First Paph and Care - rothschildianum 'Walla Walla' x Paph. Betty Glenn 'Big Mama'
 

This is my first Paph and my first terrestrial so I have no idea how it's going to do. I bought it at the Spokane Orchid Society's auction last month. I'm just wondering if my current setup appears to be alright, and how quickly I should expect it to pick up.

The plant: The media it was in when I got it was very old and smelled horrible, so I repotted it into a seedling mix that I had on hand (the RepotMe seedling mix). The roots weren't great and it only had a couple viable ones. There is a small new growth and another tiny nubbin at the base of the plant that could be another new growth.

Current Care: I am keeping it in the back corner on the bottom shelf of my orchid cabinet to keep it shaded. The lights are on 12 hours/day. Humidity swings between 55-65% depending on when I last watered and topped off the tray on the floor. My apartment is set to 21C/70F, and the cabinet will get day temps up to 24C/75F and night temps of 18C/65F.

Does this environment seem sufficient? I know paphs can be slow growers, so how long should I wait to see some sort of growth/movement before making a change?

howdy!

welcome to the paph addiction!

you picked a doozy to start with, hahaha :)

don't take my advice since we don't have a roth in our collection (yet), but your conditions are probly fine. it looks like the new growths are pretty healthy, so with that timely repot hopefully it'll bounce back quickly.

i wouldnt mess with it again till next year assuming it keeps on being green and growing. give it time. maybe push the light up a tiny bit if you feel comfortable and the plants lags. that does well for our paphs.

also, since we have had such great luck with paphs growing in semi-hydroponics, i always suggest thinking about trying it (or buying another Paphiopedilum with the sole intention of growing it in s/h for comparison!). super easy and the paphs love it.

best of luck with the new plant!

You have a second and third growth, so that is pretty good. Since your paph is quite a complex cross, with roth involved, finding the care might be just a matter of waiting and watching. Roths are very slow, with 8 years being about the time they get a first flower. Most other paphs are a few years-- considering they came from seedling to at least a decently large size in somone's greenhouse. It all depends on the genetics. I cannot find your particular cross on line anywhere. Maybe the person who brought it to the sale knows more about it?

I wish they did. Unfortunately, this was part of a large donation of plants to our society (over 175 orchids) by a vendor who I believe was downsizing due to age. Our president has a good relationship with them. That means I really know nothing about it.

I do know that it's 50% roth (given the tag), which is a cool to warm growing terrestrial.

The other half, Betty Glenn, can be found on Orchid Roots. This hybrid is 50% Paphiopedilum liemianum, a warm grower.

Forgive me for asking a basic question, because I don't know how much experience you have. Are you familiar with normal Paph. roots? They don't look like other orchid roots at all. They are brown and fuzzy.

I don’t consider paphs to be terrestrials.

For the most part, their roots tend to spread laterally on the surface of the soil, under the accumulated layer of leaf littler. Tome, that implies constantly damp and never dry or soppy.

Your question is totally reasonable. I am familiar with paph roots having watched a few videos on them prior to getting one. The roots on this plant were not in good shape. I removed all of the papery ones (the ones with no life/substance to them), and left the couple of roots that were still firm. I was surprised that I didn't notice much 'fuzziness' to these roots, but it could be that they just weren't in good shape.

Paph Betty Glenn. Paphiopedilum Betty Glenn is an orchid hybrid originated by A.Mochizuki in 1995. It is a cross of Paph. Utgard x Paph. liemianum.