I have a question about blooming this one. I have had this for over a year now and it has 3 mature growths, and the sheath on the oldest growth stayed down in the plant for months then dried up. The second growth is staying down in the plant too. but it is still green, it hasn't did anything for 5 months now . The newest growth has now matured but not in sheath yet . It is sitting in the east window on a humidity tray, watered once a week. like my other ones. It also gets a temp. drop at night. Any help would be nice. I will try to get a picture of what I was trying to explain above.

Thanks Eric

Hello, I have mine in a north west window and it has been doing well. Is yours in a pot that it too large? I notice that if I over pot my mottle leaved slippers they tend not to thrive and/or behave as they normally would. Also are you feeding it? I use the method of high N during vegetative growth and high P when in flower development. Happy growing!

Hello Deltrockwell, I feed it every time I water it, with Green Jungle. That is a 1-1-1 for R.O. water. It is in a 3.5 inch pot.

Here is a picture of what i was talking about.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/wolfcreekmn/sukhakulii.jpg



Eric

sukhakulii is a very easy paph to grow, and easily initiates buds. It is also a little more prone to early bud blast than a lot of other paphs...not too bad, but still more so than , say, a Maudiae. There are many factors that can cause a paph to blast in the early bud stage. Temperature is a big one...suk's prefer a temperature drop to set buds. A slight increase may cause an early bud to blast. I lose many of the buds that my paphs initiate in the summer and early fall due to higher temps. Water is another...a slight variation in water uptake can blast a bud, while being otherwise negligible to the plant. Also water on the bud, especially at night. And last but, unfortunately not least, it could be individual plant variation. Some clones simply blast their buds very consistently, while others of the same cross or species, grown under the same conditions, keep them. Take care, Eric

Thanks for the info. Eric I hope it not the last thing you said. :?

Thanks again
Eric

As Eric M. was saying, Paphs seem to be sensitive to a change in water when buds are forming. I pay extra attention to Paphs in bud and water them 'on demand' rather than sticking to my regular schedule. This helps because every now and then, for whatever reason, certain pots will dry out faster than others.

Hi every one, I thought I would let you know the latest growth has a sheath now and it looks like it is swelling up so I might get to see flower on this guy . :Party: I'm keeping it a little more moist then I have been. I was wondering does the spike on this one grow fast? Or is a slow grower?

Thanks for the inf.
Eric

I don't have this species yet and may get one some day. Do post pics of the flower! How big is the plant?

Wolf
I used to have allot of problems with suk until I found out that all of the simple tricks for keeping humidity up were not working. You are using a tray, but do you actually know what the humidity is?

I'm using automated misters and foggers now, and generally keep the humidity around 70%. Now my suks are acting like the "easy plants" that everyone says they are.

Also they do come from an area of somewhat acidic soils, so you might add some sphagnum to your potting mix, and watch the pH and TDS of your water. But I think these are secondary issues to high humidity.

Hi Rick, right now the humidity is around 60%. I water with R.O. and add some well water back to it. Every time I water I use Green Jungle fertilizer(1-0-1), and regular fertilizer every 3rd week, during the growing peirod.

Thanks

Peter I will post a picture when it opens.

Eric

I have always taken sukhakulii for granted...but I do keep humidity above 70% also. I also keep it pretty moist with minimal dry out time. It also grows in my shadier spot and stays a little warmer than say my Parvis.
I would definitely say the problem is humidity...if you can find an ultrasonic humidifier, they pay for themselves in noticable growth satisfaction.
Jon

I've deduced a broad generaliztion for the Barbata from taxanomic, physiological and ecological imformation.

The species in the Barbata group in general are "deep forest" species. They don't like allot of light, they like high humidity, and acidic substrates with low minerals.

Study of the outer skin "thickness" of paph leaves corresponds to the above, with the Barbata having the thinnest skinned leaves of the paphs. At the time of the work P.purpuratum had the record of the thinnest leaves for all paphs studied. Having a thin skin makes them easier to burn and dry out.

I'm sure there are individual exceptions and tolerances, but I think this is a good starting point for the group as a whole.

When I had this the first time it never bloomed and it dried up fast, that's is when I started growing in my fishroom where humidity was always high, 80 - 90. Now my humidity is starting to drop a little, 60 to 70, since I have shut down a lot of tanks. I only have about 10 tanks going in my fish/orchid room which use to have around 60 tanks in that room. So it looks like I will need to start sleeping less and get more fish. :?