A general description of the signs of a phragmipedium, advice on care, recommendations for independent reproduction, difficulties in growing a flower, interesting facts, species. Fragmipedium (Phagmipedium) is a member of the Orchid or Orchid family (Orchidaceae in Latin), which is quite numerous and unites monocotyledonous plants (there is only one share in their seed). These representatives of the flora belong to perennials with a herbaceous form of growth. Fragmepedium, like its hybrids, is very loved by flower growers and is grown both in greenhouses or conservatories, and in residential or work premises with appropriate conditions. It is customary to call hybrids "Greks". The flower took its name because of the type of bud ovary, divided into three parts - the name Phagmipedium comes from one piece of the word in Latin "phragma", which means part and the Greek component "pedilon", translated as a shoe. And it turns out that we are dealing with the Lady's Shoe.
In the distant 1831, a flower very similar to a woman's shoe was described by a naturalist from Brazil, Jose Velloso, who was a Franciscan monk and he was named Cypripedium vittatu, belonging to the Fragmepedium genus. But for the first time this beautiful orchid was introduced to the scientific botanical community in 1896 by the botanist and connoisseur of orchid flowers from England Robert Rolfe, since he singled out this flower in a separate genus Phagmipedium from the Cypripedioideae subfamily of the same Orchid family.
The homeland of the wonderful orchid is considered to be the region of Central and South America, where a tropical and humid climate prevails, they stretch from the southern territories of Mexico and Guatemala to the southern parts of Bolivia and Brazil. The plant likes to settle in the mountainous parts of these regions, where the height above sea level varies from 900 to 1500 m. But this flower can also be found on the surface with sea level.
Fragmipedium is a plant that grows mainly on the ground, but there are epiphytes (settling on other trees) or lithophytes (having chosen rock and mountain surfaces).
Alas, today, due to the fact that a person begins to massively destroy forests where this orchid grows and is often massively harvested for sale, the phragmipedium belongs to the plants listed in the CEITES Convention. This document seeks to ensure that trade in this exotic plant does not lead to its destruction. This orchid is very similar to its green relative Paphiopedium, it also lacks pseudobulbs - a flattened part of the stem, which is very close to the ground, with its help the plant stores water and nutrients. The leaf plates are leathery, xiphoid, sometimes reaching 50 cm in length. Leaf rosettes are collected from them.
On a long peduncle, which stretches up to 15 cm in height, 2-3 flowers sits, which are very similar to the outlines of a woman's shoe - the lower lip is swollen, in the form of a bag or toe of a shoe, its edges are bent inward. The petals do not look waxy, unlike other types of orchids, they are narrowed and differ in some elongation. The flowering process in a phragmipedium can take six months.
Recommendations for growing a phragmipedium
- Lighting. The plant loves good lighting with shade from the midday sun. Therefore, you can install a pot with a phragmipedium on the window of any location except the northern one, there the orchid will not have enough light, but if there is no way out, then arrange supplementary lighting with phytolamps. The same will have to be done in winter for a flower located on the windowsill of a window of any orientation. In winter, daylight hours should not be less than 12 hours a day.
- Content temperature. Heat readings are not very important for a flower. In summer, 20-27 degrees will be considered comfortable during the day and not lower than 16 at night, but the flower will not suffer even at 32 degrees. But in winter, it is desirable that the temperature does not drop less than 12 degrees at night with daytime indicators at 14-18. Cold wintering is very important for the phragmipedium, since it does not have a pronounced dormant period, such significant drops will help the buds to form and their color will be more saturated. The plant will not tolerate indicators below 6 degrees.
- Air humidity when growing phragmipedium should be high enough, about 50-60%. In nature, under conditions of natural growth, the orchid exchanges various gases with the environment. On the back of the leaf there are stomata, with the help of which the process of absorption of carbon dioxide and the release of moisture takes place. If the temperature is moderate, then the plant does not lose moisture, but with a rise in the indicators, the orchid begins to "sweat", trying to restore the turgor of the leaf plates. And if the humidity is low, and in addition, the substrate is overdried and the roots begin to overheat, then the leaf plates simply burn, dry and turn yellow at the ends. Therefore, it is necessary to put air humidifiers or place the pot in containers filled with expanded clay and a small amount of water. Then the root system will pump moisture without being distracted by "unplanned" actions for its recovery.
