A PHOTO would be great!

[Helen]

I'm happy to say that I just acquired more orchids. I can't find a photo of the

Paph. Mercatellii 'Red Wing' x sanderianum 'Red Spider'

If anyone has one, I'd really appreciate seeing what it looks like!
Thanks
Helen

[Angurek]

I'll see if I can find a pic.

If it has sanderianum in it, I'm pretty sure it would have long, swirling, cascading petals.

[Helen]

That would be great! thanks....I searched the internet and came up with nothing, perhaps it's a newer hybrid?

[RosieC]

I've searched as well but can't come up with anything. I think it may be new as one site selling it was indicating they were still waiting for it to flower to know it's characteristics.

[slipperfreak]

Seeing as how the cross is not registered yet you'll be hard pressed to find pictures of it. But, you can guess what the flowers will look like based on the parentage.

Paph Memoria Mercatellii = (stonei x lowii), so the three species involved in this cross are stonei, lowii, and sanderianum.

You can actually find images of all three of these species very easily by doing a Google search. Try to imagine a flower with characteristics from all three. P. sanderianum will give long, somewhat spiralling petals, but their length will be reduced by the other species, probably to around 8-12" (pure sanderianum can have petals up to 3 feet long). You'll get some pink and yellow tones, as well as some spotting, from lowii, but you'll probably see mostly colors in the red, brown, and possibly orangey tones from stonei and sanderianum. If you're lucky, you'll get a nice bone white or pale yellow color in the dorsal with contrasting dark stripes.

Anyway, should be an interesting cross. Be sure to post photos when it blooms! How big is the plant? What's the leafspan?

[Helen]

Thanks to everyone for trying to find a photo. It sounds very lovely! I'll keep my fingers crossed.
My leafspan (if you mean from one side to the other) is approx. 19". 9.5 inch for each leaf. I'll post the photo in a few minutes once I get it off my camera.
Thanks again
Helen

[Helen]

Here's a photo of Paph. Mercatellii 'Red Wing' x sanderianum 'Red Spider'.

I have a question about the leaves. Do you see the dark edge on the bottom two leaves? Should I be concerned about this?

Also, does anyone know how much longer it will be before a possibility of blooming? This fall? Next fall?
Any help would be appreciated! Thx.
Helen

[slipperfreak]

Argh! I keep getting that stupid white page thing when I'm in the middle of posting something! Here I go again...

With that leafspan, you can expect the plant to bloom within a year or two. Give it warmth, plenty of light, and plenty of fertilizer this summer and you'll increase the likelihood of it blooming sooner than later. Often times though, these crosses just take a while.

The brown edges on the lower leaves are just signs of aging. Those leaves will eventually be shed off. Completely normal. If you see this on younger leaves it's usually a sign of over-fertilizing or water that is too hard. However, these plants are pretty tough so that usually doesn't happen - especially since two of the three species in this plant's parentage are known calcicoles.

[Helen]

Thank you very very much Joe. I'm fairly new to growing Paphs, I'm finding it very hard to repot them too. The roots are so fragile and they twist and turn. I have trouble getting them into a pot just one size larger. I broke off a root end when repotting my new Paph roth (rex x mt millais) yesterday. I hope it will be ok! I'm afraid to repot this one, but I'm afraid it may need it. It's in coconut. Can they handle coconut? or should I repot into smaller bark mixed with sphag?
Thanks for all your help
Helen
p.s. I'm glad the leaves are ok, I've heard that there are virus that have a give a dark edge running around the leaves.

[Helen]

Also, a calcicole? so it needs more lime? Is there a particular fertilizer I should be using? Does it need more calcium too? I have lots of diff. fertilizers. So what to use please? thx
H