Slipper orchids are a charming addition to your collection, their beauty, exotic looks and flowers are a huge temptation for everyone.
But, there is a problem that many orchid growers have, and share and talk about quite loudly – Paphiopedilum orchids can be very slow and tricky to grow. Especially the multifloral paphs which can go in the hardest category to grow. It’s because of the requirements, the temperatures, the light, the humidity. It can get confusing.
But luckily there is another family of slipper orchids, Phragmipedium, which has these beautiful flowers and exotic looks but it’s less tricky to grow, the plants grow much, much faster than their cousins. So much faster that the plants quickly reach specimen size, and the growers quite joyfully say they grow like weeds.
This Paphiopedilum orchid cousins come from the other side of the world. Found in Mexico, and South America they like the warmth and humidity of the continent and their environment is usually on river edges, or on marshes or very wet terrain.
These slippers like water, and they like water to the point that it’s quite common for the growers to advise to leave water standing at the bottom of the pot for at least the end tips of the roots to constantly be wet. Sound like a perfect candidate for semi-hydroponics to me!
Phragmipedium consist of around 25 species, although there is more being discovered from time to time. They have multifloral blooms in a various colours, starting from white, deep green to stunning red which is not to be found in their Asian cousins. This red, comes from Phragmipedium bassae which was discovered in 1985 and since then a whole range of outstanding fiery red hybrids have been created. They are in high demand and the price for these orchids usually is twice the price of a normal Paphiopedilum.
These orchids like to be grown in tall pots which will allow their roots to go deep, and they have roots similar to cymbidium orchids, they are very thick and there is a lot of them. The usual problem with these roots is that they are very stiff and can break easily.
Furthermore the foliage of these is of size similar to cymbidium, it take a lot of space, although nowadays there is a major movement in creating compact and small hybrids. However they can be very expensive and quite hard to find.
When it comes to blooms they will bloom sequentially and there can be up to 8 flowers on a flower spike. The flowers can have beautiful patterns and quite a lot of them have very long, hanging side petals just like angel hair.
Phragmipedium do best in charcoal and bark or coconut mix. They will have to be repotted probably every 18 month as they will quickly overgrow the pot.
As I mentioned above, they love water – but they don’t love fertilizer. Therefore try to feed them only once a month. Too much feeding will quickly show on brown spots and stains on the foliage.
If you want to buy them, just go on the online nurseries, like Orchid Garden in Poland, or Orchideen Wichmann. Check also eBay.
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Some pictures presented in this article may not belong to me and are a property of their respectable owners.
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