Anyone who has ever seen lady's slippers in their natural habitat, is always impressed by how large these plants can grow in nature.

Who hasn't seen large import plants from Paph. hangianum, Paph. emersonii etc., which, taken in culture, become smaller and smaller over time.

A possible reason for this could be insufficient fertilizer for these plants. A soil sample I brought from Mount Kinabalu (Sabah, Malaysia, Borneo) from the Paph site. volonteanum could provide clues for fertilization:

Soil analyse from Mesilau (pig hill)

➡️  (organic substance) 7,4 %

The high content of calcium, magnesium and trace elements is striking.

It would lead too far at this point to go into the ingredients of the fertilizer, I have posted a few articles for that on this website.

Another way to remedy the culture weakness of individual species is to breed these species using in vitro culture. When sowing the individual species, the plants are "accustomed" to the fertilizers used in plant breeding via the usual culture media. The first successes are already visible.

For further information on the subject of fertilizers, click on the box provided under "Culture". As time goes on, you will find more and more articles about culture here.

Have fun while reading.