Ron,
The time from flask to flowering for a Paph. rothschildianum will depend a lot on the parents of the flask. Some parents are very good at producing seedlings that will rapidly grow and bloom, while others seem to insure a very reluctant grower and bloomer. I find that seedlings with Paph. roth. 'Charles E' are very reluctant to bloom and take 15 years or more, while others can bloom in as short as 6 years. My habit has become to buy a variety of seedlings from several growers. I always ask the parentage, and stay with some of the newer awarded parents that are showing better and better growth and blooming characteristics.
Some breeders are in the F3 or F4 of breeding for better and better Paph. rothschildianum's.
Tom Hillson
At 10:32 AM +1100 1/24/05, Ron Boyd wrote:
Hi all. Am interested in seeing various growers of Paphiopedilum rothschildianum, comments on the average time from flask to flowering.From the little info I have been able to find, it seems some say 10 yearsother 15 to 20 years. At present I have only 1 plant. it was bought 4 years ago in a 50mm tube, leaf lenght was about 50 mm.. Age I guess about 2 years old. So as a 6 year old plant its leaf lenght at present is 220 mm. First few years it did not grow much but is now moving along nicely. I plan to buy a few more but would appreciate comment on experienced time from flask to flowering on average.
Say out of a group of 10 plants, how long before the first plant flowers to the last plant flowering. I repot my plants each year in a bark/diatomite mix suited to the size of the pot. Mostly use rain water on all my Paphs if avaible. I know the temperature can play a lot on its growth, my temp is about minium 10 deg. C at night in winter and on average about 18 to 20+ deg. C winter day temp. Summer is about 17 deg. C at night minium, and about on average 28 deg. C to 30 deg. C on summer days. We live close to the sea and humidity is at night about 90 % and above, day can get to about 50 % humidity summer and winter (Give or take a bit on odd days). Above the Paphs I have several Nepenthes hybrids and species growing. All grow like weeds. this give an indication of growing conditions. Thanks in advance and looking forward to your replys.
Ron Boyd In sunny NSW Australia
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