Cypripediums

Cypripedium acaule is said to be very difficult to maintain in Germany. Soil with more than 4.5 PH results in rotting away.
I try to establish some mycorrhiza on its floater. I have a lot of Sphagnum on there and one willow species. A maple tree has seeded there too and some Erica tetralix grows too.
I got it summer 2021.There was another plant which did not turn up 2022. Until last autumn I always checked the water to have an PH well between 3 and 4 as recommended from fellow growers here.
They do it with vinegar or citric acid. Rainwater is here between 6 and 6.5.
I hoped that my Sphagnum reactor will keep the soil in a healthy condition for this species.
This year the bud is already visible.
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I bought in March some invitro Cypripedium calceolus. The were already for some time in the fridge.
I planted them when they came. The offer was quite generous.
5 plants were in the offer with two shoots minimum per plant. Price was less than 20 € altogether.
I got 7 plants and some hat 4-6 shoots. Only one with two shoots.
I planted them on some of my islands with substrate from a old garden where once this species was growing for more than thirty years.

They did not rot but did not budge for some month. Two weeks ago they decided to do me a favor.

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Now
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Cypripedium acaule died back early this year beginning August. Some people told me it is dead, because I did no more acid treatment.
A friend told me that he had Ph of about 4 or less on one of my Sphagnum islands he keeps without any acid treatment. I should look, if it is alive.
So I dug a little bit and it looks like it always did at this time. A small white shoot is coming up.

My first hydroponic Cypripedium reginae device was made with the wrong fleece. Organic material which decayed within a few years.
This summer the Cypripedium reginae in this mortar tub died back already in August.
I was worried a bit.
Today I repaired it with synthetic fleece. A complete new setup. The Cypripedium were not dead.
I hope for a strong recovery the following years.
It is in German but I hope google translator will mend this and the pictures speak for themself.
 
My small patch of C parviflorum is flowering now. I planted a single growth point back in fall/winter of 2022 and it looks like it's developing nicely.
There's also a single growth point C reginae on the other side of the garden that was planted last fall and is just starting to come up now. Still too soon to tell if it's going to flower this year or not.
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