Need help and advice with Paphiopedilum

[Optimist]

Okay, sorry. There is a special bark mix for phaphs.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by lotis146

How cool that you have the same hyrid! The flower really is striking. I was under the impression when I bought it that they don't flower for long, I was even told that it may not flower again. Glad to be learning that this is not necessarily the case. It does have really pretty mottled leaves though which I quite enjoy.

I do think that I let it dry out too much and I think Optimist has a point in that I over-mothered it, much as someone else said I over-corrected. These are the things I believe contributed to the new growth giving up but I'm keeping an eye on it now that I've repotted it.

As I said before I repotted it back into the ceramic with holes with some moss. Some of the holes are bigger so I can reach my finger in and feel the moisture of the medium, however I do need to keep in mind that the roots are shallow as you said. It has about 5-6 roots; I did do some trimming of them as parts of the roots were pretty mushy and/or hollow feeling.

The bark chunks themselves are I'd say medium pieces but those of the other mix with charcoal and what-not are a bit smaller. So far it seems to be doing okay since I've repotted. The leaves seem a bit more rigid than I remember them to be prior to repotting.

It only has one growth at the moment and the new one that started and stopped. It's a little guy. How big is yours? One question I have is, how long should I keep it fairly shaded since the repot? All of my Orchids are about 3-4 feet from an East window. In the morning the light is very bright with I'd say about an 1 or 2 in this season of more direct light. I understand that Paphs prefer a bit more shade than say my Phals, is this too much or just right and I should worry about in the summer? Mind you I did get this plant last Spring, I'd say mid to late spring and opened the blinds every morning to let the sun in.

Thanks for your advice, glad to know you have the same hybrid. It's amazing to me that this is even so when I'm learning just how many different hybrids there are. Seems kind of crazy really. :-)

Cheers!

And thank you to everyone else as well. Since I've already repotted I'm going to leave it be as it is. If I don't see any positive changes, i.e. growth, I will consider repotting again into a different pot and medium but for now we'll see.

Pat Rowland is used a lot for large white/green flowering paphiopedilums. I have a few hybrids involving Pat Rowland, two of which are the same as yours.
They both have pretty leaves, which I love looking at everyday! These types of paphs will generally stay about 8 in leaf span (from one end to the other end of the entire plant), so not that big really.

Given your description, I think you underwatered your paph too much when it needed the most water, thus causing the plant to stop growing the new fan.
Usually the halted new fan will stay that way, and the plant start a totally new one when it is ready.

Now that you have your paph in a rather chunky mix (medium grade bark is way too big for these paphs), you want to water very often. Paphs should not be dry any time. always moist is the key. not wet, but moist.
If you have moss mixed in well with the bark, then it is much better than straight medium grade bark as moss will stay moist longer than the bark.
If bark chip is about 1/2 in or smaller, I wouldn't repot again. Frequent change is not good for the plant, but of course, right mix is also crucial.

I grow mine in straight sphagnum moss or orchiata, or coconut husk chip with lava rock.
I water them at least once a week with daily misting on top of the pot for those with shallow roots.
I water more than once a week during hot seasons or when plants are in active growth.

There are so many hybrids, but they all came from 4 or 5 species (not surprisingly, many of these hybrids look awful lot alike!) basically people keep mixing this and that in trying to come up with something better.

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[lotis146]

That is amazing that they came from only about 4 or 5, wow, nature is incredible.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It still seems to be fine. If it starts to look worse for the wear then I may repot again and use more moss or a more hydrating mix. I feel pretty good about what I've got going now. That's too bad that the fan may not start to regrow again. I think I want to measure it and watch it obsessively! Lol.

I've already followed the tip of misting the surface more often for the shallow roots.

Cheers!
Lotis

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[NYCorchidman]

All the best!

[lotis146]

Update!

I'm so so happy I joined OrchidBoard! Although my wallet and possibly boyfriend may not be! LOL.

Since I last posted in this thread I picked up Paph. 'Pink Fred' which had multiple buds on one spike. At present it has one bloom & another getting ready to open in a few days probably, with two MUCH smaller buds chilling.

BUT, this Paph. I posted about does appear to be doing well, even if slowly. The second growth I spoke of has long since started growing again. In fact in the last couple of days I've noticed another leaf growing up out of the center of this growth. I'm not sure exactly how these grow as this is my first encounter with Paph.s and new growth but I will post a picture soon. I'm so, so happy and grateful it is still alive.

Cheers!
Lotis

[NYCorchidman]

Congrats on the bloom and also the progress on the other paph.

In general, these plants are quite vigorous growers, but there are always some that are slower than others, and some are frustratingly slow.

This slow growing habit can improve as the plant ages and add more growths, but some will always be super slow.

Good way to tell which one will be better grower is to select the one with one or two new fans already going.
Even the single growth plant with no new growth at the time of purchase may start a new fan as soon as flower is finished, but you never know as I have had some slow ones which took almost a year to initiate a new fan and grew very very slowly. I was so impatient and tossed it. The flower was that great, so it just wasn't worth it overall. lol

I now have about two or three that are not showing any signs of new growth in the past 5 months and I'm thinking hmmm who has to go first. hahaha
I hope they heard me. lol

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Congrats on the bloom and also the progress on the other paph.

In general, these plants are quite vigorous growers, but there are always some that are slower than others, and some are frustratingly slow.

This slow growing habit can improve as the plant ages and add more growths, but some will always be super slow.

Good way to tell which one will be better grower is to select the one with one or two new fans already going.
Even the single growth plant with no new growth at the time of purchase may start a new fan as soon as flower is finished, but you never know as I have had some slow ones which took almost a year to initiate a new fan and grew very very slowly. I was so impatient and tossed it. The flower was that great, so it just wasn't worth it overall. lol

I now have about two or three that are not showing any signs of new growth in the past 5 months and I'm thinking hmmm who has to go first. hahaha
I hope they heard me. lol

Good to know! This one I'm pretty sure did not start its new growth right after the flower died. Then not long after it did start (gosh maybe 4-6 months?) I was under-watering it and the growth stopped. Once I got advice here and repotted the growth started SLOWLY again. I'll post a pic tomorrow perhaps just for show 'n' tell. The main leaf of the new fan grew out then seemed to stop or slow...?...now there's another leaf coming up the middle, just the tip. (My 'Pink Fred' just opened a second bloom (slightly smaller than first) and has an even smaller 3rd and SUPER DUPER tiny 4th. The new growth on it, there when I purchased, has not grown at all past it just being obvious.)

Thanks for your interest & information!
Lotis

[lexusnexus]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

I use skewers in all my orchids to determine when to water.

Sorry, newbie type question. How is the skewer used to determine when to water, and where do you insert it?

[Sekhmet121]

Originally Posted by lexusnexus

Sorry, newbie type question. How is the skewer used to determine when to water, and where do you insert it?

You just poke it into your media for a few seconds then pull it out and see if it comes back moist or dry. It's rather like using a toothpick to check to see if a cake is done.

At least that's what I do. It takes out the guess work of deciding if the media is actually dry or there is water lurking beneath that dry top layer.

... Of course I'm a newbie, too, so my method might not be completely on the ball.

[RandomGemini]

You're supposed to leave the skewer in the media and try to get it as close to the center of the pot as possible, without disturbing roots. Then you only pull it out, to check if the plant needs watered.