I have heard that it's rather difficult to grow this Paph. What is your experience? Is it possible to grow it on a windowsill?
:D Milda :D

Absolutely! Just don't do South unless it's shaded. The thick leaves allow for less water. I fertilize and water all of my Brachys (niveum, bellatulum, ang-thong) a lot less than my others and also give them less light. They're very happy that way! Antec has a very good culture page on them. http://ladyslipper.com/brachy.htm

I agree 100% with Terp. Give it a try. It's a wonderful species.

I ran my bellatulum throw hell and back before I had my humidity revelation a couple years ago. At one point it had no roots, and was in the "bag of sphagnum" for 6 months.
Even then its bloomed almost every year of the 5 years I've had it.

Now its up to 6 growths, in bloom now, with another growth spiking. I keep it next to my philipinnense in the SE corner of the greenhouse. Bright light there until noon. It doesn't get much water compared to most of my other paphs, and the potting mix has a good portion of oyster shell in it. I also added a layer of limestone chips to the bottom of the pot.

While bellatulum is probably a tiny bit more difficult to grow than it relatives concolor and niveum, it is still definitely a great windowsill plant. In fact, all of the brachy paphs are great windowsill plants. Whatever difficulties they may pose...and even under the best of circumstances they tend to be shorter lived than other paphs...they are all very well suited for home growing, whether windowsill or under lights. And don't let the "difficult" label throw you off...it only means that they seem to be sometimes more prone to sudden death than other paphs...they are still easier to grow than lots of other orchids..and there is absolutely no difficulty at all in getting these paphs to set flower buds. take care, Eric Muehlbauer

I grow my Brachy's in quite bright light (same light as my multi-florals) and have them close to the fan. They are supposedly a bit more susceptible to rot with poor air movement and moisture on the leaves. The real trick is to keep them dryer in winter. I water them about every 3 weeks (in a humid glasshouse) during this period. I water them the same as my other Paphs during other periods. And I fertilise them a bit less than other Paphs. I use to have them inside my house on a windowsill and they grew and flowered well.

David

David,

My lighting for bellatulum sounds like about what you do- I have these under grow lights alongside everything else. I also give them the same general care that I give my other seedlings- which right now is mostly Corypetalum crosses. Only difference is that I do keep the bellatulum trays on the far right or left of the shelves- light is just a tad less intense there. I am also making a point now to pot these in a mix that is far more bark-dominant than my usual mix. They seem to like it better that way.

At the moment I have the produce of 2 bellatulum flasks growing this way- most in single pots by now and a few still in compots. They have grown tremendously quickly- in fact they have been one of my great success stories in the batch of assorted Paph flasks I got last fall.

But I was nervous when I got these. I love bellatulum dearly, so took the chance- and glad I did.

A couple of years ago, I bought 10 bellatulum seedlings on eBay that were NBS. Nice looking plants, but when they arrived the most recent sets of leaves were smaller than previously leaf pairs. In all other respects the plants were in good shape- but they had clearly been poorly growing with their most recent set of leaves.

Those plants never recovered, or grew at all for me- even after repotting and putting them in exactly the same conditions in which I am currently having flasklings grow very quickly. I kept them several months and they never budged once. Eventually, I had to reluctantly destroy them.

Time will tell, but at this point I am operating on the theory that bellatulum is not too hard to grow, but perhaps extremely difficult to turn in the right direction if the plants have been neglected.

Granted any orchid will be harder to manage if previously cared for improperly, but these plants I had were quite good in appearance- they were not on death's door. They had merely been set back, and nothing I did would propel them forward.

And that is unusual. I have not often seen orchids so reluctant to recover from minor poor care. And given it happened with an entire group of seedlings, I am inclined to believe it might be a species thing and not just some random situation where I got a troublesome plant.

I grow bellatulum along with all my brachys in my light garden, 4 40 wt bulbs on each shelf, on 15 hours/day. They get as much light as my other paphs, on the bottom of the trays, as opposed to the strap leafed paphs that are higher up on top of flower pots, unless they are large enough to be close to the lights anyway. They get the same amount of fertilizer, as frequently as my regular paphs (strap leaves get a double dose)...All are doing well now, and in fact I have both bellatulum and bellatulum alba initiating spikes. Ang thong just finished, and James Bacon is in full bloom....I have hopes that Ang Thong alba will spike soon...niveum is too young, but should bloom within the year. Take care, Eric

Eric, don't you have Phrag. warsce. in sheath too? Would love to see photos when all these bloom! Thanks!

Here, bellatulum (and other brachys) are growing with Phals (25°C), plants are not difficult to grow but need (really) hot temperatures. Now, I can let them soak (in rockwool), i'ts not a problem.

Yes, I just discovered that my Phrag warczewisianum is spiking...its a small plant, so I doubt that it will have more than one bloom...but I'll be glad to post pictures of it and my bellatulums...my digital camera takes pretty heavy pictures, over 1 mb, but I'll certainly post them when I can...but as we all know a spike just poking up now is no guarantee of flowers later! Take care, Eric

Yes, I just discovered that my Phrag warczewisianum is spiking...its a small plant, so I doubt that it will have more than one bloom...but I'll be glad to post pictures of it and my bellatulums...my digital camera takes pretty heavy pictures, over 1 mb, but I'll certainly post them when I can...but as we all know a spike just poking up now is no guarantee of flowers later! Take care, Eric

Saw on the OGD list - would love to see your haynaldianum (and heck anything else, for that matter!) also. Congratulations. I also have a small plant, but nothing yet.

Do post, I'm sure we'd all enjoy!!

Hmmm...how do I post an image on this forum? When I click Img I just get a reference for a url.......Take care, Eric[/img]

Hmmm, see if this helps. We're having a lot of questions about this. Sorry! Let me know if this doesn't make sense, I'm not sure it does!

http://www.rainbowcomputers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1786#1786

Hmmm...how do I post an image on this forum? When I click Img I just get a reference for a url.......Take care, Eric[/img]

When you click on the img tag, paste the url right after it and then click the img tag again to close and you should be all set. Remember, you have to upload your pics to a server first and then copy that url and paste. Most IPs like Verizon provide free webspace to their customers.

Ok, when you post a picture, this is what your img link should look like. I created a picture, so here is an example:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6o1l1/eg.jpg

Hope this helps!

Hmm....now I understand...I don't have a site for pictures...maybe one day I'll get around to it...it should be an easy enough thing to do....take care, Eric