Paphiopedilum Michael Koopowitz

[eds]

This plant was purchased a a single growth in 2021. It's come into spike this winter but all is not quite as it should be!

The first bract on the stem was half leaf and has produced this flower!



A proper weirdo where I have half a petal where the dorsal should be!

Fortunately the next two flowers look like they should be more normal!

Here's the plant in toto.

 

[Ozpaph]

cut the bad one off.

 

[eds]

cut the bad one off.

Oh no! Even a mutant flower like this is still a flower and I'm interested to compare it to a hopefully 'normal' one soon.

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

Do you give it any specific care to make it bloom?

 

[SlipperKing]

Interesting Eds. Any updates?

 

[eds]

The other two are opening normally. Was going to wait another day or two to post to give the petals time to hopefully extend a bit more!
Might get impatient and take a photo tomorrow!

 

[eds]

As it looks today. The third flower is still opening and hopefully there is still a bit more lengthening to happen on the laterals.

 

[Tony]

Great color!

 

[southernbelle]

How did you grow it? Temp, light, etc.

 

[eds]

How did you grow it? Temp, light, etc.

It's in a mesh pot/basket (slotted neatly inside the display container at the moment!), lined with sphagnum and with orchiata with about 10% charcoal in the centre.
Watering is rain or RO with a 50:50 mix of Akerne's rain mix and Calcium Nitrate as fertiliser.
During the summer (later April to around October) they live in my north facing very shaded conservatory with almost no direct light but good indirect light. The conservatory goes from single figures centigrade to 30+ in a hot summer. Most of the time it's between 18-25C.
In the winter they live on a south facing windowsill in my house on windowsill propagators to give some additional heat from below. The room is cooler than the rest of the house and goes down to 15 or so in the coldest times. Most of the time it's high teens, low twenties.

Honestly, I don't water my plants regularly enough but this one seems to cope with it!