Strange Paph new growth behavior

[Orchidreamer]

I received a mature Paph Bel Royal that...apart from broken leaves...has two big growths that actually aren't connected to each other. The problem is, there are no new growths or any eyes that I can see, except for some small "seedlings" that are located a couple inches from the two big growths. At first, I thought they were just random seedlings growing in the same pot, but upon further inspection, they might as well be stolons, or offshoots -- I *think* they're connected to the main plant via some underground stem.

Now, I know Parvi paphs like micranthum and armeniacum love putting out stolons. However, are stolons considered "normal behavior" of rothchildianum/kolopakingii hybrids? Is it possible that the two main growths lost their new growths/growing eyes, so as a last ditch effort to put out future growths, they just create stolons? I ask that because the two main growths look like they're aging, for example, the lower leaves are turning yellowish. And also, because the stolons are pretty small, they will take much longer to reach blooming size compared to normal new growths...

[Ray]

I will not claim to be an expert, but paphs are sympodial, so the growths are attached to each other via a rhizome. I suppose it's possible that the rhizome length can vary among species...

[RosieC]

I don't know, but I would guess the same as Ray. A long rhizome running under the medium.

[Orchidreamer]

Ok never mind, those three "seedlings" are in fact seedlings, because they aren't connected to the main growths in any way. So instead of a 5-growth plant, I have 5 plants with 1 growth each.

Thanks for the replies though. On a related note, my micranthum put out a new stolon!

[jeremyinsf]

Paph's do his in general though, just FYI. Or, they can, I should say.

I have several that have naturally split into what appears to be multiple plants, with a long rhizome between the two (or three in some cases) visible growths. Upon closer inspection, you can see where there used to be active growths, blooms, etc, on these more mature (sometimes, very mature) plants.

The orchid I've had the longest, a TJ's paph, just did this very thing this year :-)

[ALToronto]

Some vendors will put small plants together to make it appear as if they're selling you a mature plant. I've been taken by this as well. A less nefarious reason could be that the two big growths simply broke off from each other during a previous repotting.

[digriz]

Paphs will send out runners, is it one of those? I have one doing that now, at first I thought it was a weed.

[RosieC]

Interesting, not seem runners, so good to know they can do it.

[kindrag23]

Cool and good info! I love this board

[digriz]

Yeah, if you google it there are some pictures of it.

This is a picture of mine. NOID Paph, the one in the foreground is the runner, it doesn't look like the rest of the plant, the fan in the background is the newest fan which is sending up a spike at the moment. The runner has some root nubs. Someone suggested wrapping the runner with wet sphagnum moss to see if the roots would establish themselves more.