Some easy some hard!

[Stone]

Can we start a thread on which Paphs we find easy or difficult?
And what's the best trick you've found to get the hard ones moving......

Here are some of mine:

Easy:
sukhakulii, charlesworthii, insigne, lowii, haynaldianum, rothschildianum,
wilhelminiae, leucochilum, phillipinense,

Difficult:
bellatulum, callosum, dayanum, hookeri, fairrieanum, sanderianum, barbatum, helenae, thaianum,

Intermediate:
micranthum, armeniacum, delenatii, henryanum, appletonianum, volonteanum

There are more of course It will be interesting to see how this list changes over the next couple of years!

 

[abax]

Easy answer for me; all Brachy easy and all the rest slooooow, but eventually rewarding. All multis undesirable and difficult.

 

[naoki]

Some difficulty is obviously due to the mismatch with the growing condition, and for me, warmer ones don't grow quickly, and the ones which requires seasonality in temp don't flower for me since I grow them in grow tent under 100% artificial light. Also there are species which are difficult to flower, but easy to grow and vise versa. But I have a low standard of "easy"; I'm happy if they keep growing and don't die even though they don't flower frequently.

Easy:
appletonianum, bellatulum, coccineum, concolor, delenatii, druryi, emersonii (doesn't flower, though), gratrixianum, hainanensis, haynaldianum, helenae, henryanum, lawrenceanum, liemianum, moquettianum, phillipinense, purpuratum, spicerianum, tranlienianum, urbanianum, villosum, wardii

intermediate:
barbatum, ciliolare (slow, though), lowii, malipoense, rothschildianum, sanderianum, schoserii, sukhakulii, vietnamense, violascens

difficult:
barbigerum, godefroyae, hangianum, esquirollei, mastersianum, micranthum, niveum, parishii, platyphyllum, randsii, stonei, supardii, thaianum, volonteanum

 

[Ozpaph]

the polar opposite of abax - multis grow like weeds.
Mine are all so much better with rain water and less fertilizer and good flushing.

 

[NYEric]

I don't find most on either extreme; especially if they are larger than seedlings. I have proven that I can kill any orchid. However, regular and vini delenatii's, thaianum, canhii, and micranthum, have been my most difficult, (i.e. easiest to send to their demise). On the other hand primulinum hybrids seem to be pretty bulletproof. I think the secret for Paph success is to not overwater, do regular anti-pest maintenance, don't let the media turn to mush, and treat any rot issues immediately.

 

[DarioU]

Easy answer for me; all Brachy easy and all the rest slooooow, but eventually rewarding. All multis undesirable and difficult.

I like brachy very .much but they are very difficult for me. Please, give me some advices.
Thank you

 

[eggshells]

For me, barbata is easy except for papuanum which grows very slow so once you get a bacterial infection. It moves acts faster than the plant to grow new growths/leaves. I

Brachies are easy for me except thaianum. The others are easy leucochilum, niveum, and concolor. Bellatulum are somewhat difficult but not as difficult as thaianum.

Paphiopedilum subgenus are easy except Paph tigrinum. Im still amazed on how some people can get this into multigrowth specimens. I guess its one of those species that you are either good at growing it or suck at it miserably. There is no middle ground.

Parvis are easy but some are difficult to flower.

the multiflorals are easy except anitum. Adductum and others are easier. Even intaniae is easier than anitum but its extremely slow to grow. Its like sanderianum on that regard. Maybe even slower.

 

[polyantha]

easy: praestans, wilhelminae, roth, ooii (one of the easiest for me), sanderianum and all other multis
intermediate: randsii, stonei, supardii, adductum, kolo/platy (I don't know why I have problems with them...)
hard: anitum

 

[Chicago Chad]

easy ones:
stonei (my fastest growing paph)
all the parvis including hangianum (my easiest seedlings)
all the multis I am growing including gigantifolium
all the brachys

difficult:
sangii, sangii, sangii

I think I grow my paphs too brightly for some species, hence the trouble.

 

[eggshells]

easy: praestans, wilhelminae, roth, ooii (one of the easiest for me), sanderianum and all other multis
intermediate: randsii, stonei, supardii, adductum, kolo/platy (I don't know why I have problems with them...)
hard: anitum

How big is your ooii?

 

[MaryPientka]

Easy: delenatii-grows like a weed for me

Hard: micranthum-but I think this was due to poor timing (I bought seedlings in late Fall). All the seedlings have made it through the Winter and are showing growth.

I grow mostly parvis and they're all doing fine.

Intermediate: The few other Paph species that I am growing-rothchildianum, fowliei, urbanianum, and helenae-are all doing well.

Phrags all seem to be thriving . . .

 

[polyantha]

How big is your ooii?

I have four of them, the two bigger ones had 40cm leafs when I got them, 6.4cm broad.

