Being a Paph owner for a week

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

[Leafmite]

I am new with paphs, too. You have likely seen this being on slipper talk but here is a great source of information for a beginner:
Quick Start - Buying and Growing Your First Paph.

On the bottom is the 'home' link.

I have Paph. Petula's Ghost x callosum x maudiae (?) and Paph Lynnleigh Koopowitz, both easy beginner's hybrids. I really love the hairy roots and pretty leaves, the real reason I bought them. I am not so sure I like the flowers. We shall see.

[The Mutant]

Yup, I've read through that article since it was a very good one for a total newbie like myself. Lucky me I managed to start with one of those species NOT on the "Good beginners' Paphs"-list.


I've also been told that the maudiae-type hybrids are good as beginners' Paphs, so my "Schwartze Madonna" is a good choice, as is my either villosum or gratrixianum. My lil' bullenianum is not on the list though - good thing I'm working on providing the best water possible for my chids.

Now all that is left is to start watering it... Any day now...

[glengary54]

Mutant - why have you not watered your plant yet?

[ElenaMarie]

Oh how fun! It looks wonderful Mutant. You must've made it very happy for the spike to be coming along like that.

We can be paph newbies together. I have two, but the Pinocchio just arrived last week and it's still acclimating. I can't wait to see a bloom.

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by glengary54

Mutant - why have you not watered your plant yet?

I was waiting for this question and am surprised it didn't appear sooner.

I don't know if you can see it, but in the comparison pictures you can see the moisture on the inside of the pot and that there was still so much left yesterday, that I didn't feel it was necessary to water it. I've kept the humidity raised around the Paph which could be one of the reasons it has taken over a week for the medium to dry out. This despite the Paph getting a couple of hours direct sunlight in the morning.

Today though, it's watering time!

Originally Posted by ElenaMarie

Oh how fun! It looks wonderful Mutant. You must've made it very happy for the spike to be coming along like that.

We can be paph newbies together. I have two, but the Pinocchio just arrived last week and it's still acclimating. I can't wait to see a bloom.

Yay! Another Paph newbie!

I'm thrilled that the spike is still growing, especially since it apparently can be a bit tricky to get to complete its spikes. And the new growth and the growing root tip (it's fuzzy!) I discovered also make me very happy. This guy also arrived last week, but seems to have acclimated very quickly to my conditions.

Good luck to you too and remember to spam the forum with pictures as soon as a spike appears!

[Neferet]

Since we are talking about Paphs here's my personal experience.

This is my very first orchid. A Paph NOID my father got from a local floral exhibition. It was on bloom back then and after a couple of months we left the house for summer vacation and someone closed all the light in the room where it was sitting for a week. As a result the spike dried out and i was forced to cut it. I have never made it bloom ever since and it's going to be a year without a bloom next month!

I have made a promise to myself not to buy a new Paph until i get this one to bloom! It's currently sitting in a bark/lava/coco mix and it's been growing leaves etc it's almost double in size but no bloom yet .

[camille1585]

I got my first Paph last fall (after growing orchids for already 5 years) and just my luck that I ended up with a somewhat difficult one, a roth primary hybrid! It's growing well though, I just hope it'll bloom!

[The Mutant]

I had planned to wait for at least a year before getting myself a Paph, but those plans were destroyed the second I laid eyes on this beauty. Curse you Swedish orchid board! *shakes fist*

I'm sure it will, you seem to have a way with your Phals after all. I can't take any credit for the spike on mine so my job is to keep it growing so it might eventually bloom.

[Susie11]

I have just received my orchid order, two paphs and one bulbo. I am so happy with them. They are so small but perfectly formed. Now for the blooms...