Paphiness Orchids — some HOT STUFF
Click on “HOT OFFERS” right up at the top of the page (it’s in small type) to see some new plants available: roths (big), tigrinums (SOLD), and niveums (awesome new breeding).
Unzipped: thick, hairy, and white-tipped
I like big ones. And little ones. And thin ones. And especially long ones. And preferably covered with hair.
Few things orchidaceous bring me more joy than seeing a plant extend a new root. Sure, we all know the goal is to bloom a plant, and to bloom it well.
But for 70% - 95% of its life, an orchid spends its time doing other things than being in bloom. Growing leaves is great, of course, but something about growing roots excites me even more. I suppose it’s a more robust sign that a plant is happy; I’ve had plenty of plants put up (for a time) great looking leaves, but then have no roots. Without the roots, the leaves eventually die off, too.
From some reading of bonsai literature, I have discovered that cultivators of these potted trees will trim the roots of their plants every year or two. Apparently, tree roots only absorb water through their tips, and so the longer the roots are, the further the tree needs to “suck” the water. It’s analogous to sucking through a very long 1 m straw versus a short 10 cm straw.
I’ve heard it said that orchid roots also only absorb through their tips, but I’m still looking into this. Woody plants, like trees, also have woody roots, whereas it is clear that paph and phrag roots have a different composition than tree roots. And those root hairs emerging all along the length of roots of certain paphs may have an absorption function as well. I’ll post more as I learn more.
Repopulating Borneo with P. rothschildianum
P. rothschildianum is known to exist in only two locations on Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo. There was a third location, but that locale was reportedly destroyed in a forest fire (cf. Cribb). The two remaining spots are in a national park, and hence protected from poaching (supposedly).
Mount Kinabalu
Whether other locations exist is unclear. I’ve heard stories of smuggling, or read accounts of disappearance of plants once found in certain locations. I suspect that there are other places on Borneo where roths still grow in nature, hopefully unbeknownst to collectors. Another reason I believe wild plants do grow outside of the known locations is a chapter on P. sanderianum in Orchid Fever, the excellent book by Eric Hansen. His eyewitness account (if accurate) certainly belies the notion that sanderianums are endangered, and if that’s true, then I’d suspect that other pockets of rothschildianums exist as well.
In any case, P. rothschildianum is not a species I’m worried will disappear from the planet anytime soon. There are probably far more roths in cultivation than in nature at its undisturbed peak, as breeders have been breeding with roths for 40 years.
Unlike some orchids, roth breeding is still not far removed from wild-collected plants. For example, ‘Rex’ FCC/AOS and ‘Mont Millais’ FCC/AOS both were originally wild-collected, as were ‘Borneo’ FCC/AOS and ‘Charles E.’ FCC/AOS. And I’m sure there are other plants originally, and legally, obtained from the wild pre-CITES that flourish in private collections all over the world. So if breeders were to breed their plants from the wild with each other, we should be able to re-create at least a small pool of the genetic potential of wild rothschildianums.
My proposal is simple: scatter rothschildianum seed on places on Mount Kinabalu where roths were known to grow or are likely to grow well. Then let nature do its work. After all, this is already what happens in nature. We’re just giving it a helping hand.
OK, some objections:
1) Bred plants won’t survive in the wild. Many, if not most, man-made inter-species hybrids generations removed from nature probably would not thrive in the wild. (I have enough trouble keeping fancy-flowered, but weak, line-bred Phalaenopsis plants alive in regular cultivation!) It might be the case that multi-generational breeding produces plants that look pretty, but can no longer survive in the jungle. Progeny from a cross between plants originally from the wild, however, would be just as “wild” as those from nature.
2) Genetic diversity is limited. Well, yes. But genetic diversity of wild plants is already limited to the pool of existing wild plants, whether on Mount Kinabalu, hidden in the recesses of Borneo, or in private collections. The situation won’t improve in nature unless people do something about it.
3) It’ll never work, it’s too political. Unfortunately, this is probably true. The unbelievable tangles of conservation law bureaucracy would likely keep any meaningful efforts from happening. In some instances, the conservation laws produce such gridlock that practically ensure the very plants the laws were designed to save get covered over under asphalt or golf courses. So in order for this to fly, some kind of reverse smuggling operation would need to happen.
