Droopy looking Paphiopedilum (with weird bumps)

[NYCorchidman]

Bean sprout paph. lol

[Dendy83]

I bought a desk lamp for my collection of orchids, I got this one here:

Sunlight Desk Lamp

No idea if this is the light they need, but it looks "officey" and I just tilt the head of the lamp down so it doesn't shine into people's faces. I even hooked it up to an automatic timer so it turns off when the sun is up after I leave work and then it turns on when the sun rises before I get there.

My suggestion would be to leave it there and just get a desk lamp for it, orchids do what they want to do.

[Fairorchids]

I received a couple of seedlings with that growth pattern last fall. After I got them into the greenhouse, they stopped stretching. Now I am waiting to se where the new growths will start, so I can repot them at the correct depth for the new growths.

[jenilee]

Okay, it's been home for about 6 months now...getting plenty of indirect sun and it (and its small paph friend) are both looking sad and droopy again!!!

What have I done

The horribly yellow leaf is burnt, meaning too much sun right? But if it's too much sun (which it's ONLY indirect, but a lot) why are the others laying there like limp floppy fish....

Will I ever get a hang of this or am I doomed to kill everything I bring home???

[NYCorchidman]

Wow~ Your bean sprout paph is still growing like a...corn stalk! lol

The other guy, well, to me that yellowing is not due to too much light.
It is just slowly dying.
Older growths usually stick around for a number of years before turning yellow/brown and then dying, although some paphs terminate the older growth sooner than others.
I do see that there is a new growth going, so continue to care for it. Some paphs just maintain one growth.

I see that it needs to be repotted though. The potting mix looks very bad and some of the roots look not so great either.
I recommend repotting. Also, when you do, take a good look at the roots. If you see even one healthy long root, then no need to worry yet.

Also, did you ever fertilize this plant?
I read that plants can terminate sooner than they should when they don't get enough K.

Just some thoughts.

[jenilee]

Would now be an okay time to switch it over to LECA? I'm slowly moving all my orchids over (unless that's a bad idea....)

Fertilizer.....I hate to admit it but no....best I've done is some plant food foam from Home Depot once or twice.....

I know I need to be better about the additional chemicals but it just seems like rocket science!!!

[NYCorchidman]

I would recommend against LECA for these paphs.
Orchiata or CHC (coconut husk chips) mixed with LECA or lava rock, these are the most commonly used mix for paphs and for good reasons.