sanderianum, bad photos of the best of the lot

[Leo Schordje]

The photos are awful, I have not been able to take better ones, I left home to go to my sister's house in southern IL for our family Thanksgiving dinner, and have not returned back home yet. My sister lives in the middle of the Shawnee National Forest, which means I get cell phone and internet access only when the atmospherics are perfect. There are no land based data lines, no cable of any kind, only spotty cellular wireless connections within 10 miles of where I am at. There are too few people for the expense of running wires. But the view is wonderful, lots of trees and wildlife. Tonight is cold, and very clear, with no wind to speak of, so have been able to log in from the house. I'll get home next week and will try to get better photos.

This plant is from the same group of in-bud seedlings that Rick, Ben and James bought. All were quite good, this one had the longest petals, 33 3/4 inches.
see http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18325 for Rick's thread on his seedling from this batch.

Rick, these were so good I raised the prices on the now previously bloomed plants. :evil: oke:

some had darker markings, some had more markings at the base of the petals, all had a nice presentation of the flower, holding the petals out so they hang down without tangling in the neighboring flower.

 

[JeanLux]

Most impressive flowering Leo, bravo!!!! Jean

 

[emydura]

WOW Leo. That is magnificent. Great petal length. I'll bet there are a few people wishing they had got one now.

DAvid

 

[paphioboy]

Holy cow...!!! :crazy: :crazy: :drool: :drool: :drool: That baby is awesomer than 'Rapunzel'... Does that mean a 1-meter petal spread for each flower??

BTW, I thought the tray at the bottom right corner of the first pic was your bathtub...

 

[SlipperKing]

Fantastic Leo! Mine is looking more like the last one you posted. Petals are at 15 inches now but the first flower is only 1/2 way open. I am wondering if petal lenght is directly related to air temperature. The reason for my concern is the first one I bloomed last year had 13 inch petals and I'm concerned this guy's petals are slowing down The GH gets down to 52*F at night and I can't say what the day temp is. What is your growing area's temps?

 

[TyroneGenade]

Fantastic. That really is very good presentation. I can only hope my sanderianum (should it ever flower) will have such good presentation.

 

[labskaus]

Very impressive, Leo!

Colours and presentation are outstanding!

I'm glad you raised the prices for these, now we both don't have to worry about import/export permits anymore :evil:

 

[Justin]

wow those petals just go on forever! awesome!

 

[etex]

WOW!!! Congrats Leo- amazing flowering!!

 

[NYEric]

Um... where are the bad fotos!?

 

[Jorch]

Ditto Eric! If those are bad photos, then I can't wait to see the good ones!!!

 

[biothanasis]

Very nice........but my scissors are itchy...:evil::evil::evil::evil::evil: I am kidding of course...

 

[Leo Schordje]

Fantastic Leo! Mine is looking more like the last one you posted. Petals are at 15 inches now but the first flower is only 1/2 way open. I am wondering if petal lenght is directly related to air temperature. The reason for my concern is the first one I bloomed last year had 13 inch petals and I'm concerned this guy's petals are slowing down The GH gets down to 52*F at night and I can't say what the day temp is. What is your growing area's temps?

I don't think temperature is a strong limiting factor, but I do believe Paph sanderianum is an Intermediate to Warm growing species. This plant is in a growing space where I contracted a friend to grow the batch of sandies I wanted to see bloom, and he is very good at growing them. The room they are in the night temps never drop below 65 F or 18 C. The most important cultural factor during flower development seems to be HUMIDITY. The grow room is being kept at 85% to 95% at all times while the flower buds are developing. The rest of the year, humidity was allowed to fluctuate more and lower humidity was more common. From previous experience a few hours of dry air will dry out the petal tips and stop development.

The second most important factor seems to be water, sanderianum needs to be wet at the roots while flowers are developing. Those petals are very long, it takes a lot of capilary pressure to force the water down the full length. These plants are being watered every other day or at latest every 3rd day. During vegetative growth Paph sanderianum is more tolerant, I tend to treat it like a rothschildianum, though my friend from whom I lease does grow them wetter than rothschildianum all year round, and the plants at his place galloped ahead of mine.

The high humidity and wet roots in combination help the sanderianum force water along the 3 foot length. A dip in either, capilary pressure will drop, and if the drop is long enough or sharp enough, the meristematic tissue at the tip will die. (the growing tip) I definitely expect the petal tips to die on any plant I drag out of that grow room to take the trip to AOS judging next weekend. They would only be gone from the grow room about 6 or 8 hours, depending on how many stops I make in between, but the handling, tangling, bumps & bruises & dry winter air will probably kill the petal tips.

I would place temperature in 3rd or 4th place in terms of importance, intermediate to warm. For light, these plants are about 5 feet below a couple of 430 Watt HPS lamps, in a nice bright white room, lots of reflections off the walls.

While genetics defines what is possible, culture is everything, without near ideal culture, you won't see what is possible. :viking:

Thankfully, I hired a better grower than I am, or I would not have seen what this cross can do. I hate it when I am not good at practicing what I preach. I long for the day when I could afford to have him grow all my plants, but unless I win the lottery, that day will never happen. :sob:

 

[Leo Schordje]

:clap:

Um... where are the bad fotos!?

Dot sets the bar really high, (as do many others including Uri and too many to name) so with that standard in mind, I can't claim these are 'good' photos.

Update on petal length, I heard from the grower today, and these petals have lengthend more on this plant 35 & 1/8th inches WooHoo

 

[John M]

Spectacular flowers Leo. The length of the petals is very impressive.

 

[NYEric]

:clap:

Dot sets the bar really high, (as do many others including Uri and too many to name) so with that standard in mind, I can't claim these are 'good' photos.

That's it! I'm not posting any more photos, all your prayers have have been answered.

 

[Justin]

phenomenal. really cool.

 

[Wendy]

I'll bet there are a few people wishing they had got one now.

DAvid

...and a few of us who couldn't get one are wishing they could have. :sob: That is spectacular!!! I expect mine to bloom this spring. Thanks for the culture tips...I'll try to boost the humidity when mine starts showing a spike.

 

[Clark]

Drool worthy!

 

[Shiva]

Gorgeous sanderianums. Thanks for the growing tips Leo.