Diagnosis please

[Rothie]

I'm a novice.I've had this Paph for about 3 weeks.It is outside on the deck in no direct sun ,except for about 15 minutes around 3PM.It is a Better Gro orchid and I use Better Grow Orchid Plus fertilizer(20-14-13)at ¼ strength once a week.I drench the Orchid in RO/DI water and then use a spray bottle to apply the fertilizer to the medium(spag)and roots.I'm loosing 1 leaf per week.They start out with what I thought was sunburn,but continue to yellow and die.Am I keeping the plant too wet?Or is this something else?
TIA,
Sue

[BikerDoc5968]

Paphs, like many other orchids, are sensitive to moisture on the leaves. While it doesn't sound like you're getting the plant wet, some of the brown spots look like possible mold damage. Being in FL and having warm temps and higher humidity can be a problem, especially with molds. Since you keep it outside, I'm prettty sure you have good air circulation. And yes paphs like moist but not soaking wet...I'm sure someone else with more experience will weigh in on this

[Ross]

I'll bet that's due to sunburn. My experience with Florida sun is that even the shady areas are brighter than "up north". While Paphs can tolerate pretty bright light, even the few minutes down south seem to be too much. Yellowing lower leaves are normally nothing to worry about as the older fans will shed the leaves slowly from the bottom, but that big yellow spot high on one of the leaves looks like a result of sun. Just my two cents.

[ronaldhanko]

Is it possible you have it potted too deeply? I've noticed (and heard) that Paphs do not like to be too deep in their medium. You don't say whether you obtained it as it's shown or whether you potted it yourself, but it seems to be buried quite deeply in the sphagnum.

[Rothie]

This is the original pot,and the spag looks pretty fresh.

[Gin]

I would remove some of the Spag. to just a little below the leaf junctions so the base of the leaves are not covered by it . Gin

[Lagoon]

What Ron & Gin said .... Ditto on the sphag

[Roy]

Definitely potted too deep and the biggest problem is the Spag moss. It takes very special conditions and skill to grow Paphs in spag moss only. The results are showing in the plant. I would repot them into a different mix right away. The spag to me look stale also. Fertilizing will add to the plant leaf loss also while they are in this condition.

[Rothie]

I removed the plant from the pot.It was potted quite deep in the spag.Here are some pics of the roots.Are these healthy for a Paph?The Walmart in town had no Orchid mix.The next closest garden center is an hour away,so I will have to repot it back in the spag.

[Gin]

Roots look good , How about Lowes the one here has 2 diffrent bark mixes one is straight bark the other has perlite and charcoal that is the one I use if in a pinch . Gin