Paph fairrieanum bloom and how to stake
 

My little fairrie has finally bloomed and while the colors are a bit light (we have had some very warm weather over the past few weeks) I still love this wonky flower. I hope I’m not shooting myself in the foot but, so far, it has been an easy grower. Probably my easiest Paph out of 8 others. It lives outside most of the year and I’ve just been putting it in the greenhouse when it looks like it will be below 40°F at night. Had some caterpillars try to eat it over the summer but it’s been growing good and making plenty of roots since I got it a while back

Now, does anyone have any tips or tricks on how to stake Paphs? This flower just opened and probably still needs a few days to finish but how can I try to make sure that pouch drops down and the dorsal stands up for this bloom or next?

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Most Paphs do not need much staking, at most some gentle support.

If the fan (growth) is leaning to one side, in many cases you should just stake the growth. Straighten it with one hand, and push a stake into the pot right next to it, so it can't lean back.

If you wish, you can then put a twist tie onto the stake, to support the stem about 2-3 inches below the flower.

Thanks, I did end up doing just that. It’s a pretty strong stem but it’s long and just needed a little support from the weight of the bloom.

My main thing is the labellum though. This is only the second Paph I have bloomed but both have held the labellum at more of a 45° angle to the rest of the flower. My other one, a Paph Hung Shen Bay, had a nice lip when I bought it. My rebloom, while it had nice flat dorsal and petals, gave me a labellum that was jutting out from the rest of the flower rather than hanging down nicely like when I bought it in bloom. I guess I just don’t know if this is a cultural problem or can be fixed with staking before the bloom opens. Any thoughts?

If you look at the profile photo, you can picture the dorsal sepal being a bit of an "umbrella" keeping a torrential rain from filling the pouch.

Certainly you can stake it, but the natural orientation might have a valid purpose in the wild.

Or I could simply be making it up to satisfy my observation...