Is anyone out there growing a true farreri? I am interested in its culture. Does anyone know of a source for true farreri seedlings . Thanks.
Gerhard

Hi Gerhard welcome to the slipper orchid forum! You can inquire with Ron at Gardens at Post Hill. Glad you joined us!

:hi::welcomesof:

Hello Gerhard! Welcome to the site! :welcome:
I am sure someone can help you with your question.

Definitely a very rare species in cultivation. Look to European sources, but beware, most are really C. fasciolatum, as you have probably already seen for yourself. If any plants exist in America or Canada, nobody's saying anything about it!

Thanks for the welcome.
Tom you are right, it is very rare. I live in Bavaria and only VERY few people have it. Someone told me there is somebody that very successfully propagates it from seed in the USA. I just can't believe it. But I am searching!
Gerhard

Thanks for the welcome.
Tom you are right, it is very rare. I live in Bavaria and only VERY few people have it. Someone told me there is somebody that very successfully propagates it from seed in the USA. I just can't believe it. But I am searching!
Gerhard

I think the "quiet act" is happening because of the uncertain legal status of the plants in cultivation since virtually all of them got out of China without documentation. Then again, very few Cyps have ever come out of China with proper documentation! There definitely are "quiet growers" in North America, but none of the ones I've talked to have living specimens of this species. The only person who has made public their apparent ability to propagate them was Gerhard Raschun (http://www.cypripedium.de/forum/messages/1241.html) in 2003.

Cypripedium hotei-atsumorianum is also one of those hard to find cyps. Especially in Europe. Tom, since you are living in Japan and hotei is from Japan, is it hard to get a seed capsule from over there?
For me it would be relatively easy to get capsules from our native calceolus.I understand that hotei is also relatively scarce, similar tu rebunense.

Cypripedium hotei-atsumorianum is also one of those hard to find cyps. Especially in Europe. Tom, since you are living in Japan and hotei is from Japan, is it hard to get a seed capsule from over there?
For me it would be relatively easy to get capsules from our native calceolus.I understand that hotei is also relatively scarce, similar tu rebunense.

It does seem very logical to assume that since I live in Japan it would be very easy to get a capsule or two of hoteiatsumorisou, but that is not the case. First of all, I live in southern Japan hundreds of kilometers from any potential habitat. The summers are too warm here to keep these plants happy for very long - it tried and mostly failed. Second, these plants are all but gone from the wild, so collecting seed is a near impossibility unless somebody took you directly to a known plant. Dr. Holger Perner told me how he was taken to a known site and all they found were holes in the ground - yes, the few remaining wild populations are poached on a regular basis such they have become near ghosts. Third, no grower of this plant or rebunatsumorisou would consider selling seed, well, maybe if I were a Honda or a Suzuki, but I'm only a lowly foreigner living on the hot end of Japan. No kidding, seeds are completely off limits - I think growers handle them like flakes of gold.

The best bet is to buy deflasked seedlings that go for around $50-$70 a piece or try to get a mature division (depending on the exact form they go for $200-$1000+ each). I'd try a few seedlings if I lived further north, but given my growing conditions and at those prices, no thanks! The only native species that hold any promise in the local climate are japonicum and debile...I've grown both with a modicum of success.

Sorry!

Tom

Hi gerhard...welcome!

I wasn't aware you live that far south. Of course, that is not conducive to cyps when temps get too high.
It is almost impossible to get seedlings of those two in Europe or USA. I read an article where a Japanese government agency was propagating those two to be reintroduced to nature. That would be the way to go.
But we all know how the Japanese handle those things, take hepaticas, satsuki azaleas etc. They keep the market totally under control to obtain horrendous prices.When I was still into hostas, some Japense plants were $10,000.
I do know Gerhard Raschun, he is the only one I know of that still tries to propagate farreri. But farreri seedlings are very difficult to grow to maturety.