Cypripedium Macranthos culture

[Mavers]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum but have been 'lurking' for some time, soaking up all the knowledge divested by the members here.

I expect this has been dealt with before, however I just do not seem to be able find the topic...................

Having grown the hybrid cyp. 'Emil' reasonably well for a few years I thought I'd chance my hand at cyp. Macranthos.

A flowering sized plant was delivered to me a couple of weeks ago with two beautiful flowering sized shoots. I've planted it in a 10" clay pan in 100% 'Ultrasorb'.

Has anyone used this material as a growing medium?

Should I use a plastic pot instead as it is so free draining?

If I'm headed for disaster any advice about augmenting the 'Ultrasorb' with other materials would be greatly appreciated.

Mavers

ps. It is in a pot as my new garden is not ready for planting up.

[Maggi Young]

A warm welcome to you, Mavers. There are quite a few Cyp growers around the forum and they will surely contribute.  In the meantime, have you tried a 'Cypripedium culture' search? I think there has certainly been coverage of this query elsewhere on this forum which may be of some help to you.

[Maggi Young]

Try this thread, for instance: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=133.msg4683;topicseen#msg4683

[Mavers]

Wow Maggie, what a quick reply. I'll look at your suugestion.

Mav

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Always great to see a lurker appearing from the dark into the bright lights of the forum  !

[derekb]

Hi I use Ultrasorb for Cyps but I think you should add 10% soil and 10% fine bark, and as Anthony told me Tesco Finest Cat Litter is the same as Ultrasorb only cheaper.Its about the only thing connected with Cats that is any good.

Derek

[Mavers]

Hello Derek, when you say fine bark do you mean the fine part of composted bark or fine bark chips?

M

[Anthony Darby]

Fine composted bark. You could even use orchid compost instead of the 10% bark. I use perlite a lot too (40 - 80%) because we have a lot of rain. The Ultrasorb is instead of Seramis®, up to 80% is suitable if your climate is dry. I would suggest giving a feed of quarter strength inorganic liquid feed every two weeks once the leaves appear and making sure it is flushed through before the next feed. Cypripedium macranthos is quite a slow growing species with me but more info can be found (in English) at www.cypripedium.de/forum. Things to avoid are sphagnum and peat.

[johanneshoeller]

Ups, I use a little peat, shopped dry sphagnum and humus (beech tree).
Here are my Cyp macranthos in spring and summer

[Carlo]

Fantastic Hans,

absolutely beautiful...

[derekb]

 Glad you gave an answer Anthoney its better from the master not the pupil.

Derek

[Mavers]

Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it & will amend the ultrasorb this weekend.

I hope my Macranthos looks as good as yours Hans..........absolutely beautiful & so vigorous.

Regards
Mike..............(yep, thats my real name!)

[David Nicholson]

Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it & will amend the ultrasorb this weekend.

I hope my Macranthos looks as good as yours Hans..........absolutely beautiful & so vigorous.

Regards
Mike..............(yep, thats my real name!)

Welcome to the Forum Mike it's good to have another South West based Forumist.

[Mavers]

Thanks for the welcome David.

Does anyone think I should use a plastic pot rather than the terracotta pot my cyp is in at the moment?

That cypripedium.de site is great Anthony.

Mike

[Joakim B]

Mike there is an other forum that also is great called slipper orchid forum
http://www.slipperorchidforum.com/forum/
This site is even more detailed and more suited for beginners if You need to ask. At least that is my opinion and it is much less prestige there. There is a lot of info there as well.

A very nice site is this http://www.lidaforsgarden.com/Orchids/ but the growing instructions is very different and based on that the plants get snow cover or at least over by a roof tile to get rid of the winter wet.

An almost too good site with great picture is Frosch's site and You must be warned it is so great pics of almost all cyps there is that You just want more.
So only fore people with strong character
http://www.w-frosch.onlinehome.de/

Kind regards
Joakim