Another orchid at my desk: Paphiopedilum Hilo Jewel x Paph. fairrieanum 'Greenhorn'

[Orchid Whisperer]

At the moment, this is my only slipper orchid. It was an in-bloom, but discounted ($5) grocery store find, purchased 4 + years ago. Two others purchased at about the same time are no longer with me.

This one grew a little bit, but not well, losing leaves slightly slower than growing new ones. I repotted 2 or 3 times in conventional bark-based and sphagnum-based media, it was never really happy.

A year ago, I researched photos of slippers growing in the wild and also looked at some old orchid books to come up with a better growing medium. 'Leaf mould' and 'grit' seemed to be components of many mixes in the old books. I settled on a mix made of the broken-down pine/hardwood leaf litter from my back yard, including a bit of the mineral soil mixed in (and worm castings); very coarse angular sand from a nearby stream; medium fir bark and charcoal; and < 5% crushed eggshell. Styrofoam chips at the base of the pot to improve drainage, plastic pot. The improvement was rapid, the plant rapidly added more leaves that were also sturdy, and suddenly showed signs of wanting to bloom this past fall. Here it is:

[jkofferdahl]

Very nice. I like the soft coloration.

[plantluvver]

Well done!

[flexdc]

Hi
Firstly very nice blooms.
I have a couple of ailing paphs I'd like to try with your formula. Can you repeat it once more?


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[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by flexdc

Hi
Firstly very nice blooms.
I have a couple of ailing paphs I'd like to try with your formula. Can you repeat it once more?

I think the reason I succeeded with this medium is it's ability to retain moisture yet drain freely. This is a rough approximation of what I did.

"Leaf Mould". In the mixed pine and hardwood forest that I have in my backyard, I used a screen with half-inch holes to separate coarse leaves, twigs and pine needles from finer, partially decomposed leaf litter. I scraped up the top inch or two of the organic layer covering the "mineral soil" (clay, sand, etc.) and passed that through the screen, keeping the fine material and throwing the coarse stuff back in the woods. The fine material that I keep is my leaf litter, or "leaf mould" described in the old books. There is a little mineral soil in the leaf mould, and earthworm castings (combined, the mineral soil and earthworm castings are less than 10%).

"Grit". The coarse sand I use I just sifted from the bed of a tiny stream near my house. I used a cheap plastic colander, holes maybe 1/8 inch, and anything coarser that did not go through the colander is my coarse sand. Natural aquarium gravel would probably work just as well.

For my single-fan plant, I used a 4-inch plastic pot. The bottom third of the pot contains a layer of 1-inch Styrofoam chunks.

The middle third of the pot contains roughly equal parts of leaf mould, medium orchid bark, medium charcoal, and coarse sand. To this I add crushed eggshell to moderate the pH and provide a little calcium (not all Paphs are calciphiles, but I read that Paphiopedilum fairrieanum is, so I added the eggshell; maybe 5% of total. Leave the eggshell out for Paphs that are not calciphiles).

Top third of the pot is just leaf mould (2/3) and coarse sand (1/3) with eggshell added (< 5%).

Summertime watering, I just used tap water mostly, which is high quality here (managed by the city to be neutral to slightly alkaline pH (7 to 8); low dissolved solids, usually 100 ppm or lower). Winter indoors, I switch to rain water to avoid the need for frequent flushing. Winter or summer, I try to never let the medium completely dry out. I used the same fertilizer frequency as for my other orchids (Better Gro 11-35-15 at 1/4 recommended strength, maybe once or twice a month in summer, less often in winter; you could just as easily use another water-soluble orchid fertilizer IMO).

BTW, I used a blend similar to what is in the middle third of the pot to re-pot Cymbidiums. I added about 10% municipal compost to the medium, which the Cymbidiums seem to like.

[flexdc]

Thank you so much for the detail break down.
I want to try this with a couple of my ailing seedlings.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by flexdc

Thank you so much for the detail break down.
I want to try this with a couple of my ailing seedlings.

Let us know how it works out! Good luck.

[flexdc]

Problem now is finding leave mould lol
Not easy when there aren't that many trees around lol


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[estación seca]

An excuse for a trip to the mountains. Oops, it's raining.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Yes, I'm lucky to have my own tiny patch of forest in the back yard. This is more common in the southeast USA than in LA. With fewer trees, you may need to get creative. If you are getting leaf litter from property that is not yours, ask permission.