Yellowing leaves on Paph Hung Gentle Girl x Shin Yi Apple
 

I need advice! I am a novice when it comes to paphiopedilums, and this gal right here is my first one! I have had her for two months and when I got her one of her bottom leaves was a slight shade of yellow-green. A month later that leaf turned brown at the base and just simply fell off.

Just this past week another one of the bottom leaves has rapidly turned yellow and has started to go sadly limp.

I am so worried that there is something possibly going on with her roots, and I've been trying to hold back from unpotting her since many have told me to never repot them while in bloom. However, at this point I feel like I'm doing more harm than good by NOT unpotting and finding out what is going on.

Plus I am a little on edge that she is potted in full sphagnum moss. I have two other Paphs that are in fine grade bark mix with a bit of sphag and they are doing great.

Here is a picture of my beautiful girl, and please let me know what your thoughts are!!

It is not a "she". Orchids carry both male and female reproductive orchids. "It" is far more appropriate.

Loss of lower leaves might indicate a root issue, so I would carefully lift the moss and plant from the pot as a unit to check. It also might be of no consequence.

Ray,
I don't think the term of endearment towards my orchid takes precedence over the question I have about the overall health of my plant. I am well aware of the sexual/asexual reproduction of orchids.

This is an orchid community board where people should feel comfortable about reaching out, not having to worry about being brought down and having their intelligence assertively called into question based off of one post. We have all started somewhere....even you. Please be kind.

Thank you for your input.

I agree, take a look at what's going on inside the pot. If you are gentle, the fact that it's blooming should not be a problem. And even if bloom length is shortened, it's the long-term health of the plant that you're concerned with - you want it to bloom many more times. I think that small bark is probably a better medium, but don't be aggressive about removing all the moss, especially that which may be tangled with good roots... leaving a little behind when you repot is fine.

Thank you Roberta! I think that's the route I'm going to take. I can't lose this orchid.

Sorry... It was not mean as an insult - I have run into too many folks who DON'T understand much in that regard - so was trying to be helpful.

That is quite a nice flower on that plant. For what its worth, I have 2 paphs, both rescued from Home Depot, that are potted in sphagnum moss and seem to be doing well. You should let the moss get a little dry to the touch before watering though.

If the leaf was already a slight-shade yellow when you FIRST got this plant, then chances are that the leaf is getting old, and going to drop off.

In the 1 month after that ----- most of the other leaves remained nice and green and healthy looking, right? If that's the case, then chances are there's nothing wrong.

Watering schedule and air-circulation around the plant is going to be important - especially for full spaghnum moss media. If most of the leaves have been fine for 2 months - particularly uppermost leaves - then it doesn't sound like the plant has a problem - unless you can see yellowing of all the other leaves.

I have heard of recommendations and advice as well - that --- if in doubt --- regardless of whether the plant is flowering or not --- then it is necessary to check roots. That's to save the plant if the roots are indeed in trouble.

I agree about taking a look and repotting if anything looks amiss. I’ve regretted my decision to hold off repotting some of my Paphs while waiting for them to finish flowering: they take forever to recover once they start losing roots. And, if you prevent health issues by prompt repotting, you’ll likely be rewarded with a nice flower again next year.

Based on my recent experience of repotting 4 paphs in bloom (2 maudiae hybrids, armeni white, and a primulinum) - they did not mind the disturbance at all. I was a bit worried about primulinum but it did not skip a beat either.

If the roots are rotting, it's not worth it waiting for the flower to go. The goal is to have a healthy plant capable of producing more flowers :)

My lush Armeni White (5 fans) had only a few short stubs of good roots left :( It was such a bummer to find a pot full of stinky rotten mess! Totally unexpected too.. it came from a good place and there was no visible sign of the problem (I picked it in person).

So yeah.. I'm in the camp "repot asap". You never know what what you bring home.. And use clear pots to help monitor situation in the future.