Cypripedium acaule may take up to 5 years to bloom, maybe more, depending on the age of the tuber. The inexpensive cost OFTEN means they have been wild dug which is illegal in many areas. They tend to be expensive from nurseries because growers have to care for them for years before they are blooming size. Please protect our nations wildflowers! Thanks!
I have a question- hypothetically, could someone dig up a native pink lady slipper (in blume) and transplant it into a terrarium that houses red spotted eft newts? And the lady slipper actually thriving...
Cyp. Acaule is almost impossible to grow in cultivation. I've been told the plant has a symbiosis with microbs within the soil and if it isn't present then it will not survive. I have scads of these growing wild around my woodlands and I have attempted to move some to my garden, even bringing soil from its location... but they never survive. If you have the opportunity to grow Cypripedium Parviflorum (yellow lady slipper) you'll have much better success, this one easily adapted to my garden conditions and didn't seem to need any special care other than a fairly acid soil (6.0)... it returns each year and has multiplied to a colony of 15 from the original 2 (this is over a 20 year period). My location is Virginia (mountains), my soil is clay, my zone is 6-7, and average rainfall is about 50 inches a year.
Yeah that’s what I’ve heard. Maybe next time I’ll try the parviflorum next time. My acaule grew pretty well this time around but they didn’t flower. We’ll see how to they do next spring.
Not necessarily. The fungal relationship is more needed earlier in their lives. After a certain age, they don't need it as much if at all. I have seen plenty of people have success with this plant as long as you provide very acidic soils, (peat and pine straw is a good mix, with a bit of construction sand). There is a lot of misinfo about these because the conservation depts. want people to leave them be.
I’ve been looking at these from the same seller, it’s an uncommon item. I found lady slippers in the woods when I was young all the time. Though I love hikes I haven’t encountered one since my teens. This plant has been my unicorn for decades. It is my understanding that they do not flower every year and that it takes approx. 4 years to produce the first bloom. Perhaps these are young and need more time. I have no expertise with orchids in general but I am trying to learn and hope to grow these successfully. Someone who sells seeds informed me that having fungus is crucial for any orchid. You may need to be more patient, years rather than a season if the info I found is correct.
Would be cool to see your videos in steady pace. Yes. You do say you will upload more often. 🤣🤣🤣 anyway, if it grows there, would you say it would grow outside in PNW?
So cool. I remember seeing those (or something like them) in Ontario when I was a kid. Do they need a cold dormancy period? Or can they just keep on going in an indoor environment?
Yeah they’re really cool looking. Yes you’re exactly right, they need a cold winter. After I filmed the video I realized I didn’t even really talk about the seasonal care, but I’ll do a follow up vid in a few weeks.