In any case, it’s easy enough to make roth seed, and store it (some orchid seeds have been known to germinate after many decades!). If growers involved in the project simply made crosses between clones of their plants known to have come from the wild, after a few years’ time, I think there’d be a nice pile of seed that could be spread about by some modern-day Johnny Appleseed.
This sort of effort is exactly analogous to those conservation efforts you see on Animal Planet TV, where a dedicated group of people try to train lions/tigers/bears or wolves or elephants or monkeys — born in captivity — with the skills needed for survival in the original habitat. Those efforts must cost immensely more than my modest proposal. And you don’t even have to train any plants in my scheme. The seeds will have no memory or handicap from having been produced in “captivity”.
In the jungles of Borneo, they will simply do what rothschildianum seeds have always done…
Botanical lasciviousness and Victorian England
I have a theory as to why orchids became so popular during Victorian England.
The stereotype of that era is one of sexual repression and prudishness bordering on the comical. For example, the word “leg” was considered too overtly sexual for public discussion, so the more clinical term “limb” was used. Women’s ankles were also considered sexually suggestive, so they were always kept covered under layers of clothing. In fact, I’ve heard it said that table legs were covered in pantaloons to smother over any potential impropriety or lewd thoughts.
So you can imagine the consternation, the titillation, the gasps, the blushing, and the fainting that must have come with the flowering of P. venustum, the first officially described Paphiopedilum orchid brought to Great Britain in 1820.
It probably didn’t help the situation that the mottled pattern on the leaves caused P. venustum to be known as the “snake skin” orchid.
The counts and dukes and earls and barons and the merchant princes — and their ladies — could gather around these exquisite, erotic, exotic flowers and discuss the finer points of botany, all in wonderful Latin euphemisms (but be thinking of something else entirely):
- glabrous (smooth, non-hairy)
- pubescent (covered with hairs)
- labellum (lip)
- sub-erect (nearly straight up)
- venae (veins)
- saccate (shaped like a pouch or sac)
- undulate (up and down)
No wonder the English developed such a lust for slipper orchids over the next century.
Baron Ferdinand James Anselm von Rothschild
Baron Ferdinand James von Rothschild (1839 - 1898) was a member of the famous Rothschild family, known for their financial empire stretching across Europe. Born into the Austrian branch of the family, he settled in England, where he married his first cousin, Evelina, who tragically died with their baby during childbirth. Baron Rothschild built a hospital in her memory.
Besides becoming a member of the British Parliament, he was an art collector, and, of course, a famous orchid collector. He built an estate called Waddeson Manor, where he kept a vast collection of plants. And, he had the great distinction of having the King of Slipper Orchids named for him. I read somewhere that a Baron Rothschild had a plant with 200 leaves and put up a dozen flower spikes! That would be a spectacular sight to see. (Better yet, I hope to grow a rothschildianum that big myself.)
It’s not clear to me yet which Baron Rothschild owned this massive roth, as I haven’t seen the original reference, and there have been a lot of Rothschilds, several associated with orchids. A Continental cousin of Ferdinand, Edmond, had a huge collection in Paris. Bulbophyllum (or is it Cirrhopetalum now?) rothschildianum appears to have been named for a Walter Rothschild. At least one of the wealthy modern day Rothschilds continues the tradition in France. Maybe collecting orchids runs in the family, along with great wealth and art collecting.
Or does it mean that collecting orchids will make you rich? You can find out for yourself by clicking here and choosing a nice plant to add to your collection. 
Hollywood and Slipper Orchids
A few weeks ago, I found myself in Hollywood, and not as a tourist. My take on Tinseltown: the concept of Hollywood is impressive; the reality is kind of a let down.
The Writer’s Guild is on strike in Hollywood, as most of us may already know. Lately, I’ve been learning a bit about how tv shows and movies are created, and it is amazing the amount of detail that writers and directors may put into a scene or story, sometimes just to create a moment’s impression. So it’s always a kick to see slipper orchids on the big or little screen!
