New Paph Maudiae femma culture question.

[bil]

Wandered into the orchid emporium (it's grand for here) and saw they had a couple of these.. Thought I would give it a chance.

Now is it fair to say that these have light requiremennts the same as a miltonopsis, or a phal?

Likewise water. I understand they are wetter than a phal, so are they the same as for milts or wetter?

I'm phrasing the question thus, because it's easier to place it on a spectrum of needs than say it needs ths and that.

Does that make sense?

[PaphMadMan]

I'm not very familiar with growing Miltoniopsis, so I will avoid making comparisons there. But compared to Phals I would say this type of Paph is both more sensitive to being too dry AND more sensitive to being too wet. Even moisture, never soggy, never dry, with perfect drainage in a slightly more water retentive mix than Phals. Does that help?

For light, most of this type of Paph hybrid will do just fine with the same light as typical Phals, but may do even better if you gradually get them used to a bit more light.

[WhiteRabbit]

I'm far from a Paph expert, but have a (very) few. I would say definitely less water than Miltoniopsis. Mine have done better when the media is only just quite lightly moist before being watered again.

[bil]

My problem is that here I tend to have very distinct areas with very few inbetween spots, so fine adjustments are hard.
I have the greenhouse, in which the Catts & dens live year round. It's very hot, and bright with 50% shade. It will kill thin leaves.

Then there's the half shade, far too bright for phals, but the thin leaves like oncidiums and milts do fine.

Finally there's the phal area, not full shade, but close.

So when it comes to adjusting light, I have problems.

The plants that can't take high heat levels have to come out of the greenhouse as soon as the frost danger is over so the Paph will have to join them. The question is, will 50% shade be OK if it is OK for thin leaves like Milts?

[dbarron]

I'm a paph newbie, but I'd say the water needs for a paph are mainly higher because of the danger of overpotting (and thus small pots). I water my paphs generally about as often as I water the miltonia, but there's less media involved...if that makes sense.

[bil]

Originally Posted by dbarron

I'm a paph newbie, but I'd say the water needs for a paph are mainly higher because of the danger of overpotting (and thus small pots). I water my paphs generally about as often as I water the miltonia, but there's less media involved...if that makes sense.

What exactly is the danger from overpotting? I assume you mean the core of the medium not drying out?

I stick to large diameter very shallow pots with no sphagnum moss and fast drainage, so hopefully that isn't going to be a problem.

[dbarron]

As long as the soil volume isn't excessive from large diameter pots....that culture should suit well, they tend to like to root in oxygenated soil it seems.
I'm using 3 inch square pots (just because that's what they came in) for a currently blooming Paph villosum and 4 inch circular oxy pots for several mature complex hybrids.
They don't produce (typically) just tons of roots, but rather long fat ones somewhat reminiscent of phals.
I water when dry (about every 4-5 days this time of year) and about every 3 days when outside in the summer. Better to err on the side of dryness, if you view your plants frequently, you can tell from leaf turgor/texture/color when it's time to water.

[bil]

Wow! Those are very small pots. Does it cause problems with the roots curling round on each other?

I find that when I put other types of orchids in bigger pots, the roots spread out like crazy!

Some of my Catts are in trays that are about 18 inches long, and their roots are all the way to the far end, and are now on the way back.

[dbarron]

Originally Posted by bil

Wow! Those are very small pots. Does it cause problems with the roots curling round on each other?

I find that when I put other types of orchids in bigger pots, the roots spread out like crazy!

Some of my Catts are in trays that are about 18 inches long, and their roots are all the way to the far end, and are now on the way back.

You gotta know that I'm talking about 1-3 sympodial growths, and the roots on paphs aren't really excessive. When I've dug wild terrestial orchids like Spiranthes, it's amazing that the few thick roots can actually support the top growth. The same goes for the paphs...how do those few fat roots DO it ?

Many of my oncidiums and dendrobiums have far more root mass than the paphs.

I will be repotting the 3 inchers this spring to a 4 inch though...but they seem pretty happy, and it's not usually a good idea to pot up too much.

Like many other orchids, the roots only live so long, and are not permanent like a tree root would be. Each growth has it's own roots, which are usually only a few fat roots less than six inches long.