First paph has a shallow root system, need repotting advice

[Moirae]

I've been lurking the orchidboard forums for a while, reading up in the beginner section. There is a lot of good advice there for phals, but I didn't see much on paphs for newbies there. Thought I should finally register and ask my questions here then.

I picked this paph up at the end of September, couldn't resist the mottled foliage when I found that they needed less light and like higher temps than the green foliage paphs.

9-29-2012



So, it's been about 6-7 weeks and it seems to be doing well. The younger fans have grown quite a bit. The flower is also still in good condition

11-11-2012




I thought I'd take a look at the roots, now that it has had a chance to acclimate a little to my growing conditions. When I pulled out the root ball, I was expecting a lot more roots. The root system was also really shallow taking up only about 2" in a 5-6" deep pot.




No signs of rotted/broke off roots in the bottom half of the pot either. I guess I'm too used to seeing a mass of phal roots and I don't really know if what I'm seeing is bad or good. Except for one or two of the growing tips that dried up a little, the roots seemed firms and healthy.



However, I'm thinking that this pot is too deep and I'm wondering if I should repot into a shallower (and wider maybe?) pot. Also, I've heard paphs are semi-terrestrial and the medium that it's already planted in looks like it contains possibly peat, so I'm not sure what medium to use either. Would love to have some advice from you more experienced growers out there. Thank you

Close-up of the flower.


Additional Info that might be helpful
I grow in a very bright northern windowsill in southern California. Most of my phal that share the sill have been happy with loose sphagnum in clay pots, some of the bigger have fir bark mixed in, one is in fine bark/clear plastic. Temps here are currently 65-75 hi/ 50-55 low. Right now, light ranges from about 5 to 15 thousand lux depending on time of day and position on the sill.

I have some fine fir bark/charcoal/perilite mix left, also spaghnum and clay pots from my phals, but i can probably find other medium/ pots if necessary.

Almost Forgot:

This is the info on the tag, would love some help deciphering what it all means

PA6508 Janet Kunkle 'Grace Hsinying x Hsinying'
Ching-in BM/TPS (Ching-Hua) Week23-2010

[The Orchid Boy]

That media that it is in seems a little fine. I don't like using peat in my mixes, I do use just a little long fibered sphagnum in my mixes. I grow my paphs in plastic pots with a fine or medium bark mix. The paph will grow happily with your phals. And paphs usually don't have a huge, robust root system. The roots are fairly sparse. The pot that it is in looks fine to me.

[Moirae]

Thanks for your prompt reply Orchid Boy. The mix seemed too fine to me too (and I've never used peat) but I wasn't sure if it was considered normal for paphs. I've got fine bark mix left over from one of my phals (it came in bark so I didn't want to move it into sphagnum when I repotted).
Do you think this will be a good medium maybe mixed with a little long-fiber sphagnum and rocks underneath for drainage since the pot is so tall ?



New media on the left, original on the right.

If it's good, I'll start soaking the bark so I can repot on Sunday. Otherwise gotta make a trip to the nursery or home depot tomorrow.

P.S. Love the long petals on your avatar's bloom.

[The Orchid Boy]

I think it's a good media to use and add sphagnum and drainage rocks like you said.

My avatar is Paphiopedilum sanderianum. The picture only shows half the petals' length. I finally got myself one for $125. Pricey and slow growing, but worth it. It is blooming sized and has bloomed once before.