Here are some movies or TV shows where slipper orchids can be seen:
1) Pride and Prejudice (2005) — this is a superb big-screen rendition of Jane Austen’s classic. The father in the story is a man of some inherited wealth who spends his time on his own hobbies, one of which (in the film version) appears to be orchid growing. In one scene, the father is holding an in-bloom unifloral Paph hybrid (definitely not a species) in his study. Some writer or director took care to create this impression of an upper crust guy who grows exotic (well, exotic-looking) orchids.
2) Alias — In one episode during Season 4, the story centered around the Rambaldi Orchid, also known as Paphiopedilum khan, the rarest orchid in the world. Well, no such thing of course, but at least the writer of the show was smart enough to pick a Paph to feature in the story! P. khan was owned by the usual spy-story megalomaniac bent on ruling the world. The flower had some unusual substance in its pollen (or something) that enabled mind control of humans and bees. As I vaguely recall, the mocked up flower in the show was reminiscent of sanderianum or supardii, although it appeared to be a fake. One thing is true: slipper orchids do have mind control abilities.
3) Nip/Tuck — In one of many salacious and ridiculous episodes (but that’s why I watch the show), the principal characters visit an eccentric surgeon who has long-retired to focus on breeding orchids. Amongst the usual Phalaenopsis (probably bought at the local Home Depot in Burbank or Studio City), there was a slipper orchid someplace in the background. Interestingly, someone on the writing crew knew how hybridization was done, as the surgeon’s butler followed the doctor around from flower to flower with a tray holding what appeared to be toothpicks.
British upper crust, world-domination megalomaniacs, eccentric surgeons, and Hollywood writers — obviously slipper orchids do get around. Now, if only someone will write a whole movie featuring a slipper orchid! Those orchid hunter adventures from the 1800s could easily have as much greed, lust, drama, and blood to satisfy any big-picture audience longing for something action packed and intelligent.
Hmm, that’ll be for my next trip to Hollywood.
Everything I learned about growing orchids indoors, I learned from growing pot
Well, I didn’t grow the actual marijuana… (Really!) I just learned from those who do.
If you’re an indoor orchid grower looking to get the most cutting edge info on setting up an indoor growing operation, be it a small shelf, a movable rack, all the way to a stripped out house, you can learn everything you need to know by checking out the pot growing sites which have sprouted up like, er, weeds on the web. Just do a search for “pot grow indoors”, and you’ll be inundated with site names like “weedsthatplease.com, mellowgold.com, and marijuanapassion.com.” These sites are full of great info for controlling temperature, lighting, humidity (I think cannabis prefers lower humidity), air movement, etc., plus getting rid of smells (which shouldn’t be a problem for most slipper species, except at least my kolopakingii). There are plans and schematics for timing circuits to control every aspect of growing. One site I came across described how this guy set up an amazing grow operation in a hollowed out standard office file cabinet, complete with misting, lights, and odor elimination. It was extremely impressive.
Counter to the stoner stereotype, these sites are populated by very serious and knowledgeable people who obviously have some technical know-how, and are quite helpful to their fellow growers. These guys have really worked out pot growing to a science. You really can learn a lot from their creative methods to reach a (literal) gardening high, and escape detection by the law. They are certainly a very, very devoted bunch.
Maybe more devoted than orchid growers? Nah…
Repotting orchids — better than drugs?
I recently came across an article about a study, published in the journal Neuroscience, that describes an interesting experiment researchers performed on lab mice. The scientists treated the mice with a common soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, and observed that their brains acted similarly to receiving anti-depressant drugs. Apparently, something about the bacterium causes the body to release serotonin, a compound that performs a variety of jobs in the body, including affecting mood.
OK, so maybe this will motivate some of us to repot some orchids. But all the mood gains I might get from repotting plants can easily be crushed by finding that one of my large sanderianums or other plants has lost all of its roots. I’m not sure any bacteria can help with that.
The many spheres of slipper orchid collecting
Pouch People (i.e., slipper orchid aficionados) are unusually addicted to their orchids. Within the varied world of slipper orchids, there are “specialists” who focus on particular types.
