Cultural differences - green vs. mottled leaf Paphs.

[Lagoon]

It'll be great to have a few photos to glance at, Help to see the conditions of the leaves.

Shannan, with all my paphs and phrags - I do keep them all moist the phrags more so of course. But the paphs aswell. Curious about the seedling mix though

I do have my paphs in small bark with peatmoss also perlite. Moisture is great but it's important to have good drainage also. I'm not telling you this as new information but rather just letting you know what mine are growing well in - moist with good drainge, so even if you do overwater (not saying you have) but with perlite or the idea of a more open mixture, it's more forgiving if they get to much water at times.

I seem to be having alot of troubles posting to day -- think I'll knock off now and wait for the photo's during the week

[Ross]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

If you can warm those babies up you might have better results. Have you seen those electric seedling mats over there? They are designed for germinating seeds. They look kind of like a little heating pad. You put it under your seedlings and it keeps the root zone warm. Might be worth a try??

Be careful with these! I have used them, and sometimes recommend them. They can lead to mold in the planting mix, though. The bottom heat encourages mold in bark mixes.

[shakkai]

Terri, Thanks for the information and suggestions! I have one of those that I can use, if need be. Though I prefer not to waste the electricity. If these ones will not grow in my conditions, I would rather find them a good new home.

Ross, thanks for the warning.

I will keep them in the warmest part of the house, and if they still look like they are declining, then I shouldn't be growing them.

Gloria, thanks so much again for all of your thoughts and information! The seedling mix that I am using came from Ratcliffe Orchids, and its the same mix that they use for their Paph seedlings, its a small bark, perlite, and charcoal mix.

I'm beginning to think that the fact that St Swithin is doing okay is a fluke, and that I just don't have the right conditions for these - Gwen, you're going to have to grow these types for me!!

I went and took some photos. The difference in the size of the pots reflects the difference in the root systems, not just the leaves. I got both of the seedlings at the same time just over a year ago. When I got them, they were both the same size.

Note, this photo turned out darker than in real life... the leaves are greener than in the photo, maybe tomorrow I can get pics in natural light.

[gmdiaz]

Shannan, I don't know. . they both look great to me! I wouldn't worry about them growing at different rates. . .just like people, sometimes, it just takes time to get their groove thing.

Hang in there. . .maybe they're doing better than you think they are!

[Donald]

Hi everyone. I'm having a difficuly time getting my Phrags and Paphs to bloom. The plants are in excellent condition as far as color root condition etc. but they grow very slowly and haven't bloomed in three years. They spent the summer outdoors and are now under lights. They are in fresh bark and are kep moist. Any help, needless to say, would be greatly appreciated.
Donald Worcester, MA

[cloudswinger]

You can read the culture data sheets here: Paphiopedilum Data Sheets

So the rothschildianum grows in ultra-basic rock. Maybe you need to adjust your ph for those hybrids.

I also had one Phap that wasn't growing compared to the others, but once it hit Oct, it started growing. It just seems to have a different growing season, and once I compared the culture pages (look at the section on Habitat Data - water) it became obvious why.

[Lagoon]

Donald,

For non blooming orchids lighting it the first thing I would look at - assuming they are mature enough to bloom.
When was the last time you repotted?
Paphs & phrags have a low tolerence to stale media, they rather enjoy transplanting.

Some paphs are slow growing while some others are quicker. You're phrags should be growing pretty fast.

Do you have any ID's we could work with and or photos?