My First Paph

[quiltergal]

Complex Paphs can be a little trickier to grow than some of the other Paphs. For something different you might like Magic Lantern. It's a good clumper, and the fans take a really long time (years) before they die off. Another one I really like is Judge Philip (Paph. Pinocchio X Paph. philippinense). It has longish twirly petals with a striped dorsal and the soft coloring of Pinocchio.

[slipperfreak]

Originally Posted by Rosiefuture

Thanks Joe, could you tell me some names of paph's that do form clumps? I might buy another and see how I do with that. I'm not giving up on this one yet though.

Marion

Most Paphs other than complex hybrids will form clumps. Among the fastest to multiply are species like callosum and barbatum. The Maudiae type hybrids are usually very vigorous as well. Pinocchio is also a fast grower and good clumper in my experience, as are many of the Parvi x Cochlo hybrids like Deperle and Satin Smoke.

[cnarciso]

That one leaf looks pretty bad. Natural die-back generally starts with a uniform yellowing, and then it browns completely and dries out. That leaf looks like it is the victim of some form of fungal attack (if it was purely from overfertalization there probably wouldn't be brown spotting). I would take care when putting it next to your other orchids. I had one like that in my collection and it was outside, a good distance away from the others. One good rain and 4 other plants had the disease within two weeks. I would be inclined to spray, cut the leaf off, or isolate the plant and just watch it for a couple weeks to see what happens (if it spreads to the other leaves).

[Duane McDowell]

Sounds like you're on the right track. Unfortunately, this one will probably never give you flowers on a nice tall stem - looks like what you might call a "runt". They happen frequently in this type of breeding. That said, go ahead and remove the blooms and repot - the practice will always do you well.
As for varieties that form good clumps - Klehm Growers in Illinois did some wonderful hybrids for this exact trait in the 90s, and they were really fun. They were all standard "Bulldog" types bred to species: insigne, insigne Sanderianum, gratrixianum and barbigerum. They also did some Maudiae types crossed with insigne. I've seen some divisions at Home Depot from them that were big beautiful plants and very reasonably priced (under $30). If you want to step it up a little, I can recommend Paph Inca 'Penn Valley' as an excellent choice. My guess is that a 3-4 growth division would run you somewhere around $50-70. Don't buy a smaller one. Don't let your experience with this one color your feeling for paphs. There are some great ones out there!