Spiking paphs

[NYCorchidman]

A new set of pictures from today.
I guess these grow while I'm not looking.
I think once these spikes rise above the leaves, they seem to grow faster. or it's just my delution.

Some vinis and one alba (which is my first paph from years ago, and still blooming twice a year)

The one in bloom is my latest addition from a local sales show. I think vinis look much nicer with light coming in from their back.

The white one, I just throw in.

Enjoy~

[WhiteRabbit]

Very nice! I'm jealous - Paphs just don't seem to like me much. I once got one to re-bloom. That one has been declining over the past year, and I think it's done for now.

My other two grow well, but alas, no blooms. My strap-leaf Paph was not bloom size when I go it, and I guess they are quite slow to become BS, so idk, I think it should be BS now, but the currently growing fans themselves probably are not. So, I'll wait and see on that. My other is a delanatii, and that one might just be too particular for me...

Anyway - good growing!

[NYCorchidman]

What kind of paphs other than strap leaf (is it multi-flowering type or complex?) I don't grow species and large multi-flowering ones.

So other than this, I can probably help with the culture because I do quite good with paphs and have quite a few of them.

What do you grow yours in? What kind of care do you give to them?
What do they look like when you say they are on the decline?

I have paph. Armeni White, which is a hybrid so probably a lot easier than either of its parent, but I haven't tried species so cannot really say for sure.
I did hear that armeniacum can be pretty tough.
Delenatii...one thing I know is that they need extra water while growing and cool&slightly drier weather while resting.

Strap leafed ones- If they are multi-flowering, they need a lot of light and they are epiphytes, so use different mix other than conventional paph mix.
That's about all I know.

If your strap leafed ones are complex paphs, then you can grow them as other hybrids but green/yellow colors need cooling to flower well.
These can be quite slow growing, but once they form multiple fans, they can bloom every year I think. I have one that blooms every other year.
almost threw it away when it skipped flowering. now I know better!

Again, let me know what your paphs look like and how you care for them, so I can better help.

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

What kind of paphs other than strap leaf (is it multi-flowering type or complex?) I don't grow species and large multi-flowering ones.

So other than this, I can probably help with the culture because I do quite good with paphs and have quite a few of them.

What do you grow yours in? What kind of care do you give to them?
What do they look like when you say they are on the decline?

I have paph. Armeni White, which is a hybrid so probably a lot easier than either of its parent, but I haven't tried species so cannot really say for sure.
I did hear that armeniacum can be pretty tough.
Delenatii...one thing I know is that they need extra water while growing and cool&slightly drier weather while resting.

Strap leafed ones- If they are multi-flowering, they need a lot of light and they are epiphytes, so use different mix other than conventional paph mix.
That's about all I know.

If your strap leafed ones are complex paphs, then you can grow them as other hybrids but green/yellow colors need cooling to flower well.
These can be quite slow growing, but once they form multiple fans, they can bloom every year I think. I have one that blooms every other year.
almost threw it away when it skipped flowering. now I know better!

Again, let me know what your paphs look like and how you care for them, so I can better help.

Thank you for offering to help me!

the strap leaf is a multi-floral - it's Paph Oto (fairrieanum x Winston Churchill), should be a vini-color - the first three years, maybe, that I had this, it was just the one fan that continued to grow - last year or so, it started a couple of new fans. The original fan has now died, but the two new ones are growing well, but probably not yet mature. I do grow it fairly bright, but I may see about growing it brighter. Roots looked alrigh at last repot (last spring) - this one is in a clear pot and I can see a few roots growing in there)

My declining one (mottled leaf hybrid - niveum x Pinnocchio) has had the two most recent, and previously slow growing fans losing foliage (drying up) - it's been sitting looking mostly the same for awhile, but I think those fans are drying further, but slowly, and are actually toast I think this may have been over-watered last winter, and it's just been slow to die

Yeah - I've heard that delanatti isn't the easiest to bloom I had been reading about them wanting to be brighter and drier in winter, so moved mine to a brighter window in a cooler room (tho my house in general is on the cool side in winter), and trying to keep it drier. I don't know if any of the currently growing fans are big enough to bloom. I'm not sure how much drier to keep it. It's been growing well - it currently has 4 growing fans - varying sizes, and roots looked great when I repotted last spring.

All get repotted yearly in spring. I use the same mix I make for Cyms - medium and fine fir bark (but remove the big chips for the Paphs), some perlite.
I try to water when they are just lightly moist, tho this winter I have been letting the delanatii get nearly dry, then just spray some water into it, to avoid drenching it.

I had been fertilizing the same as most of my orchids (1/2 tsp per gallon of the fert I use, once a week, except for the monthly flushing) - the year before last, I had reduced fert (reading in some posts that Paphs wanted less fert) - went back to my previous fertilizing schedule this year. Tho, I have reduced the fert this winter, just giving them a small amount a couple times a month (honestly - I'm just trying different things to try to get them to bloom!- seemed if the delanatii wanted to be bright, drier, coolish, reduced fertilizer seemed logical - to me, anyway)

The strap leaf has been growing in either a very sunny east or west facing window. (My now probably dead one that did bloom for me once was also growing in the sunny west facing window) The delanatii had been in different shady windows - one a shady east facing window, which the sun might be ok there in summer (gets some very early morning sun), but in winter, that window is pretty dark, so this winter it's been in a fairly bright west facing window.

