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. ;)

Another three? but you might pass out from the worry of having so many to care for again. I would hate for you to end up in accident and emergency from a stress related illness :rofl:

Oops, I lied apparently. Re-counted my Paphs just now, and I don't have 13, I have 15 AND three more incoming. ;)

But since I only have one blooming at the moment, I don't have any spikes to worry about. I fuzz over them as the mother hen I am, but I'm getting more and more relaxed around them. :biggrin: So, no risk of me having any accidents due to Paph-stress in other words. ;)

And I want more Paphs... :drool:

LOL. 13 is a perfectly good number, unless your a member of the Spanish Inquisition! But if you want to use it as an excuse, who am I to stop you...

I have hard water, so if anything I have to worry about my paph getting too much calcium!

Not had time to start re-potting yet, but I'm definitely losing two leaves, making 3 out of 7! A bit sad, but it looks like it's going to be clean under them. I think I'm going to send the seller an email just to say I've got slight concerns, think everythings actually OK, but can't be sure until I've had time to repot...

LOL, cross post...

Do you have any Maudaes? I nearly got a vinicolour, and I think one of those and maybe a green colour one might be high on my list... They had some green ones at the Orchid society meeting last week which were nice.

I have a maudiae. It is the alba version -all of my seven paphs are albas. I am only having albas for paphs!! :D - It has not flowered for me yet but it does have a flower sheaf which has been on the threshold of emerging for about three months now. Patience patience...

I have a maudiae too, a Paph Maudiae Vinicolor 'Schwarze Madonna'. It's a tiny little thing but it grows like MAD and has started putting out a new leaf! I'm so happy! I really look forward to this guy's first bloom since they're so dark vine red they're almost black. :love:

I just love the green versions of paphs. I will only ever get green I think. There are of course some colourful ones that I like like Dolls kobold and Lowii but for now green will do just fine. I have just ordered a Vanda :yikes: I know, mad right? It is a blue one and if I manage to get it to bloom I shall carry on with only blue types of vanda and it's hybrids.

You should not worry top much about your Paph... It looks pretty fine!

However, I would suggest to repot and add new substrate, as the one it is in looks like starting to decay... This would also let you control better what you are doing! Especially, for slippers it is a good practice to always repot them to new substrate after purchase!

Now, a clarification regarding adding dolomite or shells... This is not to add calcium or magnesium as fertilizer! Ok, yes, of course, once here the plants will use I as we'll... However, the main reason adding these is to increase the pH of the substrate around the roots! This is very important for several species of slippers, which would perform badly if the substrate is too acid!
Nevertheless, you should learn firs which species need it, as it could have the opposite effect as well... Paph. venustum is not a calcicolous species, therefore adding oyster shells or dolomite or any other calcareous rock is not necessary, and would actually negative!
Here is a page with good information about slippers: slipperorchids.info

Thought I'd add a picture of my Paph's roots. It's lost 3 out of 7 leaves, but looks very clean where they've come away. Some of the older roots look very dark, but they feel firm. You can't see in the pic, but on the other side where one of the leaves has been removed there's the slightest little nobble where something's growing, I'm guessing another root. The roots aren't hairy: there's bits of foam stuck to them! I didn't risk pulling it off!

looks fine to me, just pot it up in a fine bark mix and let it grow! water it just before it dries out....gl

Had a bit of a dig today, and unless I'm much mistaken, that new root is now a lot longer (didn't go all the way down it...) and I think I saw hairs on it... Fingers crossed I think it's doing ok! :)

Congrats! It feels great when you, as a Paph newbie, accomplish something like making a new root grow, right? I'm thrilled myself since I've managed to keep the root nubs my roebelenii and my Michael Koopowitz came with, alive and growing (they're more proper roots now and no little nubs anymore). :biggrin:

Keep up the good work!

The very little nub on mine hasn't grown... but I'm hoping that will get going soon. The plant seems to be doing well anyway. The root that was half grown and pale is the one that's grown: it's now darker and like I say seems to have hairs.

PS good luck on your paphs. I've had orchids sulk on me for months. As long as they aren't dying I think you just have to keep hoping! I've one hasn't done anything major for months (Prosthecea radiata), and suddenly 2 days ago it's got a mass of roots growing.

