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Post by Apoplast on Jan 16, 2016 23:53:29 GMT -5
Hi all - I rarely post about my pings. I think it's because I don't grow them as well as so many others here. But, I'm going to get past that today (and do battle with Photobucket one more time today) to show off a couple plants that are blooming at the moment. Here is a shot of my P. gigantea flower. The plant is good size, and I like this species. But, this clone seems to have quite intensely purple colored flowers. The other clones I've seen have flowers that remind me more of P. agnata, which are fine, but I do like the purple in this clone. The second flower I wanted to show off is my P. lutea. I've always liked this species. I think in part because there are few non-utric CP with nice yellow flowers, and the yellow in this species is very intense. I had trouble getting an image of the flower that didn't blow out the camera sensor and leave everything in the background black. This is the best one I could get. I know they aren't the best photos, but hopefully they get the idea across. Thanks for looking!
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Post by seasmoke on Jan 17, 2016 14:12:53 GMT -5
Are you kidding me, these are great pics, nice colours, thanks.
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Post by Apoplast on Jan 17, 2016 21:17:17 GMT -5
Hi seasmoke - You are far too kind! The colors are all the plants doing. I can't take any credit for that. I'm just glad my photography didn't diminish too much from their vibrancy. Pings can have some great blooms.
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Post by shoggoths on Jan 18, 2016 9:43:27 GMT -5
Nice pictures Apo!
It seem we really don't have the same growing conditions. Gigantea did not bloom for me in the past 4 years. I would really like to try to cross-it. Do you have any clues ?
Really nice lutea flower ! I too really like this yellow ping. It took me 2 years to get seeds of this specie ... and only 1 strike. I keep this one in a 50/50 peat/sand mix. Do you do the same ? Also, can you tell us how big is the crown ?
Tks
Shogg
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Post by shelbykid on Jan 18, 2016 11:22:20 GMT -5
Absolutely gorgeous!
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Post by Apoplast on Jan 18, 2016 18:05:05 GMT -5
Thanks Shelbykid! Merci shoggoths! That means a lot coming from you! I'm sorry to hear you haven't gotten your gigantea to bloom. This may just be a very floriferous clone. It's the most common one here because Orchids Limited sells it out of their shop in town. They have them all over to help reduce fungus gnats. Remind me in spring and we'll figure out a way for you to be able to have the material you need for a cross between this clone and yours. As far as the conditions go. I've move it round a bit. I had it with my tuberous dews in the summer. It didn't love that heat. Then I moved it to my highland room - which it responded to well. Now, I have it in my boiler room, where it is very happy despite the heat (about 25-26 C with no daily change). The humidity was high in the first two locations, and very low (<20% RH) currently. I think the best this I did was start feeding the plant with collembola from a culture. I was inspired by Doug's success, and after a few failed attempts my cultures are looking pretty good - and my plants are doing better than ever! The soil is my CP base mix - 1:1 rinsed, #20, pool filter sand to rinsed, high quality Canadian peat moss. This too was inspired by a suggestion from dvg that the majority of Pings, even Mexi Pings do well with some organic matter in the soil. He was spot on! All of my pings are looking so much happier with the combo of peat in the soil and collembola as food. For the P. lutea, it sits in deeper water (as opposed to the Mexi Pings which keep much drier), and it is currently about 5cm across. It's super easy to grow, and much happier than my P. caerulea. I haven't figured out that yet. It's a bit of surprise because these two species grow side by side in habitat. That's a mystery for the future.
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Post by shoggoths on Feb 2, 2016 15:45:47 GMT -5
Sorry, didn't reply before. Thank you for all this information and the offer. I'll definitely try to feed them more. I'm struggling with my pings. If I let them in low RH like you do, they don't grow well but are more easy to pollinate. The high RH seem to have a bad effect on pollen I've also spot a ionantha in my tray !
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Post by Apoplast on Feb 3, 2016 11:29:56 GMT -5
Bonjour Shogg - Mine do find in low humidity. Maybe it's the soil mix? I'll try to remember to take a photo of the tray they are in and soil - another amazing photo of pots and dirt by Apoplast, just what @aminitovirosa has been waiting for. I'll also add a photo of my blooming P. caerulea so that it won't be another of my photo posts with no plants. You have a P. ionatha?! Cool! I'm thinking about importing one this summer. Oddly the laws within the States mean it can be easier to more legal to import it than to get it within the States. It is a good excuse because there is a European vendor I want to try out.
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Post by rwilson64 on Apr 12, 2016 15:38:21 GMT -5
They are beautiful, i can t seem to keep these things alive, the leaves always fall off until the plant is nothing.
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Post by Apoplast on Apr 13, 2016 9:02:01 GMT -5
Hi rwilson64 - Thanks! My first ones didn't last long. I've found them much easier now that I feed them live food. What conditions do you keep yours in (the standard questions, I know, but they are useful: day/night temperatures, soil mix, watering approach, lighting intensity/type/day-length)?
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Post by porcorosso on Apr 14, 2016 18:38:04 GMT -5
the gigantica flowers look very similar to esseriana. both those flowers look great :) Sometimes if I am bored or there are no tiny bugs around to pollinate I use a small paint brush to cross pollinate the flowers to get seeds. That Lutea is pretty Rad !!! nice one !
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Post by Apoplast on Apr 15, 2016 12:55:23 GMT -5
Thanks porcorosso! I'm not sure there is a superlative I would be more flattered by than "rad". Makes me feel like it's the mid-1980's all over again. Love it!
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Post by lloyd on Apr 15, 2016 15:19:25 GMT -5
Actually rad is derived from root so it's quite appropriate.
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