- Watering the plant. This orchid does not have a pronounced dormant period, therefore it must be watered constantly and abundantly. The substrate should not dry out. You can use the so-called bottom watering, when the pot with the plant is lowered into a bucket of distilled or soft water at a temperature of 20-24 degrees. It is important that drops of moisture do not fall on the flowers, they will deteriorate, and it is not recommended to wet the leaves. After a few minutes, the pot should be removed, allowed to drain and put in its original place of growth. It is best to use the water collected after the rain for humidification or to melt the snow in winter, and later heat the resulting water to a temperature of 20-24 degrees. When it gets very hot, you can put the pot in a tray with 1–2 cm of water. As soon as the water evaporates, you wait a couple more days and you can pour a new one. Moistening the plant with too hard water will cause the leaves to turn brown.
- Fertilization for an orchid, every third watering is required. Specially balanced mixtures for orchids are selected. If you overdo it, it will also lead to brown spots on the leaves. It is better to use the dose 1/6 or 1/8 of that indicated by the manufacturer. The best feeding will be the one with NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in a ratio of 3–3–3.
- Transplantation and choice of substrate. As soon as the plant has new shoots (and this happens annually), the pot and soil should be changed. Only it is worth choosing such a time so that it is not too hot. It is necessary to carefully remove the orchid from the container, taking care not to damage the root system. Shake off the substrate lightly and rinse the roots with water. Using a disinfected pruning shear, it is necessary to remove all damaged or diseased root processes. The pot is taken a little more than the old container. The container is filled 2/3 with a moistened earth mixture, then a bush is installed in the container and after that the remaining soil is poured. The plant should be centered in the pot. For transplantation, you can use purchased mixtures for orchids or compose a substrate by yourself mixing finely detailed pine bark, chopped sphagnum moss, fine-grained expanded clay (in proportions 6: 3: 1). Chopped fern rhizomes are sometimes added to this mixture.
After transplanting, the substrate is slightly moistened with a fine spray gun and a little later periodically tamped with a wooden stick. Until the plant has new shoots, it is not recommended to water it fully. During this period, spraying with soft water at room temperature can be used.
Tips for self-propagation of a phragmipedium
You can get a new delicate orchid by dividing the root system with the arrival of spring - this is a vegetative way. If the bush has grown enough, then this method can be applied. When it comes time to transplant, the plant is very carefully removed from the pot, being careful not to damage the roots. The substrate at this time should be well dried. The container can be cut if the plant cannot be removed. When dividing, it is important not to forget that the reproduction operation will be successful if each of the divisions has at least three “rosettes” of leaves or two adults with a new sprout. The substrate is shaken off a little from the roots of the phragmipedium and then the root system is divided manually. If you can't do it with your hands, then a well-sharpened knife is used. After dividing, the pieces are planted in pots with a new substrate. It is not necessary to moisten the soil, it is required to give time so that the wounds can heal. The signal to start watering will be the appearance of growth signs in a young orchid. Until that time, you should only slightly moisten the substrate with a fine spray gun. New buds will appear in the phragmipedium when young leaf plates reach the size of old leaves.
If the plant is grown in a greenhouse, then the seed planting method or meristem propagation is used.
Difficulties in the process of cultivating a phragmipedium
If the conditions of detention are violated (for example, increased dry air or soil flooding), then this leads to damage to the plant by pests: red spider mites, mealybugs, scale insects, slugs or snails, and some bacterial infections.
To fight insects, it is necessary to wipe the leaf plates of the plant with soap, oil or alcohol solutions. For soap, you can insist 30 gr. grated laundry soap in a bucket of water. If you make an oil mixture, then a few drops of rosemary essential oil are diluted in one liter, and calendula tincture, which is bought at a pharmacy, is used as an alcohol. The mixture is applied to a cotton pad and the pests must be removed by hand. If sparing non-chemical agents did not lead to a positive result, then it is necessary to carry out an insecticide treatment, but only on days when there is no sun. In order to cope with slugs or snails, metaldehyde granules are used.
If the plant is affected by a fungal infection, then dark or almost whitish spots appear on the leaves. Fungicides must be used. Bacterial rot appears as brown, black, or grayish mottling, but may be limited to yellowing of the leaf edge. The infected area must be removed and treated with the above drug.
