This is a wall of text from one Paph murderer to try and prevent others from making the same mistakes that I have, and hopefully keeping the Paph casualties to a minimum.
Background story to this post
Yesterday, my Paph. acmodontum, went to the great jungle in orchid heaven. This is one species I've struggled with ever since I got it, and it was down to its last fan (it had three BS ones when I got it), when I finally managed to figure out how to treat it. This was about less than a year ago.
It continued to decline, but it finally started to come around this autumn. It increased in growth speed, and finally it felt thoroughly rooted. To celebrate this, I dropped it about a week ago, and that was a setback it couldn't recover from.
The victims
Here's a list of my victims so far (only been a Paph killer for 2¾ years):
Paph. acmodontum
Paph. barbatum var. nigritum
Paph. helenae
Paph. mastersianum
Paph. philippinense var. roebelenii
Paph. rothschildianum (a very nice cross from Orchid Inn)
Paph. stonei
Paph. superbiens
Paph. urbanianum
Paph. villosum
Paph. Wössner vietnam Star
Paph. Maudiae 'Schwarze Madonna'
The whys and hows
Now, to the different reasons why I have managed to kill so many (it's a skill, a negative one, but still a skill):
1) Inexperience. Before I started with Paphs, I had only grown Phals. I had never grown orchids that wanted to be constantly moist but not wet, so I overwatered a lot in the beginning. Some of the Paphs never recovered from this, and eventually died.
2) Ignorance. I didn't read enough about the different species I bought, or I didn't manage to put the theoretical knowledge to good use. Some things didn't click until now, almost 3 years later.
I lost my first roebelenii due to root rot, since I didn't realize they want a very draining/airy substrate (at least in my conditions they do). I almost lost my lowii to the same thing, before the fact that both of these species can be found growing on trees, finally took hold. This meant more air circulation around the roots. My lowii is now growing roots and growing more in general, and my new roebelenii is also doing well.
3) Overwatering. I've already mentioned this once, but since I still suffer from a very enthusiastic mindset when it comes to drenching my poor Paphs, it's still a problem. Especially if coupled with too a fine graded substrate to some that shouldn't have it, and not enough air circulation in the pots. I'm trying to restrain myself from watering too often, and I've also started to drill holes near the bottom of the larger pots (or to species that appreciate more air circulation around the roots).
The biggest help with my watering issue, was to insert a skewer into every pot, and using the skewers to feel when it's time to water.
Another thing that have helped, is to plant the Paphs in coarser substrate than before (not as coarse as my Phals), i.e adapting my mix to suit my watering habits.
4) Starting with the wrong plants. I started with mostly very young plants and species. I don't think I have EVER seen anyone recommend a newbie to start with species baby plants. All I can say is; don't (unless you want to beat me in number of victims).
Oh, but Mutant, you've killed BS plants and hybrids too, you might think. That's because I'm special and capable of killing anything with my pitch black hands (some people have green thumbs; I bring death), especially if it's labelled as 'easy'.
5) Non-optimal conditions/wrong culture: Some got too much light, some too fine graded substrate, some got too much water, some were kept too cold... I could go on and on about this. All these points correlate with each other, as for example, a well established mutligrowth hybrid Paph, would probably have dealt with my non-optimal conditions and flooding better than a baby species plant.
Another thing I discovered, which happens during winter in my apartment, is that condensation form inside the pots (the substrate can be bone dry on one half, and filled with condensation on the other). This condensation is a heaven for a very aggressive and nasty fungus/mold that attacks growing root tips and causes root rot at an alarming speed. I almost lost my urbanianum and my gardineri to this last year. The only thing killing this mold/fungi, is bleach (repotting doesn't work). I tried Physan 20 first, but could just as well have used plain water...
This year I figured out a way to deal with this problem. The best way is to drill holes near the bottoms of the pots and increase the air circulation. Another method to prevent it from happening that works for me is to move the plants away from the windows during night. This seems to even out the moisture inside the pots, and no nasty mold/fungi gets a hold. I saved the 7 growing roots on one of my roths by doing this.
If this mold/fungi gets a hold, it's very hard to get rid of, just so you know.
6) Depression and neglect. Well, you don't function optimally when depressed and 4 of my victims' deaths were directly or indirectly caused by me being depressed. Two of them weren't even sick, they were just very ugly looking after my false mites infestation, with accompanying fungus invasion, and treatment of both issues. At that point in time, I couldn't stand seeing what was left of two beautiful Paphs after living with me for a while. I felt like the crappiest Paph owner ever and I was seriously considering tossing ALL my plants, so I'm glad they were the only victims.
The conclusion
I think it's quite safe to say that I AM a pretty crappy Paph owner/grower, but hopefully I've learned something from all of this, and those that managed to read my wall of text without falling asleep, might have learned something too.
TL;DR
I've killed a lot of Paphs and will keep doing it, because I apparently learn by killing. Don't repeat my mistakes, please.
The serial Paph killer (wall of text)...
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