About my Paph. Supersuk "Eureka" AM/AOS x Paph Raisin Pie "Hsinying") x Sib
 

I have this Paph. and when I bought it, it has a beautiful lady slipper flower. But the leaves came like this two weeks later to present. I've shoot this photos today. Can anyone give some advice because it don't seems to be healthy. I'm really lost with this orchid. I want to know if the roots are ok and if it has something wrong with the leaves. :(

Here's the photos. Hope somebody can give me advice... =(
Please and thanks!

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...f/GEDC0065.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...f/GEDC0066.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...f/GEDC0067.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...f/GEDC0068.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...f/GEDC0071.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...f/GEDC0072.jpg

I'm no expert on Paphs, but the roots look OK. Paphs don't always have the mass of roots that some other orchids have. But so long as what you have in those photos are plump feeling they should be good. It sort of looks like the leaves are getting too much sun. What kind of light is it getting? Usually the mottled leaved ones don't want as much light as solid green ones. Treating them with the same as Phal conditions is good. Paphs don't like to completely dry out but shouldn't be left soggy either.

Hmm... perhaps it is overpotted? Hard to tell how big the root mass is beyond what is uncovered in the photo, but too big of a pot can lead to overwatering.

Well... I think they might be getting some light in the morning, but not too much. Because they are in a shaded terrace. Only that they took some light from the East side in the morning and nothing during the rest of the day. I'll try moving them to somewhere more shaded.
And I will repot it in a smaller pot.

Thanks! Perhaps I'm happy because I thought it was near dead..!
:dance13: :bananaslide:
:banana:

PD... It is ok to have plate with water underneath? Because it has one. What if I repot it in a clay pot?

I agree, it does look like it could be over-potted. Are you keeping it evenly moist? It looks a bit wilted, which could be not enough humidity and watering or a root problem. But the roots look OK from the photo.

It is ok to have plate with water underneath? Because it has one. What if I repot it in a clay pot?

Most orchids should NEVER be left standing in water. It can sit on a tray filled with pebbles or leca balls filled with water, so long as the pot itself is not sitting in the water. This will help add humidity to the air around it. It looks like the plant is in a lot of sphagnum moss. That will sponge up any water in the saucer and you could end up with root rot. When you are potting into a smaller pot, you may want to use less moss and add some small bark chips instead. A clay pot is OK, but it will dry out faster than if it is in plastic. Paphs don't like to dry out completely.

I agree with Silken, the bottom of your pot should not be in direct contact with a saucer of water. Orchid roots need air flow as well as water, and sphagnum that is constantly wicking up moisture the bottom of the pot will leave your orchid water logged.

I agree it looks over potted, and my Paphs have done baddly when the medium stays too wet in a pot that's too big. I would get it in the tiniest pot you can fit the roots into, I did that with mine and started to get success.

Also I completely agree, you don't want it standing in water at all, the moss will stay far too wet that way.

Ok. In the pot, the plant has some small garden stones to let water drain. It has mixed sphagnum and Better-Gro orchid medium for Paphs. What I'll do is look for a smaller plastic pot, put some tiny stones in the bottom and I will change the mixed mediums already have for new one, taking advantage because I'll be repotting it... again...

Thanks a lot! I LOVE this website!
Mood: HAPPY..!
:-)

Good luck with your Paph!

I am learning real fast not to like sphag at all, so far over watering is been my biggest enemy anf its mostly due to the fact that compacted sphag just stays overly wet for to long, I been trying a mixture of small amounts of sphag around the roots then bigger woodchips around that for better circulation

over-potted? is there a general rule of thumb to use in choosing the right pot, cus I just changed mine last week to a bigger pot.

Jeffrey, yours could be over-potted. Most orchids like to be pot-bound. Usually you should plant them into a pot just large enough to hold their roots and a bit of room for the next year's new growths. If the new growths are all coming from one side, then you can place the back old pseudobulbs up against the edge of the pot and leave a bit of room where the new pseudobulbs will grow. If the pot is too large, it won't dry our fast enough and it is too easy to over water and cause root rot. Hope that helps. The clay pot will help it dry out a bit faster.

My goodness! the pot it was in probably was the right size, maybe not! it was in a 2 inch pot, i'll try a 3 inch pot.

Quite often you can re-pot back into the same pot, just changing to new potting material if the old has broken down. For Phals this is almost always the case! A 3 inch sounds reasonable if it came out of a 2 inch pot.

Get your Paph out of all that moss for one. Re pot it with a bark, charcoal, peri lite and moss mixed really well.

It should come around. It likes to be moist, not soggy. In nothing but spag, moss it will stay soggy.:)

For Paphs, they do like to be potbound mostly. Also, it's generally not a good idea to leave the roots exposed like that. It's ok for Phals, but not too much for Paphs. I grow Paphs mainly and mine are all in bark, clay, about 30% sphag, and perlite packed loosely. For some plants, depending on the size of the plant, I use packing peanuts at the bottom of the pot. Basically, anything I can do to provide maximum aeration to the root mass, but keep it moist.

Paph roots don't grow as fast as Phals so it's important to pick the right size pot for them. They also like for their media to be changed yearly. Now, I may be wrong, but from the pictures, there are a lot of brown indentations on your plant. Is it suffering from some type of infestation? If that is the case, you'll want to deal with that immediately so the plant has a better chance to recover. It has already been stressed by the culture. Paphs don't do things fast. Once they start to do downhill, it will take a good deal of time for them to perk back up.

ETA - I hadn't noticed this is a really old thread that was resurrected, but my advice still applies to Paphs.

Putting rocks or pot sherds (broken pieces of pot) in the larger pot naturally create a smaller pot. They are also great for drainage.