Paphiopedilum St. Swithin bud development questions.
 

Hello everyone here on The Orchid Board! Excited to learn more from all of you and maybe impart some knowledge myself, eventually.
I have a Paph. St. Swithin that is experiencing its first bloom. It is a single fan with 6 leaves, 7 if you include the leaf the inflorescence emerged from. I was m multifloral naive and am really just pretty excited it’s blooming at all.
My question(s) are: what is the best ppm nitrogen to fertilize with when the plant demonstrates it’s going to bloom?

This one is trying to make five buds but each successive one is smaller than the next. The last 2 are miniscule compared to the first. Would cutting off the last 2 buds divert the energy to better development of the prior buds?

Do the flowers continue to grow once they have opened or, once open, that is it?

Sorry, wanted to put some images.

First, Welcome!

Let it do its thing! The last buds may reach their full size after the early flowers are done. That just extends the bloom. The plant "knows" what it's doing. Fertilizing is the same with or without blooms - and Paphs are light feeders. So consistency is the key. Whatever you were doing to get it to this point, keep on doing it. Congratulations!

Do not change ANYTHING!

The plant has accumulated enough phytochemical stores and is “comfortable” that it will continue to do so, so has decided to expend some on attempted reproduction.

Likewise, removing later buds is “damaging”, not supporting.

Yes, buds and flowers can grow once open. If there is a significant size reduction with later flowers, it suggests the plant has some resources to commit to reproduction, but not enough to put on a big show.

Don’t sweat it. Enjoy the flowers, do what you can to keep up with its needs, and it’ll do better in the future.

Thanks for the welcome Roberta! I appreciate the wisdom in both your and Ray’s response. As you said above, orchids teach patience!

Welcome!

beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

As I own a young St. Swithin myself, I'm eager to learn from you.
How did you culture it? Warmth, water, light, nutrients?