My order of three species of each of these genera arrived just before the
weekend. I ordered them so they'd arrive in the second half of April, based
on what the last few years here have been like. However, over the last
couple of weeks we have seen temperatures as high as 25 degrees Celcius,
followed a day or two later by daytime highs of -2 degrees Celcius. Today
it was well over 14 degrees Celcius, and yet I heard a weather forcast for
tomorrow calling for wet snow. I am wondering if it remains too risky to
put them in their final destination yet, or if I should pot them up and then
in a couple weeks go through the usual process of hardening houseplants that
are to go outside. And if I should put them in pots, would they do well in
those biodegradable pots (e.g. Jiffy pots, which are made out of some kind
of fibre - designed to minimize transplant shock by allowing one to just
place the whole pot in the ground, or so the package says) in ordinary
potting soil. All six have broken dormancy.

The vendor thought that putting them in pots would be higher risk than
putting them into their bed and perhaps covering them should the
temperatures drop too much. What do you all think?

Cheers,

Ted

"Ted Byers" wrote in message ...
I am wondering if it remains too risky to
put them in their final destination yet, or if I should pot them up and then
in a couple weeks go through the usual process of hardening houseplants that
are to go outside. And if I should put them in pots, would they do well in
those biodegradable pots (e.g. Jiffy pots, which are made out of some kind
of fibre - designed to minimize transplant shock by allowing one to just
place the whole pot in the ground, or so the package says) in ordinary
potting soil. All six have broken dormancy.

The vendor thought that putting them in pots would be higher risk than
putting them into their bed and perhaps covering them should the
temperatures drop too much. What do you all think?

I don't know about Bletillas, but frost will destroy Cypripedium buds
and may harm the vegetation once they have broken dormancy. If they
are already growing, I would be tempted to grow them in pots this year
and plant them out next year. If you have squirrels in your area, you
might want to grow them in pots forever.

What Cypripedium species do you have? Cyp parviflorum and Cyp.
candidum do well in a mix of peat and perlite, or just pure perlite.
Cyp. acaule seems to like a mix of peat and acidic sand.

Nick
--
Nicholas Plummer

I don't know about Bletillas, but frost will destroy Cypripedium buds
and may harm the vegetation once they have broken dormancy. If they
are already growing, I would be tempted to grow them in pots this year
and plant them out next year. If you have squirrels in your area, you
might want to grow them in pots forever.

Given that most of my irises vanished, and some critter used the west end of
the flower bed as a latrine, it may well be an idea to keep them in pots.
But the crocus and lilies seem to not have disappeared. I'll have to think
about it, and perhaps run some tests with plants I don't particularly care
about. But I would like to see them propagate into sizable clumps, though I
have no idea how long that will take.

I doubt the biodegradable pots would last the year, so if I kept them in
pots for the year, should they be in plastic or clay? But then there is the
risk that being in pots, they may develop legs during the night and wander
off, if placed outside. There are, after all, more than a few ethically
challenged plant lovers out there.

What Cypripedium species do you have? Cyp parviflorum and Cyp.
candidum do well in a mix of peat and perlite, or just pure perlite.
Cyp. acaule seems to like a mix of peat and acidic sand.

The list of species just acquired is:
Blettila striata
B. striata var japonica alba
B. ochracea
Cypripedium gisela
C. reginae
C.calceolus var pubescens

Cheers,

Ted

"Ted Byers" wrote in message ...

I doubt the biodegradable pots would last the year, so if I kept them in
pots for the year, should they be in plastic or clay?

Definitely plastic. For C. parviflorum var pubescens and C.
parviflorum var. pariviflorum, I use a 6 inch plastic pot. Currently
I have pure perlite in the bottom inch of the pot and then a mix of
peat, sand, and perlite (approximately 1:1:2). I put the pot in a
saucer with a couple of millimeters of distilled or rain water, so it
remains moist at all times. IIRC, var. pubescens can handle slightly
drier conditions than var. parviflorum, so you could probably do
without the saucer if you water regularly.

Since C. Gisela is a primary hybrid of C. parviflorum, so I would
expect it to do O.K. in similar conditions.

I don't grow C. reginae, because it can't handle our summer
temperatures. But, I seem to recall that Spangle Creek Labs suggests
pure perlite.

But then there is the
risk that being in pots, they may develop legs during the night and wander
off, if placed outside.

Thankfully, I haven't had any problems with humans, but a couple of
small very orchids were hauled away, pot and all, by the squirrels. I
found pieces of chewed pseudobulb at the base of a tree, but I never
did find the pot.

Nick

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