I'm pleased about the hairs on the paph as I'm using the tap water, which I believe is generally good but hard. So I think hairs means it's not burning the roots!

Any progress is good progress and the nub will start soon I bet.:nod: I was thrilled when the new root on my cerveranum (previously known as ceramense) continued growing after I got it home (but then I wasn't worried about its health as you were about your venustum so it must feel even better for you). :biggrin:

Thought I'd update as my plant is teasing me! It's been growing slowly: the root reached the bottom of the pot, and the newest leaf has been growing slowly most of the time since, ending up being a little larger than the old ones. Then recently it's suddenly grown one small leaf and imediately started another... not sure if I should be hopeful? So far the inner one looks empty...

PS, my curent paph list...

The venustum.
wilhelminiae
callosum (standard)
spicereanum (mature plant with about 5 fans, flowering when I got it)
4x Schöne von Kaunitz (vini maudiae seedlings bought in flask, growing strongly)

I then bought one of several job lots of paphs at an auction. To be honest I think I got the wrong job lot and probably wouldn't have chosen these, but now I've got them...

Franz Glanz
Madison River (a complex hybrid/bulldog)
Taieri Pride or Kee Chin Lim (malipoense x platyphyllum)
And another venustum, lol

You never know with these guys, or at least, I don't. :roll: Sometimes, I've thought they would bloom, only to have it being a new leaf and nothing more. I'll keep my fingers crossed though! :biggrin:

Such a humble list you've got there. For some reason, the Paphs sort of multiplied in my apartment. I've no idea how that happened. :whistling

Here's a list of my Paphs:

Paph. appletonianum
Paph. argus
Paph. barbatum x sib ('Wesley' x 'Perfect Circle') (NEW)
Paph. barbatum var. nigritum
Paph. bundtii
Paph. callosum var. sublaeve
Paph. ceramense or cerveranum
Paph. ciliolare
Paph. hainanense
Paph. lawrenceanum 'Graue' BM/DOG
Paph. mastersianum
Paph. purpuratum
Paph. robinsonii
Paph. schoseri
Paph. sukhakulii 'Graue'
Paph. superbiens
Paph. superbiens var. curtisii
Paph. tonsum var. cupreum
Paph. urbanianum x sib ('Shine and Glory' x 'Rainbow')
Paph. urbanianum
Paph. venustum
Paph. violascens
Paph. wardii 'Darkwing' x self


Paph. fairrieanum 'Dawlish Warren' x self
Paph. helenae
Paph. gratrixianum
Paph. henryanum
Paph. villosum
Paph. villsoum, new type from China


Paph. gardineri x sib 'Red Star' x 'Red Dragon'
Paph. lowii
Paph. roebelenii
Paph. roebelenii 'Kellerkind'
Paph. rothschildianum 'Big Garden' x 'Lark' FCC/AOS
Paph. rothschildianum x sib 'Jim Crull' FCC/AOS x 'Canadian Club' GM/JOGA
Paph. rothschildianum 'Mont Miliais' x self (although I seriously doubt that)
Paph. rothschildianum x sib 'Oriental Red' x 'Mont Miliais' FCC/AOS
Paph. rothschildianum 'Starship' x self


Paph. delenatii var. vinicolor x sib ('Purple Lantern' x Purple Delight')
Paph. malipoense 'Giant' x self


Paph. Ashburtoniae (barbatum x insigne)
Paph. Delrosi (rothschildianum x delenatii var. vinicolor)
Paph. Maudiae (callosum x lawrenceanum) Vinicolor 'Schwarze Madonna'
Paph. Michael Koopowitz (philippinense x sanderianum)
Paph. Pandion (venustum x fairrieanum)
Paph. Prine Edward of York (rothschildianum x sanderianum)


Paph. Clair de Lune 'Edgard van Belle' FCC/AOS


Paph. Vinicolor 'Black Jack'

It looks fine and normal to me, at least the part of plant I can see in your photo.

There is a new root pushing out, which is a good thing. I would keep it covered by the way. New roots tend to dry up and stop growing if exposed and dry. You don't want that to happen because I find that many paphs do not readily grow many roots, so whatever you get is precious!

As roots get older, they can look really dark brown and you might think they are bad. but often, they are very much alive and normal. Unless they are VERY soft and mushy, they are alive. Leave them as they are.

