Drawn Towards Paphiopedilums, Need a Realty Check :(

[catttan]

*Just guessing. I don't know if they are harder to raise, but there must be some reason that a species that was first recognized over 100 years ago is still more expensive and hard to find?

I think one reason for the scarcity of these desirable orchids is the fact that it is nigh impossible to mericlone them. We'll have to wait for divisions or seedlings or jungle-collected plants. What with CITES and over collecting the latter are extremely difficult to obtain. I had to wait for more than 30 years (and I live in the country which is home to a majority of them) before I got my first multiflora. Lately they have suddenly and mysteriously appeared in sizeable numbers in some of our nurseries . Just a fortnight ago I had the good luck to acquire 2 hard-to-come by paphs namely praestans and supardii at ridiculously low price.

[Dorsetman]

But it must be added, that the chances of being able to buy P.sanderianum in bloom are very, very, small. I can't remember EVER seeing species paphs in flower offered for sale. They just don't exist in that sort of quantity. Paphs are different to other orchids - go and amire a Paph just awarded, and want one - no you can't have one (almost) ever ! Unlike Catts, Vandas, Oncids, you name them.
Why not ? Well the awarded Catt etc can be meristemmed ; how many seedlings would you like to order for delivery in say 18 months time ? 100 ? 1000 ? 10,000 ? No problem, we'll just set up a production line.
But you can't do that with Paphs ; the best you can be offered is a division from the parent when it is big enough to divide - if the owner is willing to sell, and why should he, anyway (?) and if he is, then how much will that cost you, do you think ? ( I refused an offer of £500 for a division of a Paph where I had just got an AM/RHS and missed the FCC by one vote only) and a Paph breeder listening to my conversation told me afterwards - you were right to refuse, that guy was just trying it on - , double it, and maybe you would start to think about it...)
So what you do come back to is seedlings. Self that blooming plant, and maybe you will get a pod with maybe 500 seeds, and after sowing, growing, replating twice, and growing on in compots - 3, 4 or 5 years later - hey you can have a potted up seedling for only, lets say $50 and considering all the skill and work that went into it, that's fair enough...and remember that whilst the pod was developing, the plant was not growing - a one year or more set-back in its life..
if all this seems OTT, grow something different !

[Halloamey]

My 5 year estimate was for Paph. philippinense. Sanderianum is much slow growing and as Geoff predicts it might be even 10 years before you can bloom it. Geoff I have been lucky in a way, I got a Sanderianum division 2 years back from a blooming plant for 75 Euros, It has a silver medal from The DOG. It has not bloomed yet hopefully in the coming year. It just produced one new growth since then and it has still not matured.

[Gurj]

Thank all for your input, I decided to get myself not one but two Paphs, one of them is ofcourse Paph. Sanderianum and the other is blooming size Paph. Walsii, both combined just over £50.00. I can't wait for them to arrive may be today tomorrow. Thanks all for your input!

[Halloamey]

For those of you interested Mericloning Paphs. is now POSSIBLE, thanks to research in Taiwan. Here is the detailed scientific paper describing the process. Yew I think what you meant with the sudden surge in the number of good Paphs. at cheap price can be explained by this article.
Paphiopedilum cloning in vitro 10.1016/S0304-4238(01)00240-0 : Scientia Horticulturae | ScienceDirect.com

[Gurj]

It is for sure not easy to grow them in the first place and my research says they can be tempremantal, but I had to give it a shot for the ones I really fell for. I can wait, wait until they decide to bloom. I have been growing other plants back home that require a certain amout of time to mature and in that way I am very patient. All I need to make sure now is to keep them like they want it

[catttan]

Very interesting article Amey. Thanks for bringing it to our notice.

[Gurj]

As much as I was looking forward to receiving the Sanderianum, I was disappointed. The seller sent me the smallest size with 4 short leaves in regards to the picture that was advertised with 7 healthy llong leaves, refunded me on the grounds of "it wasn't upto scratch". I am happy with the Phrag. Wallisii, lets hope for the best.