I learned not to expect too much from this plant when I find a start of flower shoot. The buds ended up blasting (the bud wilts before opening) for the first 4-5 times. As the plant became bigger and bigger, the timing of the blast became later and later. It finally managed to open one flower last year (the flower didn't last more than a week, so I couldn't take photos). So this is the second time to see the flowers, and this year, it shot up 3 buds. The plant might prematurely initiate flowering, but it may realize later that it doesn't have enough resource. So as the plant matures, it may be able to complete the flowering. I hear that some other people encountered bud-blasting with this species, but others don't have problems. So there are probably genetic components, too. Other than this issue, this is an easy species to grow. The plant clumps up pretty nicely under a typical Paphiopedilum condition. I grow under intermediate temperature and under moderate light.
According to Liu et al (2009), this species occurs in N. Myanmar and West Yunnana, China (Lushui county and NW Baoshan City), and flowers in December to March in wild. The elevation range is 1200-1500m (Cribb 1988, Braem et al. 2013), while Liu et al (2009) indicated a wider range, 1200-2500m. I used to be growing it at a cooler temperature (winter minimum temp of 13C=55F), and it was doing ok. But now, I have been growing warmer (winter minimum temp of 16C=60F). It seems to grow better at the new temperature, but the acceleration may be due to its maturity.
Literature Cited;
- Braem, G. J., G. Chiron, and S. Öhlund, 2013. Paphiopedilum, 2nd edition Moorland eBooks.
- Cribb, P. 1988. The Genus Paphiopedilum, 2nd edition. Natural history Publications (Borneo), Sabah, Malaysia. p.388-392.
- Liu, Z. J., S. C. Chen, L. J. Chen, and S. P. Lei. 2009. The Genus Paphiopedilum in China. Science Press, Beijing. p.187-192.
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