Cypripedium 2009

[Anthony Darby]

Oleg, are you sure your first one is macranthos? There seems to be some calceolus sap in there somewhere?

[ranunculus]

Assistance appreciated please.

I have been growing seven Cypripedium calceolus seedlings in one large pot for at least six or seven years - they survive each successive winter and get 'slightly' more robust each year but remain painfully small. All the literature suggests that feeding can be dangerous - they get ample moisture, part shade and a suitable compost that is very similar to the large stands we have encountered in the Dolomites (I hasten to add that my plants are NOT from the wild).  I am not able to put them out into the garden but would like to see them flower before I gain the nickname Methusela.

[arisaema]

A few grains of slow release fertilizer (Osmocote) at the edges of the pot won't hurt them one bit, but wouldn't it be better to plant at least some of them out into the garden?

[ranunculus]

Thanks for the advice.  There are many huge pans of various cyp's exhibited at AGS and SRGC shows, so I know that pot cultivation is not really the problem.  My particular pot is certainly as large and capacious as those being exhibited so it has to be the feeding regime or the compost? 

[Maggi Young]

Might they be "over-potted", Cliff ? Perhaps a little constriction would encourage competition?

[Anthony Darby]

I can only reiterate my advice, which comes from www.cyrpipedium.de/forum, and use quarter strength Miracle-Gro every fortnight on species such as calceolus. You can see the size of my pot-grown plants. During the growing season the pots are placed on a bed of sand in a sheltered spot and kept well watered (we call that rain in Scotland).

[Luc Gilgemyn]

(we call that rain in Scotland).

 

[olegKon]

Oleg, are you sure your first one is macranthos? There seems to be some calceolus sap in there somewhere?

Thank you for the idea, Anthony. I suspected something like this. But you are never sure what you buy until it flowers. Anyway I like it and even happy as I was presented another "macranthos" from Altay which is supposed to be the real species but will take a year or two to establish. So now I'm happy to have two different things.

[Diane Clement]

My cyps have done well this year.  

Cypripedium kentuckiense look good at the moment

[Anthony Darby]

Wow. I'll second that. Mine are having a year off. Mind you, there are three noses instead of one.

[Anthony Darby]

Here are Cc. 'Philipp', 'Ulla Silkens', parviflorum pubescens and macranthos (the last being grown from a seedling).

[Stephen Vella]

Nice Cyps Anthony and Diane,

Diane how do you grow your kentuckiense, is it in a pot or in the garden?

I know of some growers who use equal parts of sand and bark as a potting mix and supposingly kentuckiense really respond to this.

Cheers

[Diane Clement]

Diane how do you grow your kentuckiense, is it in a pot or in the garden?
I know of some growers who use equal parts of sand and bark as a potting mix and supposingly kentuckiense really respond to this. 

The kentuckiense is growing in a pot kept plunged in a frame in the winter.  The potting mix is leaf mould/perlite/fine bark/sand sort of mix.   

[Stephen Vella]

The kentuckiense is growing in a pot kept plunged in a frame in the winter.  The potting mix is leaf mould/perlite/fine bark/sand sort of mix.   

Thanks Diane, also with the amount of leaf mould in the mix do you bother fertilizing it as well or is the compost enough?

Cheers

[johanneshoeller]

An other Cyp reginae x fargesii (Bernie). I think the last one in this year, maybe wardii will soon flower.