Hi Joanna,

I have pretty good luck with malipoense, but I am not sure how helpful any
of this will be since I grow in a greenhouse. I do not change the way I
water, watering when the mix is lightly dry. But, the time required for the
mix to dry does change with the seasons. Late spring/early summer it dries
in as little as four days. Midwinter it may take 10 days or more for the
mix to dry.

Most of my Paphs, including malipoense, have a blooming season. I do not
remember when malipoense season is here, but my plants were just a couple of
weeks ahead of when yours bloomed last. Do you remember when that was? I
put a pod on one and did not date it because I was sure it would not take.
The 'pod' is looking about ready, but you know about looks being deceiving.

Around here fertilizer is a binary thing, you get what is in the tank or
not - no special diets. I do use a calcium-rich fertilizer in the
fertilizer rotation. To get extra calcium to the Paphs I add crushed oyster
shell to their mix and when ever I am spreading dolomite I try to throw some
their way.

Paph are pokey. Watch leaf sizes, it is not ready to bloom until the leaf
span on the new fan is at least as big as the span on the fan that bloomed
last. If the last blooming was a first bloom, the new fan will most likely
be bigger than the old fan before blooming. No need to try to make it bloom
before its time. I have never forced a Paph, but I expect its clock is
timed to length of day or temperature.

Pat

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:3YG%e.3215$kl3.1525@trnddc08...
I just read that paph malipoense grows in monsoon conditions where it gets
a
cool dry winter. Would it be a good idea to give a paph malipoense a dry
rest period, or at least to reduce it's watering? Currently I water my
paph
malipoense once a week. Would it be a good idea to water it only ever
other
week in the wintertime for example? I have read this as a suggestion for
paph bellatum culture, and now after further reading it seems to me like a
similar strategy might be applied to paph malipoense. Has anyone tried
giving this paph species a drier winter? Is there anyone out here who has
gotten a paph malipoense to reflower in less than geological time -- I
remember when I first got the malipoense someone suggested that it only
flowers in geological time, and I wonder whether this might mean that it
should be treated somewhat differently from other paphs to get it to
reflower.

The other suggestion that I have read was that paph malipoense likes
calcium-rich fertilizers. How much of a difference do you think that would
make?

My paph malipoense has a healthy new growth that is currently growing a
new
leaf, so at this point I think the plant is healthy, and I would not want
to
jeopardize that, however I would like to consider adjusting its culture to
encourage reflowering, if possible.

Thanks,
Joanna