Phragmipedium Eumelia Arias

[MrHappyRotter]

Phragmipedium Eumelia Arias is a cross between phrag. schlimii and phrag. kovachii. Schlimii has the smallest (or some of the smallest) flowers of the genus, and kovachii has, by far, the largest. The flowers end up at about 2.5 - 3 inches wide (6 - 8 cm) with similar height.

This is one of the darlings of my collection. The flower quality is not all that great. Yes, I know it looks amazing in the pics, now that it's freshly opened, but in a couple of days the color will fade quite a bit, the petals will reflex, and the dorsal sepal will slouch over. Still, it will maintain some of its attractive qualities.

But, this plant does have some things going for it. The flowers are fragrant, taking after schlimii's rose perfume scent. I love fragrant slippers. The plant itself is vigorous. I think I've had to repot it 3 times in the past 1.5 - 2 years, it simply outgrows anything I put it in. So far, it's been trouble free. No pests. No rot. And best of all, it loves to bloom. The plant spikes up every 6 - 8 months. In fact, this time around, it started to produce 2 flower spikes. I opted to pluck one of them, since I'm trying to encourage more growths because I'm going to divide it next time I repot.

Enough words, MrHappyRotter. Enough words. Give us the pictures, you say?

[silken]

I like it!

[billc]

I like the veining on the pouch.

Bill

[JamesL]

Lovely color . Good pic. you can see the fuzzy hairs on the flower...

[WhiteRabbit]

Sweet!

[NYCorchidman]

It is very dark, but I did not know it gets lighter with time.

I never saw mine bloom. Mine did grew like a weed, but somehow it kept getting this brown rot on the leaves, so I got tired of trimming and eventually tossed it.

I would definitely want to try this hybrid again.

[MrHappyRotter]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

It is very dark, but I did not know it gets lighter with time.

I never saw mine bloom. Mine did grew like a weed, but somehow it kept getting this brown rot on the leaves, so I got tired of trimming and eventually tossed it.

I would definitely want to try this hybrid again.

I have another one that's similar. Well, I assume it's Eumelia Arias, but it was actually sold to me as Fritz Schomburg. It's very finicky, grows slowly, and comes down with bouts of rot like yours all the time.

I'm letting it recover now, then unless it's blooms improve significantly next time it flowers, I'll probably sell, trade, or give it away.

---------- Post added at 08:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:59 PM ----------

I've seen multiple sources of this online lately, from several different vendors and on Ebay. I think mature, flowering sized plants can be had for $30 - $50 plus shipping and applicable taxes, making this the least expensive kovachii hybrid. I happened to pick this one up at a local orchid place about 1.5 - 2 years ago.

[Brenda Aarts]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

It is very dark, but I did not know it gets lighter with time.

I never saw mine bloom. Mine did grew like a weed, but somehow it kept getting this brown rot on the leaves, so I got tired of trimming and eventually tossed it.

I would definitely want to try this hybrid again.

I keep having the same thing happen with mine, and I've about had it....how do you grow this MrHappyRotter?

[MrHappyRotter]

Originally Posted by Brenda Aarts

I keep having the same thing happen with mine, and I've about had it....how do you grow this MrHappyRotter?

It's a water loving phrag, so I keep it sitting in water at all times. Water quality is important, so I use mostly rain and RO, but tap from time to time doesn't seem to hurt. I feed lightly, rotating out products, but my core fertilizers are CalMag (primary), whatever brand of random "orchid" fertilizer I have on hand, seaweed extract, and then once or twice a year, bone meal / blood meal / whatever's cheap.

Potting mix is mostly inorganic, primarily rock wool. But I throw in a variable mix of other media, including charcoal, large grade perlite, LECA, sphagnum moss, sand, and oyster shell.

I grow under T8 fluorescent shop lights, with 6500K bulbs, and a bit of supplementary window light. Plants are typically no more than 12 inches (30cm) from the tubes, most are within 6 inches of the bulbs.

I grow indoors, so the temps are fairly standard indoor temperatures, air conditioning most of the summer, and heating in the winter. I'd say typical day time temps are upper 70s, but may sometimes reach mid 80s (F). Night temps are mid to low 70's. In the winter, my night time temps usually drop into the mid/low 60's ... I like it a bit cool.

[Brenda Aarts]

Thanks so much for your help. I use rain water as well...but perhaps it needs to be wetter than what it has been . Will try some of your tips, thanks again.