I've been thinking of trying these outside maybe from mid-late spring thru late summer or early fall ... My porch faces east, has an over-hang, so can give them anywhere from a little to a lot of sun in the morning.

[NYCorchidman]

You're welcome!

Your first described paph is a complex, not a multi. It may rarely produce two flowers per stem though.
These are not the same as tropical epiphyte that need strong light like cattleya almost.
although bright light is beneficial for good growth as long as you don't burn them and from your description, I think you are giving them good light.
Old fans normally last about one or two years. sometimes longer.
This paphs needs some cooling to set buds, but you seem to have that requirement checked also.
Has this one ever bloomed for you?? did the old (now dead and gone) fan have a flower?

The second mentioned paph of yours, are they drying dark brownish? This is a normal way of discarding old leaves for many paphs but since this is happening to the new fans, something is going on.
Are they starting very dark from the tip of leaves??
Then you might want to check the mix. It could be salt burn.
If the browning is not dry, then it is fungal rot, but this only happens when it is too hot and wet. and the whole thing just rots down to the ground bascially. but I don't think this is the case.
Is the dying fan sending out new leaves at all??

Well, it's rather mytery as you are doing everything right it sounds like.

[WhiteRabbit]

Ah- got it

No, the strap leaf has never bloomed. The window it is in also has some Dens (a latouria and bigibbum v compactum and another mini den-phal), a moderate sized catt hybrid that all bloom there.

No, the declining one hasn't grown in some time, which is why I think it's actually dead, but foliage just being slow to follow. . It really started to decline after repot last year, so idk . I really liked that one

So I have the two that are growing well at least ... I'll keep at them a while more.

[The Orchid Boy]

I don't think your Paph. Oto is a multi-floral. It is a unifloral species crossed with a complex hybrid.

The (niveum x Pinnocchio) sounds like an interesting hybrid. Maybe pictures would help?

For me delenatii is easy to bloom. It was my very first paph. I have it in a clay pot in a 50/50 sphagnum and fine bark mix. If it has 4 fans it is definitely blooming sized. The leafspan on mine is 8 inches. They can bloom with leafspans of 6 inches. Mine bloomed with one growth.

[RJSquirrel]

nice paphs there york buddy ..I love the white one!!! Im going all white. You just cant top a perfect white paph flower. So nice to have some flowers in the windows.

trying them outside was the ticket fir me.

Ive run my paphs from 90+ last year down to 40 this winter growing them outside. Most of the 35 of have buds and have done well. You just cant water them when its cold and you have to let them go till it warms up some. Many times in the mornings they were dripping wet from dew anyhow and didnt need water. But A paph needing a little water never killed them. A paph getting a little cold doesnt kill them. A paph not getting enough light and too much water will soon die as we all know.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

Ah- got it

No, the strap leaf has never bloomed. The window it is in also has some Dens (a latouria and bigibbum v compactum and another mini den-phal), a moderate sized catt hybrid that all bloom there.

No, the declining one hasn't grown in some time, which is why I think it's actually dead, but foliage just being slow to follow. . It really started to decline after repot last year, so idk . I really liked that one

So I have the two that are growing well at least ... I'll keep at them a while more.

I did have one paph that died on me. It was a nice maudia type, but very unusual coloration and I loved that one.
It was growing two new fans fine, but then one leaf started to brown from the end. I thought (and hoped) it was a natural aging thing, but it turned out some kind of rot. I dipped the whole thing in hydrogen peroxide, but it didn't help. I ended up tossing that plant.
Now I have one vini ( and it is my favorite vini) that only grew two very small leaves in the last 13 months. this is unsual because all other maudiae paphs grow much much faster.
I suspect virus setting plants back. plan to have this plant tested to see if that is the case.

If you have those tropical dendrobium along with complex hybrid paphs, the paphs may not get enough cooling to set buds unless you grow your dendrobium on the rather cooler side for them.

---------- Post added at 11:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 PM ----------

Originally Posted by The Orchid Boy

I don't think your Paph. Oto is a multi-floral. It is a unifloral species crossed with a complex hybrid.

The (niveum x Pinnocchio) sounds like an interesting hybrid. Maybe pictures would help?

For me delenatii is easy to bloom. It was my very first paph. I have it in a clay pot in a 50/50 sphagnum and fine bark mix. If it has 4 fans it is definitely blooming sized. The leafspan on mine is 8 inches. They can bloom with leafspans of 6 inches. Mine bloomed with one growth.

Your delenatii sounds really big. the ones I've seen in bloom were all super mini size.

---------- Post added 03-01-2013 at 12:04 AM ---------- Previous post was 02-28-2013 at 11:59 PM ----------

[QUOTE=RJSquirrel;555699]nice paphs there york buddy ..I love the white one!!! Im going all white. You just cant top a perfect white paph flower. So nice to have some flowers in the windows.

Thanks!

I like how small the whole plant is and lots of growths it makes. I wish the dorsal was not so droopy. Other than that, I'm alright with that plant.

I have some other white paphs, but with much larger and better flowers for me.

but they are also bigger plants which take up lots of space.