Here are 2 photos of Tom in Peru a few months ago. Tom, great pics! Did you see any kovachiis also?
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d38/paphraguy/bess.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d38/paphraguy/tom.jpg

great pics! i love seeing orchids in the wild :D

Neato!

Hi Pete,

We didn't get into the area in Southern Ecuador, near a town called Zoomba, where the kovachii's might be. This is very difficult area to access, and I am kind of an old guy. It was bad enough falling six feet downslope in czerwiakowianum habitat and cracking a couple of ribs. Actually, there are some quite modern medical facilities in Ecuador - they just don't happen to be located near Phrag. habitat.

Thanks,

Tom[/u]

Ouch! Sounds like a rough fall.
Great photos! (I LOVE besseae, so it's always a treat to see them in situ!)

Sounds like a treacherous place to be in. Glad you're ok! So, when are we going to see legal kovachii here in the US? :poke: I just can't wait any longer.

Actually, the habitat conditions aren't too treacherous - you just have to realize your own limitations and not fall under the spell of your surroundings while exploring. It's imperative you have a good pair of boots, with heavily lugged Vibram soles before deciding to do this kind of trip.

As far as P. kovachii, I think a couple of commercial growers did fly down to Peru to bring back legal flasks some time ago. Fully permitted, from what I heard, but not eligible for resale for two years. There were also supposed to be legal flasks at the WOC in Dijon earlier this year with same limitation on resale. The impression I got was that in both cases the seedlings were not in good shape in flask and almost impossible to grow when deflasked. I, too, can't wait to get some legal material to propagate, but I fear it won't be any time soon.

Without extensive propagation of such endangered material, the habitats will soon be collected out. These plants represent an enormous amount of money to indigenous populations who live at the edge of poverty. We can do our part by finding out how to grow all of our slipper orchid species to their full potential. From what I've seen so far, this Forum will be helpful in this regard.

Best Regards,

Tom

Love to see the plants in the wild!
Thanks for sharing.

Mang

I agree, hopefully propogation will stop all that unecessary poaching! If a large speices like kovachii remained undiscovered for so long, I wonder how many more are hidden deep within the jungles undiscovered and I even wonder how many have become extinct from human destruction! How sad is that? :disappointed:

I posted this recently in another thread:

What news did Glen have on kovachii? His plants are the best.

I missed this, sorry.
Glen had some great photos from Peru. They are still waiting on INRENA regarding the export of their seedlings, everything is "GO" on the US side. He is working with Alfredo Manrique in Peru and said that the seedlings are growing well so far. I think he said the adult plants are flowering twice a year, so they are crossing it with all sorts of things. He is optimistic that they will have them for sale legally in the states within a year for $50. Again, as Matt told us a couple weeks ago, he hopes to flood the market with legal seedlings to discourage illegal growing.

He also said he didn't think it would be contingent on any agreement such as the one that Jerry and Chuck had to sign.

Mr. Kalina,

Thank you for these photos. I always like photos of Phragmipediums in their natural habitat. I think you're a lucky man. Although may be not so lucky because of your fall. I hope you're fine.

All the best,

Rob Zuiderwijk

What an unusual treat to see these photos. Thank you! :D One question: What is the treefern in the photo (I'm guessing a Dicksonia or Cyathea sp.).

Thank you for sharing these photos... for me who will only read about how these grow in the wild and there fore how it should be grown, it is a confirmation of the way this plant grows in the wild... and look at how wet those rocks are!

oh and looks like a pretty good form of the species, no?

cheers
tim

Very cool to see plants still in their somewhat natural habitat! Thanks Tom, and Nice to finally see you!

Very nice seeing the habitat these lovely orchids occur in, thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

Thanks to all for the comments and the warm welcome to the Forum. As far as the species of treefern in the photo, Tom, I would expect it is probably Dicksonia sellowiana, given that species wide distribution in Central and South America.

Best,

Tom

What a treat!!! :Thnx:

Beautiful - It's always a treat to see how they grow in the wild. That plant's in very minimal material on the side of a rock slope and we grow in pots - wow.

Cheers
Stephan

I was disapointed, tom, that you never made it to the Andean Orchid Conference at ecuagenera. You missed a good conference. Alot of people said your the man when it comes to phrag coultures. I heard a few stories about you and figuring out how to grow the yellow besseaes.

I will post pictures of the besseaes I saw earlier this month. They were on the road from Sigsig to El Pangui. Lots of plants in bloom. I just need to find a computer fast enough to do upload them to photobucket.

We also found Phrag wallisii near the town of Zamora. We were looking for P boisarianum at the time. The disapointment of not finding it faded very quickly when found a plant of wallisii with 5 flowers. I will post photos later.

I also got some pictures of the new phrag species that I mentioned a few weeks back. It nice, nothing special. I got pictures, but had a hard time getting good pictures. I will post later. Phil Cribb will be formally describing it when he returns from seeing kovachii.

Were you looking for Kovachii in Ecuador? Do you have any confimation that they are in ecuador?

Kyle

Hi Kyle,

I'm sorry not to have been able to attend the conference. I intended to go right up until two weeks prior, but ended up having to cancel due to a family problem. We did sponsor two Ecuadorian students who would not have been able to afford the registration, however, and it was a real disapointment not being able to at least meet them. Maybe next year....

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to get into the area where it was rumored the Ecuadorian kovachii's might be - around Zoomba, if memory serves. I'll probably be going back next year in May to find the original locus of the Phrag. d'alessandroi population near Chuwinda,and hope to do some "off-road" exploration, if possible.

I agree with your asessment of the new Phrag. species. Quite honestly, to me the photo I saw of the flower looked more like Paph. Deperle (delenatii x primulinum) than anything else! The plants were mixed in with a bunch of Phrag. fischeri's, and the leaves and plant growth habit were so similar, I could not tell the plants apart.

Best Regards,

Tom

Tom and Kyle,
It's so fascinating listening to the two of you, keep it up, I am really enjoying these reports about natural habitat, growing conditions, preferred pH, and your travels in general.

Kyle, you are in your element! Cannot wait to see your photos! Glad you are at least able to get online and share with us, it is valuable and I eagerly await more! Thank you! :D

Kyle, I can't wait to see your in situ wallisii pics!

great to see these in the wild :clap2:

Me too.

And I'm curious about this new Phrag you people are talking about.

RZu