Paphiopedilum rothschildianum bud!

[BrucherT]

I’m sure some will roll their eyes but I cannot resist posting this fat stripey bud! This is my division of a roth that was jungle-collected in the 1950s. It’s big and sloppy and I don’t care at all, it is the jewel of my collection. The damage to the leaf occurred shortly after I got it, due to a dowel falling onto the plant. I’ve had it since about September 2018 and this bud is such a delightful surprise. I grow it in a due-south window, right against the glass; been wondering if that would be enough light and I guess it is! Have been using K-Lite fertilizer from First Rays with every watering, occasional KelpMax, RO water (First Rays filter). When I water, the mix (it came potted in large fir and perlite; I have sprinkled powdered oyster shell a couple times) gives off a delicious, fresh odor. Any advice on how not to blast the bud appreciated. Watering about every 5 days, light misting over the area every morning. The pot is ugly as sin and I will definitely be repotting it after the bloom cycle, however that works out.

 

[Guldal]

Thats looks so promising- and I fully understand your eager anticipation!

Does your division have a clonal name?!

 

[DrLeslieEe]

OOOOOOOOO exciting!!! Can't wait to see them open.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Spotting a sheath deep down at the growth or the appearance of emerging spikes and developing buds are all very exciting to me.

 

[h_mossy]

Congrats!

(we ain't looking at the pot, anyway)

 

[Justin]

Looks dark. Nice.

 

[Guldal]

... (we ain't looking at the pot, anyway)

What pot?

 

[BrucherT]

Thats looks so promising- and I fully understand your eager anticipation!

Does your division have a clonal name?!

Thank you! My hope is high...I tend to wander over and stare at it several times a day.

I wasn’t given a clonal name but once when I told the provenance I was given by the grower (that it was collected on a whim from Borneo by an entomologist in 1955 and that divisions sold by Carter and Holmes for $1,500 each as “original wild plant,” that the grower paid that price in 1995 and then sold it to me last year for the cost of shipping because she’s 83 and downsizing her collection, someone in here spoke up and said “I think I know that clone.” But no name. I wonder if I could find it? I also have another roth, a division with a tag that says, “Paph. rothschildianum ‘TL’ X rothschildianum ‘P.T.’,” that I got from the Chicago Botsnic Garden Orchid Show sale for $10; it’s a postbloom single growth that now has three offshoots; it’s hilarious to me how much more compact the bred plant is! Barely 6 inches wide, while my jungle baby spans nearly 3 floppy feet.

 

[BrucherT]

Spotting a sheath deep down at the growth or the appearance of emerging spikes and developing buds are all very exciting to me.

Spotting a sheath deep down at the growth or the appearance of emerging spikes and developing buds are all very exciting to me.

It’s a relief that other people get it! I’ve actually never even beheld a roth in bloom in person before.

 

[BrucherT]

OOOOOOOOO exciting!!! Can't wait to see them open.

Thank you! Lol and believe me, you will see it from EVERY ANGLE, IN ALL POSSIBLE MOODS OF LIGHTING and potentially a mariachi band.

 

[Don I]

Nice photos, I particularly like the vases.
Don