paphiopedilum in s/h

[tmoney]

hello orchidboard,

i just wanted to post up a captured moment (if nothing else as a visual reference for ourselves!), of a couple paphs that were recently put into s/h. we had decided to expand with a few paphs, and then ray also backed up the suggestion so, of course, i went a little overboard with a little early christmas money!

the one on the far left, lowii, was one of the first orchids we bought back in february and struggled to near death for the first 3 months we had it. then, decided to put it in leca semi hydro and it really came alive and seems to be a real strong grower now. so then, when we decided to add another genera besides phals, we bought several species and a couple of paph hybrids from different growers. the goal is to eventually transfer most of them to s/h. i did the first 3 about 3 weeks ago when we got them, and have a few more that will wait till spring or finish flowering before going. the 2 in the middle are in thick walled, 1 liter coke bottles. they make very easy and convenient s/h pots, btw!

for phals, personally im not too happy with their progress since changing over. there were new roots going when they were repotted, followed all the guidelines, but they have both struggled. i have since moved one of our deliciosas back into normal bark/leca media because it was basically gonna die, and the taenialis shown in the pic reaaalllyy lagged with the move into s/h, but it’s roots look healthy and it’s now recovered and grown the biggest leaf it’s had. but, as i posted about in another thread, it does crystallize salts very weirdly, and i still don’t have a suitable hypothesis on why, nor a solution to this problem. ive tried various things, but to no avail. but, it’s still growing and not dead, so we r just letting it ride for now.....

anyways, hope we can show progress on this paph group in the future (and the phal)!