Hi!
I don't have the biggest slipper collection, but some Paphs and 4 Phrags. My Paphs seems to flower regulary, and so do my Phrag Randy McDonald.
But I have one noid Phrag that is just growing and growing. No flowers at all.... :( It's now getting more light from an 20W saving energy bulb - don't know what that's called in English :wink: I have heard that Phrag's like to stand in small pots, is that true? I could have divided it (it has a lot of growths) - don't know what to do....
The other one is Phrag Memoria Dick Clements. Finally I can see a bud, but it looks tiny. This plant has also a lot of growths, but some of the new leaves don't look good. Can you see the white edge of the leaf in front?

http://usera.imagecave.com/Milda/Phragmipedium/phrag002.JPG

Maybe it's easier to see the white edge on this photo

http://usera.imagecave.com/Milda/phrag_blad.JPG

Here is a photo of the whole plant.

http://usera.imagecave.com/Milda/Phragmipedium/phrag001.JPG


And my Phrag windowsill. The window is facing south, but as you can see, there is a roof outside so the sun don't reach the plants, only in the fall, winter and spring. The noid Phrag is to the left together with a small Phrag bessae - Mem Dick Clements to the right.

http://usera.imagecave.com/Milda/windowsill005.JPG

Milda

Milda, if your Phrags are just growing and making new growths, then it must mean 2 things that come to my mind. First, they are not ready yet to bloom or if they are matured plants, then they are not receiving suffcient light to bloom. I don't know what your conditions are but try upping the light some more. Phrags can handle more light than you think.

Hope this helps!

Crank up the light...they can take much more light than most folks think.

Also check the air humidity around the plants. In the winter and spring with heaters running the air can get very dry around the plants. Even with humidity trays. I like to keep the humidity at least 60 or 70% with good airflow from a small fan.

Thanks for replying! The plants might have got too little light this winter. I moved them just about a couple of months ago. They don't have too much air movement around and the temperature is below 20 degrees Celsius (no electrical heating the last month)
Both of them have had flowers. Last fall I gave them too much fertilizer (somebody told me that Phrags need a lot of fert. but afterwards I have understood that this advice was wrong) , and some leaves got brown tips. But what about the white edges, do the leaves change colour like this if they get too little light, or could it be the damage from too much fertilizer?
Milda

The white edges looks like variegation to me, actually quite pretty to my eyes.

Hmm, never thought of colour variegation :roll: Quite interesting! :) I do like your alternative better than mine :wink:
Do any of you grow this hybrid - Phrag Memoria Dick Clements? What experiences do you have?

Milda

Hmm, never thought of colour variegation :roll: Quite interesting! :) I do like your alternative better than mine :wink:
Do any of you grow this hybrid - Phrag Memoria Dick Clements? What experiences do you have?

Milda

For what it is worth on the non-blooming phrag... Repot if you haven't already, but otherwise some just take their own sweet time. If it hasn't bloomed by this fall, you might want to consider taking it outside for a few weeks when the temperatures are dipping into the low to mid 50's at night. That will scare it into blooming, perhaps. Always my trick of last resort. Fear. *grin*

Mem. Dick Clements is pretty easy to grow. It was very popular a few years ago, it has been surpassed by newer hybrids. I still have a lot, made with the yellow form of besseae, which didn't turn out yellow like I'd hoped.

Here is an (old!) picture of Andean Fire, which is pretty much the same thing as MDC. Exactly the same depending on which taxonomist you believe...
http://www.msu.edu/~halgren/Pictures/phrag2.jpg

Milda,
Regarding the variegation of leaves, have you by any chance had to treat for slugs? Here is a quote from Lance Birk's updated Paph. Manual, which I tend to take, as with everything I read, with a grain of salt. :wink:


Other noticeable damage occurs when two or three leaves of a new growth show streaks of white or creamy coloring. A truly variegated Paphiopedilum is rare, and is not the same thing. When longitudinal stripes of varying widths suddenly appear between the newest leaves, it is an indication that there was some mechanical damage. Metaldehyde granules have been known to cause this effect when broadcast about over the tops of the plants. When the granules become lodged in the leaf axils of new growths, and they remain there for weeks or months, the chlorotic spots and striping continues until the pellets are removed physically.

No serious damage seems to be caused by such discoloration, but since there is a loss of chlorophyll, the plant's health has not been improved. Metaldehyde snail poison is best placed carefully about the bases of pots and along the benches, rather than by being indescriminately broadcast.

There is no other cause given, so I would imagine (and hopefully others can speak to other causes of variegation?) it is just a variegated growth. Which is cool!

looking at this after the thread which led me here, sometimes viruses cause streaks

Isn't there a requirement for sufficient quantities of both red and blue spectrum light where one stimulates vegatative growth and the other blooming? I've raised variegated plants successfully and the degree of variegation depends on light which limits the need for an abundance of chlorophyll.

This is just a thought but I figured worth mentioning.