 

[Justin]

hard due to extremely slow growth rate: adductum
hard to keep alive after blooming: vietnamense, delenatii, bellatulum
hard to keep alive after being divided too small or after being set back: rothschildianum
easy (if you get good clones): kolopakingii, stonei, philippinense, lowii, haynaldianum
easiest: Michael Koopowitz

 

[Stone]

Looks like almost any spp. can be easy in the right hands

@ naoki, surprizing you find bellatulum and emersonii easy yet niveum and hangianum difficult! I would have thought it was normlly the other way round.

@ eggshells. Funny, tigrinum is growing as easy as insinge for me! Maybe keep it cooler? I've just put mine outside in the shade house where it gets down to 6 or lower and only 15 during the day. But it's protected from rain and really quite dry at the roots now. I may give it a very light squirt once a week. Hoping for a flower this spring??

anitum did well just out of flask with a nice new leaf on each seedling. Now they are completely stalled and I have no idea why. Nothing has changed!! I have just started to acidify the water down to about 5.5. Maybe that might do something?

 

[polyantha]

For anitum this stop of growth seems to be normal. One of my anitums grew pretty fast, almost like a roth, but then i kept it drier and it had a leaf starting at this time. Well, for more than 7months nothing changed at all, there was a complete growth stop. One month ago I have put it back to my oder anitums in a tray filled 1cm with water all the time and this seems to work. It starts to grow roots again and the new leaf grew to its full size as if nothing had happend. This plant has a ls of 40cm by the way, so not a small plant anymore.
I finally found a good media for anitum. The growth of my plants is pretty good at the moment. I use alot of perlite while keeping them wet all the time. Don't know the pH of the medium so far, I will measure when I see perfect root growth. There still is the problem that altough the growth seems to be good there are very few roots. No big deal for the plant to get enough water since the medium is very wet, but when I see freshly collected anitums I come to believe that they grow pretty fast in nature. Lots of roots and these upright new growths with many small leaves and strong appearence. You all know how growths look when they develop fast...

 

[Justin]

adductum and anitum need to be kept very moist at all times and shaded.

 

[Brabantia]

adductum and anitum need to be kept very moist at all times and shaded.

And Paph kolopakingii? I ask this question because my P. kolopakingii x sukhakulii don't like high light. I observe a bleaching of the leaves. Not a fast grower also. But, maybe, 35 ppm of Nitrogen per week is to low?
About Paph culture easy or difficult or slow it seems to me that clone or the plant genealogy factor is very important.

 

[wonderlen3000]

Easy ones:
gratrixianum (my fastest growing and most reliable bloomer)
charlesworthii
spicerianum
all barbata group

Intermediate
parvi and their hybrids

Hard:
Any multi-flora (except lowii)
-they tent to die after flowering for me, no idea why. Roots are still alive, the leaf just turn yellow and brown after flowering... =(((
maybe not enough heat and light???

 

[Justin]

And Paph kolopakingii? I ask this question because my P. kolopakingii x sukhakulii don't like high light. I observe a bleaching of the leaves. Not a fast grower also. But, maybe, 35 ppm of Nitrogen per week is to low?
About Paph culture easy or difficult or slow it seems to me that clone or the plant genealogy factor is very important.

i grow my kolo seedlings about 12" under (4) 4' T-12 fluorescent lights so that the leaves are light green.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Even the easiest of paphs seem to crash after a certain number of years. I have had a haynaldianum for about 30 years. The first 20 it grew like a weed, making multiple growths, tons of roots, and blooming more than once a year. Then it stopped and went into a decline. I still have it, but its a small growth, a few (but healthy) roots, and that's how it remains. Same with delanatii....(regular form)..grows like a weed, blooms regularly, then declines after some years. I don't have as much luck with alba and vini delanatii....they don't grow as vigorously as the regular type, especially the vini. Some "difficult" plants are slow and hard to grow, but bloom easily, like emersonii- then die. The brachy's are mostly easy. Leucochilum and bellatulum are difficult. Niveum and thaianum are easy, but it takes years for thaianum to spike, and the buds blast just before opening. Concolor is in between the easy's and the toughies. I find philipinense easy to grow, impossible to bloom. Lowii grows fast and blooms easily, but has always been very shortlived for me. Roths sit and go nowhere, sanderianum grows slowly but steadily. Barbata used to be among the easiest for me, now I find them less hardy...except for the old hybrids like Clair de Lune and Maudiae "The Queen". The one time I had tigrinum, it grew and multiplied like a weed, blooming every year. Which is what killed it...I kept dividing it for trade, not leaving enough for myself. It died in the awful "summer of Rexius bark". Most parvi's are rough, but last for years without blooming. Too soon to tell with vietnamense...haven't had adult plants long enough. Basically, much of it is based on the individual plant.