its got a nice long flower stem. It has become an old friend.
micranthum229a.jpg


micranthum229b.jpg


and here in a family photo with its cousin, Paph vietnamense '416'

micranthum229c.jpg
 
I find this to be a fussy one. I seem to grow the micranthum hybrids much easier. If it blooms every 3rd year for you I'll have to be more patient with mine.
 
Note in the middle photo you can see that after 21 years of growing it is still in a 2.5 inch pot. I think one should include micranthum in the list of dwarf and compact growing Paphs
 
Note in the middle photo you can see that after 21 years of growing it is still in a 2.5 inch pot. I think one should include micranthum in the list of dwarf and compact growing Paphs

Still one growth after 21 year?
No wonder mine keep getting smaller leaves on the top to replace bigger leaves die off from the bottom. Pretty soon there will be no thing left in the pots.
 
Yeah, it is the constant 2 steps forward, one step back. I tend to loose old growths, usually by the time the new growth blooms. I am trying to make improvements in my growing, perhaps someday I will have a multi-growth micranthum. This one is actually up to an 8 inch leaf span, the largest leaf span it has ever had in my care, so my culture is slowly getting better. I haven't had any disasters lately to set things back. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I also have to admit, I sold a division of this plant probably 8 years ago. So if I had not divided the 2 growth plant back then I might be up to 4 growths today. It is important to not divide plants back down to one growth if you can help it.
 
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Looks good to me! The best I have ever done with micranthum is a bud...that blasts. And only rarely produced....but, hey, that's better than malipoense, which has never spiked at all.......Eric
 
wow 21 years, bravo! I think its pretty too.

hmmm...my 1 growth plant from China (probably Yunnan) has become a four growth plant (two large and two small). Its old growth blasted and I am waiting for it to bloom, should be coming next season. Interestingly the old growth died back but but all four growths are still connected, and old roots still in place, but the growths are so far apart. I had thought the new growths would have become individuals after the wilting of the old growth. Maybe I got lucky and had so many growths
 
Sometimes new growths don't put out roots for a couple years. Leave them as a connected clump, you will get more flowers sooner that way. There definitely are different levels of vigor in different clones. My old friend '229' is tough but slow. I have a couple that do grow faster, they often bloom every other year, occasionally every year. These micranthum are beginning to make multigrowth plants without having o wait 20 years. The 'average' micranthum seeems pretty slow.
 

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