Pleione praecox

[stumac]

Hi Can some one give guidance on the culture of pleione praecox I grow others but understand this needs different treatment

[Maggi Young]

Hello stumac - there's quite a bit in the forum already about  growing  Pleione praecox but  you will surely get some more good advice from members.

 Meantime  here's some links to consider from a forum search ....

Tamar wrote about his initial difficulties :  http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9934.msg288803#msg288803    : (I have cultivated )Pleione praecox   for 6 years. At the beginning I kept it only indoor on the north, unheated window in the kitchen. In the winter temperatures carried out approx. 14-18*C.  These conditions were not good. Pleione began vegetation too quickly and in the end of the season its pseudobulbs were smaller than previously and have no inflorescence. In the next year I left my praecox in the garage. There was mostly temperature 5*C in winter's time, and occasionally rises to max 12*C, when the sun shining. These conditions just have been proven to be good for my plant.


 P.maculata/praecox epiphytic growing?     http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1794.0

 On  watering from  below etc : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10170.0

 On maculata  x praecox hybrids : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=5994.msg170712#msg170712   and 
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4960.msg134810#msg134810

 About  odd P. praecox growths : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=6680.0

 Discussion of growing on rockwool slabs : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=7968.msg216930#msg216930

 Paul Cumbleton's site has  cultivation pages : http://www.pleione.info/cultivation---1.html and  there are also his Wisley Diaries , like this : http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2009Nov221258908474Log_24_of_2009.pdf

Maren Talbot has said...  Pleione praecox and other winter flowering pleiones, minimum winter temperature 5°C. Her website has  this : http://www.heritageorchids.co.uk/21_cultivation_pleiones.htm

[Maren]

Wow, Maggi, you are a veritable treasure trove. How do you find the time?

[Maggi Young]

That is something I often wonder myself, Maren!

[Catwheazle]

last year i cultivated too dry and perhaps too cold.....and flower buds dont opened :-( This year i give little more water and nearly 15°C. After flowering i treat at 10°
Bernd

[Steve Garvie]

I've only grown praecox for the last 3 years so I am no expert!
I grow praecox with my other Pleiones. They are placed in a cold frame after the worst of the Spring frosts in April. The frame has open sides but remains covered to protect from hail and storm damage. The frame is in a shaded wind-protected area. In central Scotland the plants usually have a cool wet summer.

I bring praecox indoors after leaf-drop and before the first frosts of Winter for flowering. I keep the pots just damp as new root growth often commences as the flowers open. After flowering I keep them on a cool shower-room window ledge with the compost just moist. Leaf growth is always well-advanced by the time they are transferred back to the cold frame in the Spring. The longer growing season of this regime seems to encourage fairly big pseudobulbs and the flowers always seem to open well.

Here is a pseudo-bulb with three flowers:

[brianw]

You don't need many pseudobulbs to a pan when you get 5 or 6 flowers from each.
 
Taken recently at Ian Butterfield's. 5mm squares on single bulb photo.

[Maggi Young]

You don't need many pseudobulbs to a pan when you get 5 or 6 flowers from each.

Taken recently at Ian Butterfield's. 5mm squares on single bulb photo.

Crumbs! That's impressive.

[Nova]

Impressive indeed
Nice pan on Pleione praecox var. reichenbachiana!