cypripedium

[Susan Band]

Hi John,
I got 4 batches of 50 plants each of calceolus, parviflorum,kentukiense and fasciolatum. They are all small seedlings but look healthy. Unfortunatly they didn't have any bigger plants of the ones I asked for, so I don't have any larger ones to try. Straight in at the deep end for me! I have tried them in various different mixes so will wait and see what happens.
Susan

[Anthony Darby]

That's a good selection Susan. Occasionally Frosch( http://www.w-frosch.onlinehome.de/Angebot/saem7e.htm) has a sale of hybrid seedlings (round about now) and Peter Corkhill likewise sells a good selection. There is also 'Orchids by Post' (http://www.orchidsbypost.co.uk/) as well as others mentioned before.

[Joakim B]

There is an other belgum company that has some hybrids not so many as flask but some and maany in differens size of seedlings.
http://www.crustacare.be/Plants/HomepagePlantsEnglish.html
You will need to ask for the list that is available.
I have only bought dactyloriza and epipactis of him but I was happy with what I got.

The besy source is without doubt Frosch but You need to be on the webpage instantly or You will have a limited choice or nt even that.
The price is 2 € so one have to be quick.
There is sail in fevruary (I think it has finished already) and in August.
I have bought a few times and are happy with it.
Lidafrors also sells hybrids but they are generally bigger 3 years and like to sell in bigger volumes so a garden club or so could join up to order. I have done that and a re happy with the plants. They are 12-17€ depending on Age.
http://www.lidaforsgarden.com/Orchids/ one needs to ask to get the list of what is available later.

The one that also have hybrids as flask is Pinkepank whos web page is
http://www.terrorchids.com/store_artikel.asp?WarengruppeID=2&WarengruppeBez=S%E4mlinge%2C+Seedlings
I have never ordered from him. He also have bigger plants.

Enjoy
Joakim

[ellenndan]

Hi there, i have just bought a cypripedium Micranthum and was wondering if anyone can help with what compost mix to use as i have read lots of different mixes off other web sites.
Many thanks Ellen and Dan

[Anthony Darby]

Jings. Nothing like trying one of the most difficult species Cypripedium micranthum belongs to section Trigonopedia, which have very short stems and long underground rhizomes and comes from eastern Sichuan. It has the smallest cypripedium flowers. I haven't tried it, but have heard that it responds well to a tidal system, whereby the water level in the pots rises to just below the crown for 5 minutes twice a day. It seems that it likes a very free draining inorganic medium that never dries out. I am trying some other species from this group (margaritaceum, lichiangense and lentiginosum) and am growing them in my usual mix but with a wick made of capillary matting coiled through the medium just below the roots. This then goes through the hole in the base of the pot into a water reservoir. The pots are raised a few centimetres above the water. This prevents the roots from drying out without causing the crown to become too wet. Good luck.

[ellenndan]

Thanks Antony for the advice. I have potted it in 5 parts perlite, 5 parts course dry sand and 1 part JI no3 compost watered from the bottom. Does that sound any good. I am hoping to get some of the species you mentioned as seedlings in the next month or 2. Hope your Cyps are doing well.
Thanks Ellen and Dan

[Anthony Darby]

Not sure about using JI3? I missed out the loam part with mine and am keeping them frost free, unlike my larger spp. and hybrids. I have just received 11 (I ordered 10) seedlings of Cypripedium macranthos from Werner Frosch and have planted them in almost pure perlite. They will need protection in their first year in "soil". I find that sand holds too much moisture, but then Dunblane is  "temperate rain"! [We would be "temperate rain forest" if we hadn't chopped down the forest!]

[ellenndan]

Thanks again Anthony. We have just ordered some Seramis. We have never used it before, but heard lots of good reports. We are new to Cyps and this is our first flowering sized one.

[Anthony Darby]

John Amand had several vars at the Early Bulb Show yesterday, but I resisted temptation. Peter Corkhill in Carnforth is your nearest grower. I got a large (3 nosed) calceolus from him in the autumn at a very reasonable price.

[ellenndan]

Many thanks Anthony, i have been in touch with Peter corkhill. We are not far from Laneside Alpines which has some good stock of Cyps and some seedlings this spring.
Thanks for the help Ellen and Dan

[Maggi Young]

Big John A. also had the plant you were looking for, for a gift, a while ago, Dan.... Tacca chantrieri. He gave one to the raffle for a prize and re labelled it Tacca c. Maggii........something to do with him thinking me a bat  

[Anthony Darby]

www.cypripedium.de/forum is a very good site if you are looking for advice or wish to ask the experts.

[ellenndan]

Thanks maggi, i got my girlfriend a dressing gown instead! Think it did the trick.

[David Nicholson]

Oh! did it!!!!!!!

[canyoncreekman]

This is a general comment on growing some hardy orchids.  Our species of native cyps, calypsos, the bracteds and so on are relatively easy to grow 'in our environment'.  Millions of cyps grow along our mountain rivers and billions of calypsos in the front ranges of the Rockies. They just aren't all that fussy. In Yoho Park along the Kicking Horse River, there are Cypripediums popping up through abandoned asphalt roads.

  I've never paid much attention to the soil or fertilizing. the clumps of cyps double on average every year and the calypso bulbosa orchids are so indestructable that even the pea size bulbs thrown on the compost pile will root and flower (like an onion that can 'pop' to life after sitting around on the garden surface all winter).

 Having said this, we can't grow a cedar tree or a boxwood hedge or holly.  Temperatures, but especially humidity is not correct.  Trying to keep a hybrid rose alive for more than a year takes gardening gymnastics.

 The point of all this is that generalizations about growing cyps can result in a lot effort in the wrong direction. The species need different requirements and particular attention given to the actual wild source of the seedlings. Our cyp seedlings like it cold and our dry humidity and never come within a mile of a particle of peat.  They like spring melt water and don't mind wet roots up until about the beginning of July...then dry or excellent drainage. Mountain snow melt and spring precipitation raises water levels and then it's more or less dry once the waters recede and the cycle begins again the following spring.

 In contrast, my brother lives in Kentucky in the USA and his cyps  thrive on the humidity and cool damp winters. We've exchanged plants in the past and had little success at either end. He still has a few C. passerinum from here but even the dead-easy generic yellow ladyslippers didn't make it at either end.

 If you are buying a hardy orchid it's good to ask two questions about the origin.  Where was it grown and,equally, important, where is the original stock from.