Paph micranthum advice?

[Dalachin]

I just got two small paphiopedilum micranthum. I know people here successfully grow them... any tips? They are potted in chunky mix, looks like bark and perlite and maybe something else, in the standard tall plastic pots that paphs are usually grown in. I'm considering 1) leaving them alone or 2) leaving one alone and potting one in a basket w/ lecca and moss or bark.

Also they seem to get dry really fast, is watering every day or every other day too much? I've read that they should never be dry?

They are on a windowsill where my other cool-intermediate paphs live, and I recently added some small fans so there is better air movement.

[Roberta]

Paphs should never dry out. As long as they drain well, you really can't overwater a Paph. Because they do like to stay damp, they need repotting more often than Catts and such because the medium will break down faster. That's normal. So if they need daily watering to stay damp, they need daily watering...Catts and Phals are epiphytes, Paphs grow more terrestrially.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

Following because I've received one too. Most of information I've read online regarding to micranthum doesn't seems to vary much other than two crucial culture points are that they do want a cool temperature change seasonally and that they produce running stolon that could get trapped and rot if they dig down the media.

After all those horror stories, I repot mine in a small basket pot covered with tape incase I see a stolon trying to wiggle itself down.

[Jmoney]

I don't claim to be an expert but I do love my parvis. Have been growing on windowsills for years and I treat them like most other paphs. They don't want to dry out but you don't want to keep them sopping wet like phrags (better slightly drier I think, especially if you cool them off in the winter). I give them "medium paph" light, more than Maudiae types. The cool rest doesn't seem that necessary to growth, might help some bloom better. I just re-bloomed a micranthum but it took like 3 years for it to mature the new growth (on the harsh windowsill). Some like to stolon, some don't, some do at times if that makes sense.

basically grow it like your other paphs! When they get larger a winter rest may be helpful if they don't want to bloom on their own. But this looks like Sam's cross so I imagine his linebred strain might be easier to grow and bloom.

[tmoney]

we have had good luck with micranthum in semi-hydro. actually, for all paphs we recommend potting in s/h if you are comfortable trying it out. just takes all the guess work out of watering and such. flush 2x per week. easy. keep res full. easy.

in our apartment we placed it in pretty high light - a south window off to one side. got a couple hours of sun in the morning but not enough to burn it, the rest of the time in shade. kept it in pretty high light for most of the winter and now that its getting warm again it moves into our northwest facing window which seems to be great for paphs in summer.

our apartment got cold this winter, but it bloomed in november or so before it was real cold. the temp drops seemed to push it to start a new fan, which is growing slowly and steadily. temps were down around 13 c at night. they are slowish growers, so don't fret if growth is slow or it takes awhile to begin a new fan after flowering.

all in all, pretty good starter paphs that don't seem too fussy. good luck!!