if your into breeding paphs, slipperorchids.info is a good resource for info on past crosses and pictures of offspring. deep dives into orchid roots or orchid whiz (are either still running?) can give insite into what traits are emphasised more by which plants. this is a LOT of work and time and yields limited results. dig deep into the pages for the orchids you want to cross on pages like this or slipper talk. look at millions of pictures and do the hard work of mapping ancestry.
honestly maybe your best bet is to talk to established breeders and get their knowledge. even then, unless you are a protege or understudy of some sort you probly will only get basics and platitudes, as the proprietary knowledge in orchid breeding seems to be closely guarded and bordering on shadow black magic type stuff. if you approach someone as a tourist just looking for the easy secrets you will get nowhere in this world. but, breeding orchids is a long term hobby so perhaps it is worth it to think about submitting yourself as an understudy (if a suitable mentor is available) and spend the time developing this sort of a relationship with someone. may not be easy if your in like Topeka or something. (or, you go it rogue like we are doing and expect a long hard road of failure and discouragement
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the couple old timers we've talked to have been more or less dismissive, and give the most basic, discouraging information. "you can only breed these plants", "you can't get good breeding stock so don't waste your time", etc. so yeah, im probly a bit salty on the topic myself and my experiences over the last couple years have shown me that the orchid world, in these particularly dark corners, can be a pretty uninviting place.
so best of luck!!!
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