Need help and advice with Paphiopedilum

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I have this very same hybrid and I love it because it has probably the biggest flower I ever seen!

This type of paph is generally easy to grow and bloom. Regarding the new fan (growth) not developing any further, did you keep your plant too dry? There must have been something that upset the plant growth.

Yellowing of leaves can be natural, especially when it starts with the oldest, the bottom most, leaf.

How much root did this plant have?
Dark brown can also be normal for paphs. I think I see this more often with plants potting in old bark mix. The dark color is just dirt I believe or stain from the dirt as I do not see this dark dark brown on my paphs planted in fresh bark or other mix.
They might very well be alive though. The best way to tell is to GENTLY feel the roots with your fingers.
If they are somewhat firm (do not squeeze them too hard), then they are alive. The dead ones will be hollow.

How large is bark chips in your mix? I would not use too big particles. It simply dries out too quickly and paphs do not want that. Of course, there is a way around it. Water more often.
Since you mixed in some moss, I think it should stay a bit more moist.

Remember, when the potting mix particle is very fine, the skewer method to detect the "wetness" of the mix is very helpful, but the larger the particle, the less accurate it is.

How many growth does your have? Was there only one growth? How many roots? Usually single growth plant do not yet have many roots.
This is important to know when and how to water your plant.
For paphs with shallow roots, I mist the top inch or so of the potting mix often (even daily as it is dry in my apartment except for summer) because if I were to water regularly, say once a week or once every five days, the top portion where most of the roots are will dry out in one day or two while the rest of the mix stays moist which doesn't do any good to the roots as there are none down there.

Once roots grow all over in the pot, then this may not be necessary, although I do mist the top just a little bit between watering, just not as much.

This paph should stay in bloom at last for one month up to three months. So I think you must have bought yours near the end of its bloom life span.
Each new growth should flower. This can happen once a year until it gets to a certain size, which then will start blooming more often.

I hope yours survive.

Good luck!

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.