Experiment over Paphios

[zainal abidin]

I have three Paphs as houseplants. One I got late last summer, it bloomed in the fall. The other two I've had for 3 and 2 years and both are coming into bud, one about to bloom any day. I grow them under lights and don't do anything with the temperature (we keep the house pretty evenly warm for my mother in law - she'll be 92 in Feb! and lives with us). I can't wait to see them bloom.

Wow that great Carolla looking forward your post later. You are very great daughter in law willing to sacrifice for your spouse and taking care your mother in law. God bless you. Like us living in Equator here only 2 season hot and wet. The paphs can grow in a nice manner with beautiful foliage unfortunately refuse to bloom as the night temperature is not supportive for but formation ( temperature at night constant 24 C). That why I'm coming out this research hopefully the outcome is good for me.I'm using mainly for the mottle leaves at this moment. Maybe later for the plain leaves. When I met the colonies of Paph barbatum in Fraser Hill at the level between 700 to 800 meter from sea level the temperature toward midnight around 22 to 23 degree C. Definitely I cant achieve that range at home.

[Carolla]

That's pretty warm! We do drop down to the 60's (~15 C) even on most summer nights here, but inside the house doesn't get that cold. I live in a semi-desert area, in the summer hot and dry days, cool nights, winter, cold and dry days and really cold at night! Even though we try to keep the house pretty even, it does drop at night and my Paph's bloom without problems, though I think the one that is about to bloom would be sequential (it puts up another bud) but seems to blast the second bud. I'm not sure why. Good luck with your experiments!

I suspect that my water has too many minerals for them too, I usually water with distilled water and a touch of fertilizer now to try to avoid tip burn on the foliage.

My MIL is a sweetie and fortunately in pretty good health. She only requires minimal help and it would be just awful for her to be in a nursing home while we have plenty of room and can take good care of her!

[zainal abidin]

That's pretty warm! We do drop down to the 60's (~15 C) even on most summer nights here, but inside the house doesn't get that cold. I live in a semi-desert area, in the summer hot and dry days, cool nights, winter, cold and dry days and really cold at night! Even though we try to keep the house pretty even, it does drop at night and my Paph's bloom without problems, though I think the one that is about to bloom would be sequential (it puts up another bud) but seems to blast the second bud. I'm not sure why. Good luck with your experiments!

I suspect that my water has too many minerals for them too, I usually water with distilled water and a touch of fertilizer now to try to avoid tip burn on the foliage.

My MIL is a sweetie and fortunately in pretty good health. She only requires minimal help and it would be just awful for her to be in a nursing home while we have plenty of room and can take good care of her!

Thanks Carolla, maybe you are correct.....water quality in the desert. That we need to do it's our responsibility as a son.....well done.

[Dorsetman]

So the conclusion of this experiment is temperature drop at night is responsible for Paphio blooming. Surprisingly the temperature of air-conditioner is not very cold. But it puzzles me because now is rainy season at Selangor at least for the past 4 weeks (not sure about Melaka), so the temperature difference is not very large either. Very exciting experiment!

I picked up on the words rainy season ; rain is almost always at least 10 degrees colder thgan the air at ground level - can be much more ; I did an experiment once here in UK in late summer, and found 15 ˚ C difference. So rain can have the same effect as the air-conditioned room.

BTW when I had a couple of hundred large flowered Vandas ( alas all gone after my private holocaust ) I used to go through them once a month ; pick out those that had not flowered in the last 5 pairs of leaves ( or more) and - as long as the night temperature was expected to be above 10˚ C, I would put them outside for a week. This led to a flower spike appearing within a month or so, in most cases.

[Azizan]

I picked up on the words rainy season ; rain is almost always at least 10 degrees colder thgan the air at ground level - can be much more ; I did an experiment once here in UK in late summer, and found 15 ˚ C difference. So rain can have the same effect as the air-conditioned room.

BTW when I had a couple of hundred large flowered Vandas ( alas all gone after my private holocaust ) I used to go through them once a month ; pick out those that had not flowered in the last 5 pairs of leaves ( or more) and - as long as the night temperature was expected to be above 10˚ C, I would put them outside for a week. This led to a flower spike appearing within a month or so, in most cases.

Interesting!! Never know that Vanda could be induced to spike by low night temperature. I never realize that rain could cause that large temperature difference. But I don't think that the temperature would go down hardly below 21˚C at the low land here (at least that is what the Apps said, I'm not measuring using thermometer or any device though). Sorry about your massive loss.