Paph planted in soil

[SydneyH]

A local orchid club had an orchid auction this past week and I bought my first two paphs. One of them is planted in a standard bark mix. The other paph is from a collection of a member who passed away last year. It looks like it's labeled as Paph. maudiae x paph. philippenense and it's planted in what looks and smells like a mixture of potting soil with a bit of standard bark mix thrown in. Is this what it should be planted in or can I repot it in a bark mix. I checked the roots today and they look pretty good.

Sydney

[RJSquirrel]

could be ground peat moss or ground cork..it feels and looks very similar but holds more water. If the roots looks good leave em alone. Should have plenty of tiny hairs and not mushy for good roots. Paphs do like being re-potted and dont mind. Ive been thru every mix in the books and depends on how much you like to water them but the almost standard 3 parts fir bark and 1 part sponge rock and 1 part charcoal. Your going to water it a lot and you can adjust the mix with some sphagnum to suit your habit. I love to water everything a lot

[SydneyH]

Thanks! Anything that holds too much water makes me nervous. I'm not usually an overwaterer unless the pot doesn't dry out when I expect it to dry out. Then I get impatient and water anyway, because I'm afraid I'll get distracted and forget to water. Yeah, I know it's a little crazy. I usually add some spagnum to my standard bark mix. Although I'm new enough that I don't really have a standard bark mix. I'll probably repot it in that.

Sydney

[The Mutant]

I recommend you repotting it into the mix you're most comfortable with since it'll probably work the best with your watering habits.

And also, drive a wooden skewer into each pot as near the middle as you can - this to be able to tell when it's time to water the Paph. I was recommended this method by members here on OB and it has worked very well so far. So well in fact, that I have to spread the word.

[SydneyH]

Now that I've got it cleaned up, it looks pretty happy where it is. But I'll probably change into a variation of my mix one of these days soon. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some special reason it was planted in this soil-like stuff.

I had never thought of using skewers to check the moisture in the pots, but that's a great idea. At least it's better than me digging in each pot with my fingers to see how moist they are.

Sydney