Paphiopedilum gratrixianum in situ

[cxcanh]

It is great to see all of this in their habitat.
Thousands flower of this species in the mountain opposite but I can't make photo and just see by mi binocular.
It is my pleasure to share my adventure with all of you.

[ksriramkumar]

Wow. Such a nice colony. Thanks for sharing Cahn

[78Terp]

Spectacular!

[Chris in Hamilton]

So Nice!! Some questions. What type of stone is the rock face? Is it always damp? Do you know which direction the wall is facing? I ask because the only Paph I've had died. It was not expensive but I hate it when something dies because of something I did or didn't do. I'm in the process of building a room in the basement and am considering getting a few cheaper ones this weekend to try to do it right before investing in awarded plants. Thank you Canh.

[cxcanh]

So Nice!! Some questions. What type of stone is the rock face? Is it always damp? Do you know which direction the wall is facing? I ask because the only Paph I've had died. It was not expensive but I hate it when something dies because of something I did or didn't do. I'm in the process of building a room in the basement and am considering getting a few cheaper ones this weekend to try to do it right before investing in awarded plants. Thank you Canh.

I don't have any idea regarding what type of rook, it quite dry not damp. The direction is South-Eat

[sciencegal]

So Nice!! Some questions. What type of stone is the rock face? Is it always damp? Do you know which direction the wall is facing? I ask because the only Paph I've had died. It was not expensive but I hate it when something dies because of something I did or didn't do. I'm in the process of building a room in the basement and am considering getting a few cheaper ones this weekend to try to do it right before investing in awarded plants. Thank you Canh.

I can tell you what I did with my paphs that is working out quite well. Last year I went crazy and purchased 30 paphs that were advertised as species, multifloral, etc but were instead all Maudiae types. Some had no labels, some just labeled as hybrid, many were duplicates. They came with slugs and mealy bugs and a few other strange looking leaf bugs. Trying to water them in the large bark they were in was a nightmare. They were in short spike and most started to bloom.

Since I figured I wasn't going to lose anything and I am always open to experimentation, I got some 10 inch bulb pans and grouped them together about 5 or 8 per pan making 4 pans worth. I made up a terrestrial mix that consisted of coarse perlite, small bark, medium charcoal, then I used some seed starting mix I like which consists of peat, coconut coir, shredded vermiculite and some other things - it does not have added fertilizer. It is light and airy. About half of the mix is this peat mix although as expected some has washed out when I water. Once they were all potted I sprinkled the surface with a tiny rock that I collect from the ant hills to fill in the spaces. I thought at one time that it was decomposed granite until I used it with succulents and found out the hard way that it is volcanic and very water retentive. The little rocks are about 2 to 3 mm in size.

The paphs were in bloom when I did this so I could group similar colors and types together and they did not lose their blooms for some time. It has been about 6 months now, they spent the summer outside in a 70% shade house. They are now back in the house. I find I only have to water them about once every ten days. They have lots of new growths, one even blossomed out there and still has the bloom.

A few months ago I started using a soil inoculant called ReCharge with rhizomatous fungi and other beneficial bacteria since terrestrial orchids apparently require certain fungi to help supply them with nutrients. I think that has made a big difference for both them and my other tropical house plants.

I had one that had many growths so I decided at that time to pot it separately in the same mix. A month ago I was thinking of seeing how it would do growing it bare root. I took it out of the mix but it had so many healthy huge roots I decided to not change anything and repotted back in new mix.

I think since they are semi-terrestrial they do best in a terrestrial mix. I wonder if in that cliff face they are growing in pockets of debris. It kind of looks like it.

[JDT]

Stunning Canh!!

[Chris in Hamilton]

I can tell you what I did with my paphs that is working out quite well. Last year I went crazy and purchased 30 paphs that were advertised as species, multifloral, etc but were instead all Maudiae types. Some had no labels, some just labeled as hybrid, many were duplicates. They came with slugs and mealy bugs and a few other strange looking leaf bugs. Trying to water them in the large bark they were in was a nightmare. They were in short spike and most started to bloom.

Since I figured I wasn't going to lose anything and I am always open to experimentation, I got some 10 inch bulb pans and grouped them together about 5 or 8 per pan making 4 pans worth. I made up a terrestrial mix that consisted of coarse perlite, small bark, medium charcoal, then I used some seed starting mix I like which consists of peat, coconut coir, shredded vermiculite and some other things - it does not have added fertilizer. It is light and airy. About half of the mix is this peat mix although as expected some has washed out when I water. Once they were all potted I sprinkled the surface with a tiny rock that I collect from the ant hills to fill in the spaces. I thought at one time that it was decomposed granite until I used it with succulents and found out the hard way that it is volcanic and very water retentive. The little rocks are about 2 to 3 mm in size.

The paphs were in bloom when I did this so I could group similar colors and types together and they did not lose their blooms for some time. It has been about 6 months now, they spent the summer outside in a 70% shade house. They are now back in the house. I find I only have to water them about once every ten days. They have lots of new growths, one even blossomed out there and still has the bloom.

A few months ago I started using a soil inoculant called ReCharge with rhizomatous fungi and other beneficial bacteria since terrestrial orchids apparently require certain fungi to help supply them with nutrients. I think that has made a big difference for both them and my other tropical house plants.

I had one that had many growths so I decided at that time to pot it separately in the same mix. A month ago I was thinking of seeing how it would do growing it bare root. I took it out of the mix but it had so many healthy huge roots I decided to not change anything and repotted back in new mix.

I think since they are semi-terrestrial they do best in a terrestrial mix. I wonder if in that cliff face they are growing in pockets of debris. It kind of looks like it.

I have some type of sandstone or limestone in my yard. Not sure what it is but some of the larger pieces have flint nodules in them. It is so light it floats for a few seconds and bubbles while it absorbs water. I've been using it as an experiment on a few Catt and Den. They seem to like it. I'm thinking I could add a bit of compost to the pot and see what happens with Paph's and Phrag's.

[sciencegal]

I thought, too of adding a pinch of compost. All you have to do is inoculate the mix as long as there is organic material in it. The microbes will reproduce, break down the organic matter and feed it to the plant. One reason I tried the inoculant was because I was having so much trouble with root rot on my Streptocarpus. Evidently the good bacteria will compete with the bad. The survivors are now thriving.

[Liam_Doug]

Thank you for the beautiful photos of such a gorgeous colony of one of my favorite species.