Is My New Paph Venestum OK?
 

This Paph arrived in the post looking a little squashed and slightly wobbly in it's pot. It's lost one leaf and two are definitely on the way out.

It's my first Paph though and I'm not sure how to assess it's health: I'm not sure if there's a bit of rot there, or it's just a couple of leaves dying off as new roots form. I'm also not sure if I've got healthy old roots and new ones.

Also not sure if I should be re-potting now, and what kind of medium if I do. I have seedling mix or sphagnum in. Anything else I'd have to find. The paph is currently in large chunks that look like hard nut shells (could be coconut, but seems smaller, harder nuts and less fibrous than I've seen before)

For the picture I pushed away a couple of bits of the medium. The new root is a little orange on the end, but I don't see a really distinct growing tip like you'd see on a phal.

To the left of it in the picture are two older, brown roots. It has at least a couple of others behind too. They seem firm and well into the pot, but I don't know if that's a good colour?

Thanks! I'm intending to feed back to the seller, so I'd like to know if I'm worried about nothing before I look an idiot!

Your plant looks healthy to me. The root tip is just fine and it is growing well. I find that the large bark chips or whatever they are are just too hard to keep moist. You have to water them at least three times a week so what I do with all of my paphs is to mix a little medium bark with some sphagnum moss (70% moss 30% bark) and use that instead. I only have to water them maybe once a week but more like once every nine or so days. It has worked well for me as I have two new growths in two paphs starting already!! So, don't panic, your paph looks fine.

The new root is fine. That is what they look like. They are nothing like Phal roots. They don't turn green or silver and they are kind of an orange brown color. They can be fuzzy too. If the older roots are firm I would leave them. The leaves are being pushed out by that new root. If that brown spot is only on that one leaf and doesn't spread I wouldn't worry about it. When I got my first paph I was a little shocked by how much the roots looked different than most of my other orchids too. My paphs are planted in air cone clear pots in a small bark mix and I mixed in some sphagnum moss. They seam to like to be moist. I haven't been growing them for that long so hopefully someone who grows a lot of these will give you some more advice. Overall I think the plant looks good but you might want to check out the whole root system then if you see something wrong you can complain to the grower. If you wait and find out something was wrong with it then it might be too late to get your money back. Spring is a good time to repot orchids anyways.

Paphs do have brown roots, like others have said. As it is healthy, it will put out a new fan or if the fan wasn't completed, new leaves. As with a phal, it is best not to get water in the middle. Here is a great site to get you started:

Quick Start - Buying and Growing Your First Paph.

:rofl:
You reacted exactly like I did when I got my first Paph. It was shipped to me bare-rooted and it has fuzzy roots, but my Phal induced brain's first thought was "Oh my God, it's mold!". It wasn't.

The new root growth looks very fine indeed. :nod:

I have all of my Paphs in the same bark mix as my Phals except I use fine graded bark to the Paphs. So far they seem to like it, but I'm a complete noob when it comes to Paphs so my opinion doesn't really have any weight. Since I'm so new I can't tell whether my Paphs want water or not by feeling the weight of the pot so I have wooden skewers in the pot and check them every so often. Depending on the size of the pot, weather, and what level of moisture I think the substrate should have before I water, I water some once a week, some two or thrice a week, and some others get more than a week between watering.

So far so good, but I haven't had most of them for long at all. Interesting though is that my two superbiens seem to be more thirsty than some others (I ended up with two by pure accident - I'll see which one does best and then sell the other one).

Good thing - venustum does not want calcium so you don't need to think about that. :biggrin:

I really wish you the best of luck with your Paph and I look forward to your writing about your venustum (mine says to say 'Hi' ;) )!

I just have to butt in!! I have just noticed that my new paph from Schwerter has got a new fan emerging and so I just had a look down the crown and I saw a beautiful sight; a tiny purple leaf growing!! -I have a sheaf!! Yeah, the paph will soon be in flower I am so happy. Not only that, my venustum alba from Elsner has got two new fans starting as well!!! I am so chuffed!!:D:D

Good luck with yours Rowangreen. They are so addictive I know that you shall soon have about seven like I do. Now then, which ones to buy next????.....:biggrin:

Congrats on your future bloomer! Remember to upload pics when it blooms. Good growing there. :nod:

Or 13 like I... ;)

:yikes: You must buy another one at once!!! 13 is an unlucky number :lol:

Hi I just want to put my input here. All plants need calcium as well as magnesium. It is a vital micro nutrient and is very important for plant metabolism. I think what mutant is trying to say is that you don't need to put dolomitic lime or oyster shell in the medium. Though it contains calcium, It is not that soluble and the point is to raise the ph of the irrigation water so that particular plant will have the optimum ph for its nutrient intake. If your tap water is hard. Most likely you have calcium and magnesium on it already and if you are using complete fertilizer. If you are watering with RO water, it is recommended to put 10% of tap water back to your RO water to augment the ca/mg.

For basic culture, plant in fine fir bark, charcoal and perlite with just a little bit of sphagnum moss. if you can maintain 50% humidity that would be excellent. I feed every other watering and light should be 400-800 fcs (for uniflorals) and they should do fine.

:coverlaugh:

It's quite okay, I have three more incoming. ;)

What eggshells said. ;)