Paphiopedilum malipoense

[Guldal]

After seven months of nervewrecking anxious waiting since I first spotted the bud...alas, finally (two pics of flower in a slightly different light):




And the plant and flower in toto - inflorecence 58 cm:



Pity with that slight twist and dent of the dorsal sepal...but never mind, I'm so happy to finally have the species flowering and one might expect an improvement, when flowering the second time round!
It has, by the way, a nice, quite clear, fruity fragrance - of how, I imagine, passionfruit chewing gum with a whiff of lemon would taste/smell!

 

[P.K.Hansen]

Lovely. I thought it was smelling like raspberries? You have the citrus version i guess
Mine has finally started growing, but there's a long way before it has any bloomsize shoots.

 

[gego]

Congrats. This species will really test your patience. It could stop growing its spike mid way and then you start worrying. Looks like it is a big flower.

 

[Ozpaph]

great spike

 

[richgarrison]

how long has it been open since it spread it's wings? wondering if the pouch is still inflating...

 

[Guldal]

NS 10,5 cm.

It's been open now for 1½ weeks or so...so probably not much hope for further growth.

 

[blondie]

Nice mine flowered for the first time this year to. I couldn't get much of a fragrance off it but I'm for ever bunged gged up from the job

 

[BrucherT]

Congratulations! Love to see a window-grown plant bloom. What exposure is that? What's your medium, watering/feeding regimen? Are those several other malipoense in your photo? Is this your favorite species? I'm a window grower too.

After seven months of nervewrecking anxious waiting since I first spotted the bud...alas, finally (two pics of flower in a slightly different light):




And the plant and flower in toto - inflorecence 58 cm:



Pity with that slight twist and dent of the dorsal sepal...but never mind, I'm so happy to finally have the species flowering and one might expect an improvement, when flowering the second time round!
It has, by the way, a nice, quite clear, fruity fragrance - of how, I imagine, passionfruit chewing gum with a whiff of lemon would taste/smell!

 

[SlipperKing]

Nicely done

 

[GuRu]

Nice one and yes, to speak from own experience, P. malipoense can be challenging your patience.

 

[Gilda]

Congrats ! It's lovely and fragrant ! Worth the wait.

 

[Phred]

They can be very frustrating... That’s a long time with many opportunities to lose the bud. Great job!

 

[Guldal]

..... What exposure is that? What's your medium, watering/feeding regimen? Are those several other malipoense in your photo? Is this your favorite species?

I'll answer your questions backwards: I'm not quite sure, if I have a certain favorite among Paph-species - there are so many beauties. An embarrassment of riches!

There are other malipoenses in the photo - I have in all 3 clones of the typical form (at least that's what I suppose, only one have bloomed so far) and 1 malipoense var. jackii fma. album.

The plants are in my colleagues office, a north facing, but very bright window - his window is slightly draughty turning the micro climate of the windowsill into temperate at winter time.

As to other aspects of culture I'll just quote myself from another thread:

I grow my Paphs in Greenmix (as a window sill grower it seems to help me keep the humidity up - albeit I'm still a bit handicapped in this respect, when compared to the lucky owners of a greenhouse):

"GreenMix for Orchids is a mixture of water-repellent and water-absorbent granulate with added perlite and lignite. The granulate is made from stonewool, the basic element of which is diabase rock. GreenMix for orchids is produced by Grodania A/S"

(In my local orchid society there is quite a religious war going on about growth medias...but I guess, it's the same every where - as a friend of mine would put it: "Ask 10 orchid growers about culture and growth media...and you'll get 14 different answers!")

[As I'm living in an appartment without the possibility of collecting and storing rain water - the optimal solution for watering,] I use 3/4 spring water + 1/4 tap water (NB. tap water in Denmark is quite clean and you drink water directly from the tap). I fertilise once a month, except nov-jan (quite dark months up here north), with Pokon 20-20-20 (NPK 20-20-20 + Molybdenum (MO) 0,0005% Bor (B) 0,0200%, Kobber (CU) 0,0500%, Jern (FE) 0,1000%, Mangan (MN) 0,0500%, Zink (ZN) 0,0500%) [in the summer months I sometimes add a bit of Epsom Salt, when fertilising]

I think that was about everything!

Kind regards, Jens

 

[Junglejewel]

Looks great!! Love malipoense

 

[Don I]

Love it. Don