Paphiopedilum sukhakulii

[Kostas]

Bought this as P. callosum in September but as soon as I saw a green bud coming out in Nov/Dec, with a long, point end, I knew this was no callosum. The seller thinks this is a P. sukhakulii and it got mixed up during spring repotting
















Looks like it's gonna be a beauty

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii bud by Konstantinos Giannopoulos, on Flickr


Paphiopedilum sukhakulii bud by Konstantinos Giannopoulos, on Flickr

 

[Happypaphy7]

Yep, definitely sukhakulii.
The leaves are very typical for type, too.

Are you growing them in hydoponic pot??
I thin that red thing on the corner of the pot is a water level indicator??
And is the rest of the pot filled with these little stone chips??
Just curious.

Hopefully this opens up nicely!

 

[Kostas]

Good to know! Seems nice and the bud is big.

I am growing it in a self watering pot(wick system) filled with a mix of small size zeolite,lava and pumice. The department above the water reservoir is filled with the material you see. Paphiopedilum seem to like that, I have a P. callosum thailandense thriving in such a system for more than 4 years now. I like it because it cuts down on maintenance and I only need to water very infrequently while they have plenty of water available at all times.

Looking forward to grow this one big, to its full potential!

 

[Justin]

Agree it is sukh. You are growing it very well.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Thanks for the reply.
I have seen such system before and was very much interested in it to ease the watering job on my part. lol
4 years!!!
You should start a thread on that callosum here.
Do you just add more fertilize solution (or just water or alternate both I guess?) when the level goes below the red line, or do you have to flush the whole thing as in typical semi hydroponics??

 

[Ozpaph]

await the opening

 

[paph_deb]

Beautiful plant. I have a sukhakulii and a callosum ... but both are babies so it will be a long time before I get to see either of them bloom.

 

[Kostas]

Thank you Justin!

Actually my mother grows that callosum, I gifted it to her in that system to make sure it does well for her. And it has done more than well those 4 years, flowering annually on multiple growths and lasting a good 2,5-3months! I posted a few photos of it last summer, on my other callosum's thread(the two pictures on that page):
http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38682&page=2&highlight=callosum

I water in different ways depending on the plant, the season and my available time. For established Paphs, I prefer to water with dilute(1/4 to 1/2 the dosage) Rain-Mix or K-Lite fertilizer and fill the reservoir with it. Then wait till the indicator goes to the min, wait a bit more if it's a cool season, then flush the substrate with clean water and water with dilute fertilizer water.

If I don't have the time for that or the plant is not yet established, I water a bit with dilute fertilizer water when I see the substrate start to dry out while keeping the indicator on the low side(1/3 to half filled). Sometimes I will water with plain water if I have not flushed for a good while. They don't seem to mind either way.

Wish them to grow well for you Deb!

 

[Kostas]

It's slowly opening

 

[SlipperFan]

Looks like it will have great color!

 

[Kostas]

One of today

 

[SlipperKing]

Super wide flower you got there.

 

[Justin]

Wow

 

[Kostas]

It's still opening!


I cracked open a window nearby(it's freezing outside...last night with below 0C temperatures thankfully) to let some fresh air in and raise humidity a bit, and the flower opened up way faster than it had been doing till then. The picture you see is just a few hours from my last one, both taken just prior to each of my posts

 

[Ozpaph]

great petals.

 

[SlipperFan]

Very nice!

 

[Migrant13]

Wow, that's quite the wingspan.

 

[Kostas]

A couple from today with natural light
Paphiopedilum sukhakulii by Konstantinos Giannopoulos, on Flickr

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii by Konstantinos Giannopoulos, on Flickr

 

[SlipperFan]

Petals are amazing.

 

[labskaus]

What is the nat. spread of the flower? The petals are amazing, indeed, and the colour of the pouch is very good, too.