Parvi lovers are obsessed with plants in the Parvisepalum group (micranthum, armeniacum, malipoense, emersonii, delenatii, vietnamense, hangianum) and their hybrids
Brachy collectors grow those in the Brachypetalum group (bellatulum, concolor, niveum, wenshanense, godefroyae) and their hybrids.
Multifloral devotees — self-explanatory… P. sanderianum, P. rothschildianum, P. lowii, P. stonei, etc. dominate this group.
Complex lovers — go for the standard/”bulldog” plants. While there are ~90 known naturally occurring species, thousands of complex hybrids exist, and they draw only from a subset of the known species, yet incredible and amazing forms have been produced by dedicated breeders and their genetic palettes.
P. rothschildianum nuts — It is really hard to understand the compulsions of this group of collectors. The prices people will pay may seem exorbitant to more “normal” collectors, but they make a kind of perverse sense to denizens of this niche. Seeing a spectacular rothschildianum in full bloom is like experiencing a masterpiece of art. Almost sublime. (Yes, I am a roth nut.)
Album collectors — the most rarefied sphere of the slipper universe, perhaps of the whole orchid universe. A single plant of a rare albinistic form of a species can easily be worth more than many nice collections. Some of these albinistic (i.e., almost or completely lacking in color pigmentation) plants are exceedingly rare, and in some instances only one or two plants are known to exist.
A Secret Revealed: how to prevent infection in de-flasked seedlings
I am going to reveal how, using the following recipe, I have never lost a de-flasked paph seedling to infection within the first week of de-flasking. During that first week or so, the little seedlings are exposed to great changes in air, humidity, media, and water. And, they encounter for the first time all those nasty microbes (fungi and bacteria) just waiting to feast on their succulent leaves.
Prior to discovering my method, a significant percentage of my de-flasked seedlings always got infected shortly after coming out of the bottle. Those days were stressful, aggravating, and painful. But that still didn’t stop me from blowing too much on expensive flasks… 
To be clear, I have lost seedlings treated with my secret method, but they died for different (and preventable) reasons, not to infection in those sensitive days after de-flasking.
In the past, I’ve wrestled with revealing certain of my tricks of the trade, for fear that my secrets would cost me my competitive edge in the orchid market. Then I realized a couple of things:
Firstly, changes in the slipper orchid market occur about as fast as growing multifloral species from seed. (For those not in the know, that means five to seven years!) No serious grower is going to get a leg up on anyone else based on “secret” methods such as the one I’m about to disclose. (That doesn’t mean that there aren’t even more closely guarded secret, though. There probably are…)
Secondly, and far more important: slipper folks are so opinionated and convinced their own methods are the best that no matter what I say, I doubt anyone will change their mind!
So, here’s the secret:
1 gram Thiomyl + 1 gram Dithane M-45 (aka mancozeb, manzanate) in 1 liter of water.
Spray/drench/soak plants in this stuff. It doesn’t seem to affect tender seedlings at all! When I first tried this, I was worried that these chemicals would kill the plants, but absolutely nothing happened, other than that the plants survived past that first critical week.
Dithane is a plant fungicide that appears to coat plant surfaces and stick. So, any fungal (and likely bacterial) cells exposed to this would likely suffer a quick death. Thiomyl, on the other hand, is a systemic fungicide that can kill bugs (i.e., microbes) that have breached the plant’s cells and taken up residence inside the plant’s tissues.
OK, so what about bacterial infections? I don’t know how often infections are caused by bacteria versus how often they’re caused by fungi in de-flasked paph seedlings. But I do suspect that the concentrations used here will be more than sufficient to kill any bacteria likely to take up residence on your plants. Some may argue that the killing mechanisms of these compounds affect only certain molecular processes in fungi and not bacteria, etc. Well, having labored on a Ph.D. in bacterial research, I take the point, but I won’t bother to argue about it. All I’ll say is: it works for me!
Hope it works for you! Drop me an email at orchids@paphinessorchids.com if you do try it.
(Disclaimer: I offer this for informational purposes only… Use this at your own risk! I make no guarantees, claims, warranties, or comments on safety for humans, plants, or other creatures exposed to this. )