Sometimes the following problems occur:
- the leaf plate turns yellow when the light is too bright;
- if the leaf at the top has turned brown, then an excess of light, salinization of the soil, an excess of the dose of feeding, or when it is not suitable for the phragmipedium, could lead to this;
- flowering does not occur due to insufficient lighting, there is no temperature difference between day and night, the flower is experiencing the consequences of reproduction;
- Falling flowers occurs when the orchid has been exposed to drafts or natural stress.
Interesting facts about the Lady's shoe
Many growers think that an orchid with this name "Lady's Slipper" is Pafiopedium, but it turns out that there is another genus Fragmipedium, which corresponds to this name. Orchids are very similar to each other, but the latter has several beautiful buds on the peduncle at the same time, while the pafiopedium has only one flower on the peduncle. Also, a distinctive feature is the size of orchids; in the phragmipedium, in the natural growing environment, the leaf plate can grow up to half a meter in length.
Types of phragmipedium
Usually this orchid is divided into two groups: "dry" and "wet" ("caudatum" and "besseae" respectively).
The "dry" group includes flowers that are more demanding for lighting, do not tolerate direct rays of the sun, for them a substrate is suitable, which is quite breathable and composed on the basis of pine bark, coconut chips, watering for them is moderate.
- Fragmipedium longifolia or as it is also called Fragmipedium longifolium (Phagmipedium longifolium) … On its basis, a large number of hybrids have been bred, about 240 varieties, for example, Phagmipedium hartwegii, Phagmipedium hicksianum, Phagmipedium roezlii hybrids. It is a lithophytic or semi-epiphytic plant. The birthplace of the mountain ranges of Costa Rica, Panama and the rockiness of Ecuador. You can meet this flower at an absolute altitude of 2000 meters, although at sea level it can also be seen, the only one of the whole genus. It was opened by Joseph Varshevich in the late 40s of the XIX century in the province of Chiriqui, in the hilly region of Panama. It is the largest orchid in the phragmipedium genus. The leaf plates reach 60–80 cm in length and 3–4 cm in width. Their color is deep green. The flower-bearing stem, brown-violet tone, varies from 60 cm to one meter in height. Flowers on it open sequentially and measure 11–20 cm across. The inflorescence usually contains 6 to 10 buds. The petals of the flower are painted in a bright red shade, they are elongated, and may curl slightly. The orchid itself is yellowish-green in color, with a brown lip. Flowering can continue year-round with proper care, but it peaks in early to mid-fall.
- Fragmipedium caudatum (Phagmipedium caudatum). The plant has been known since 1840, when it was introduced by John Lindley and was the first of its kind to bloom in Great Britain in 1847. The flower has outstanding nutrients that can grow up to 90 cm. The peculiarity is that even when the flower has already blossomed, the nutrients continue to grow for another 10 days. The sepalium, which is elongated at the top and has a wavy outline, reaches 15 cm and hangs forward. Flowering occurs in the spring months. But it is important to remember that from a simple touch, the feed will stop further growth, the flower will lose its decorative effect. The leaf plates are elongated-xiphoid, can reach half a meter in length. The color is dark emerald, the surface is leathery.
- Fragmipedium Schlimii (Phagmipedium schlimii). The plant, which grows as a terrestrial species, likes to settle on the banks of waterways. The homeland of the orchid is the territory of Colombia. The leaf plates are short, only 35 cm, almost straight and strong. The inflorescence contains 6-10 flowers, growing upright. The flowers reach 5–6 cm in diameter. The shape of the petals and sepals is elliptical, their color is white and sometimes pinkish, red speckling or streaks may be present. The lip in the form of a shoe toe casts a pinkish or whitish tone. The flowering process takes the summer period.
- Fragmipedium Besse (Phagmipedium besseae). The homeland of the plant is considered to be the regions of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. A very highly decorative plant, it is distinguished by colors of bright orange, blood red and yellow shades, but there are still many other options. The plant was first discovered in 1981 in Peru, in Tarpato - it was an orchid with a red tint of flowers. Later, a similar specimen, but with a bias in an orange tone, was found in Ecuador.
Learn more about the phragmipedium in the following video:
