Lady Slipper Help!

[jaggars]

Well this is my first paph lady slipper I bought last month and it has been doing quite well..until this afternoon when I came home. I have searched until my eyes are pure crossing. Can someone tell me what is going on? The bloom has turned brown and droopy. Is this normal? It seems to be healthy because there is new leaves that have emerged.

[PaphLover]

Was the bloom fully open when you bought it? A month + of blooming doesn't seem out of the range of normal to me.

Paphs usually like a moister environment than phals--or at least don't really like to dry out too much. Your media looks like it might be a bit dry…that can cause blooms to brown.

Your plant itself looks very healthy.

[PaphMadMan]

To me it looks like normal death of an old flower, or one damaged by rough movement or being pushed against. The plant appears healthy, but I agree that it might be a bit dry in coarse media like that, and that would accelerate flower aging. The plant will support the new growth rather than an aging flower if it can't do both.

[jaggars]

Originally Posted by PaphLover

Was the bloom fully open when you bought it? A month + of blooming doesn't seem out of the range of normal to me.

Paphs usually like a moister environment than phals--or at least don't really like to dry out too much. Your media looks like it might be a bit dry…that can cause blooms to brown.

Your plant itself looks very healthy.

Thank you for the information! No it wasn't opened all the way when I bought it. I did not change the media when I got home with it just changed the pot it came in from the show. I think when the bloom falls off I will change it.

---------- Post added at 08:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 AM ----------

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

To me it looks like normal death of an old flower, or one damaged by rough movement or being pushed against. The plant appears healthy, but I agree that it might be a bit dry in coarse media like that, and that would accelerate flower aging. The plant will support the new growth rather than an aging flower if it can't do both.

Thank you! I guess when I repot it I need to add more spag to it or a fine bark?

[PaphMadMan]

Originally Posted by jaggars

Thank you! I guess when I repot it I need to add more spag to it or a fine bark?

The goal with this (and most Paphs) is even moisture, never dry, NEVER soggy. You can adjust watering to achieve that with a wide range of media, but too much sphag tends toward the soggy side easily. Finer bark along with coarse perlite or charcoal (or anything that maintains good drainage and aeration) and a little sphag tends to be the easiest kind of mix to get the right balance.

[Optimist]

I found a finer grade orchid mix/bark for my paphs. It is really supposed to emulate crushed leaves and so on on the forest floor (since it is semi terrestrial. All semiterestrial means is that it is suspended above the acutal dirt by leaf litter, so it has a lot of moisture coming up from the damp mud benieth, in the form of evaporaation, as well as falling in the form of rain and mist. The large chunk barks are better for Phals and other epiphytes.

[estación seca]

I have some seedling Paphs growing in semihydroponics. One spotted leaf, one green leaf, one multifloral. They are very happy and growing steadily.

[Optimist]

I would definately go semi hydro with phrags.