Pleione 2018

[sjusovare]

Wow!  Very nice.
I had about 14 of them 3 years ago and lost all but one of them to a dodgy repotting mix. It is recovering in pure rockwool, and will hopefully flower next season... Such a nice flower. Well done for getting such a massive pot of them!

Do you mean it's on a brick of rockwool or like in shredded rockwool in a pot?

[Bart]

I grow a number of orchids in grodan cubes, after a discussion on paphiopedilums. It has worked really well in saving my paphs, they have grown better than ever, and also saved my last surviving P. Confirmation:



I potted many of my Pleiones with a mix with really weird (sphagnum)moss, bought in a garden centre and of a well known garden sundries brand. The mix proved to never dry out and many plants' roots burned off when about 3mm long. A number of varieties died altogether, amongst which many of new ones I bought off Tim Harberd, but the ones I potted in grodan cubes recovered. I am now trying other species to see if it would take away the variability of the potting medium. I have found it a real pain to find suitable bark but especially moss. I now buy it of a florist, but it is  what I call ' forest moss'', with grass, oak leaves, bilberries and all sorts of species of moss... Not very sustainably sourced I don't think but for now the best I can find. So if rockwool works, I will swap the lot gradually over...

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Bart,
   Sorry to hear about your problems with rootburn. When I first started keeping pleiones the received wisdom was that this ailment was due to the compost not being free draining enough. I tried all sorts of mixes, with mixed results and came to the conclusion that the ‘free draining’ hypothesis was not very convincing. So one year I tried a few spare bulbs in ‘Crocus Glasses’ (They are like hyacinth glasses, but much smaller!) All the bulbs produced perfectly healthy roots into the tap water provided, despite being completely submerged.
   I’ve now come to the conclusion that the problem is caused by an aggressive fungus (or class of fungi) which is present in some, but not all, composts. That would help to explain why my more exotic ‘free draining’ mixes, which contained ingredients from half a dozen sources, were apparently more prone to the problem. Each additional ingredient increased the chance of introducing the causative organism!! 
   These days I make up two simple mixes, with ingredients from different sources, and pot up half of the collection into each. (I’ve yet to be struck in any year, with the ailment in both mixes.)
   I think its also worth noting that with me, among the hybrids, those with bulbocodiodes in their parentage seem to be more susceptible to the problem.

   I hope that’s helpful.

Tim DH

[sjusovare]

I'm starting to think that some plants are contaminated from the start and that fungus are just waiting the right conditions to strike...
For instance, I can't seem to keep any of the plants from some suppliers, they arrive as perfectly healthy looking pseudobulbs (if not unusually big), grow well with nice roots, and then in the middle of summer the pseudobulb just starts to rot from the inside in a matter of days (the inside looks mushy, 1st time it happened I thought it had been eaten by worms since I found fungus gnats in it), long before the time it would be depleted. I really rarely manage to save the shoots at that point (even if I do, they don't manage to mature good sized pseudobulbs so end up really set back).
The mix used doesnt seem to matter, I've had the same occuring with bark, moss, kanuma, akadama...
The only thing I haven't tried is to bleach the bulbs before planting, which I will do this year.

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Julien,
   The dis-order you mention is unknown to me, but I’m familiar with the ‘root burn’ Bart described.
   I think you are right to be wary about bringing in new stock. This isn’t just a danger with Pleiones. I’ve encountered problems with Peonies, Snowdrops, Daffodils, Raspberries and Blackcurrants. You start with a healthy collection, which gives much pleasure, so you decide to add a few more cultivars and something unwelcome arrives with the newbies.
   Some time last millennium my father experimented with some chemicals which were not available to amateur growers. At the time I did wonder whether these chemicals cured problems, or just masked them. If the latter is true, it is easy to see how commercially sourced stock could be a Trojan Horse!
   For the last 15 years the only thing I’ve used on my Pleiones is Neem Oil.

Tim DH

[ashley]

Confirmation

[Maggi Young]

And every good wish to you, too, Ashley !

[ashley]

Thank you Maggi
Wharfedale Pine Warbler should begin in the next few days.

[Steve Garvie]

All of my Pleione praecox types were late to flower this year with flowers opening in early-mid December and some even persisting into the New Year (var. Reichenbachiana).

Pleione praecox Burmese form



Pleione praecox Chinese form


Pleione praecox Himalayan form


Pleione praecox var. Reichenbachiana


Pleione “vietnamensis”

[vigor]

my autumn/winter flower in 2018

[vigor]

hybrids。。。

[Celticub]

Wow amazing plants, pots and pics !!!
I love automn flowering Pleione. Did you keep them cold ?

[sjusovare]

Hello Vigor, which praecox form is this?

[vigor]

Hello Vigor, which praecox form is this?

these plants are from west Yunnan and very variable. Even in one wild population you can see different froms.