Check your potting medium. Take one or two piece and squeeze them. If too soft, then probably it is a good idea to repot. if not, you can leave them.

As for potting medium, anything that drains well but maintains moisture well is great for paphs.
Moss or seedling (or even mixture of both) mix would be ideal. So you don't need to shop for different mix.

The old leaves usually turn yellow, brown and then dry up, or just brown and dry up. As with the case of many other plants or orchids, the oldest one, the bottom most ones, go through this first but the order sometimes do not follow the rule, which can be normal or not normal.

As long as you don't see some odd spotty areas that spread over the leaves, you don't need to worry.
Aging leaves gradually turn yellow or brown. Spotting that occur once this yellowing or browning process is well underway can happen and maybe normal. As leaves are pretty much spent and dead, opportunistic fungi take over the leaves. They are not pathogenic.

Good luck with your new and very first paph.
I love venustum. :)

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------

Your last picture shows that your paph is healthy. growing new leaves and all.

and you really want to stop digging and checking for roots. It really is not good for the growing roots.
Now that you know all is well, you can just leave it as is and it will grow and before you know it, you will be rewarded with a wonderful brain pouch! lol

I was sure I'd posted a reply! Must have clicked the wrong button.

NYC: Most of this is an old thread...

Mutant: you may have more paphs than me, but I think I have more genuses!

And I think I've said this before: I'd trust the label on your 'Mont Miliais' x self much more than the one on your 'Schwarze Madonna'! The first is indicating a plant grown from seed, of which there could have been thousands. The second indicates a clone, and since you can't clone paphs the only way to that would be to do divisions. There are just too many 'Schwarze Madonna's on sale too cheap with too many different ilustrating pictures for them to all be one clone... I think that's a trade name. Should still be nice though!

I think so too, I only stick to Phals, Paphs, and one Phrag, and those are more than enough for me.

Interesting, I've never thought of that before. If it really was a 'Schwarze Madonna' then it probably would have a "x self" somewhere, but it doesn't... I think some vendors forget about the "x self" and just write the names. it's the same with my Claire de Lune 'Edgar van Belle', I highly doubt that it's a division of the awarded plant, but rather a selfling.

The 'Mont Miliais' x self was too cheap to be a true 'MM' selfling, and its leaves look wrong too. It's a chubby roth, and as far as I know, 'Mont Miliais' isn't chubby. But whatever it might be, it grows well so I'm not complaining. :biggrin:

You might be right about the SM being a selfing. I think sometimes you do get trade names being used: eg a nursery near to me had a load of (whatever name they used) Octopussy, which were almost certainly Prosthecea cochleatea. Really annoying: they have a suplier produces fabulous plants, then labels them like that, if they have a label at all...

Maybe see how the Milais goes: I think selfings can throw up quite different plants sometimes.

Hehe, well to be fair, it looks a bit...octopussy, right? ;)

I think it might be the same as another user on the Swedish orchid forum has, and that was sold to him as a 'MM' x somethingelse roth. His has exactly the same way of growing, and if mine turns out to bloom like his did, it's probably the same cross. His roth is very compact, sort of a mini-roth, which is great, 'cause then I'll have at least one roth that won't become huge. :biggrin:

You should get a wilhelminia like me: choose it as they are supposed to stay on the small side.

I have a praestans var. gardineri that's not supposed to become that much bigger than a wilhelminia. It seems to like living with me and is growing happily together with my paphiopedilums (helenae, henryanum, villosum etc.). :blushing:

I think there's some debate about exact definition of what's what, and probably some crossbred plants as a result! I think wils are also sold as glanduliferum v. wilhelminae, and maybe plain glandiferum, but I think those can be big as well? Not sure! I just got one that I'm pretty sure I'm going to like the look of and which isn't going to get too big! Got it brought over from the US when a seller was coming over, so it has named clone parents. Seem to have put the label somewhere though. Grrrr.

Seller doesn't seem to have the same one at the moment, but found this which is interesting:

https://www.orchidweb.com/products/p...tans~1386.html

PS: newest leaf on my venustum is looking thin again, but so far empty. It is only a little plant that lost a lot of it's leaves, so I guess I won't feel too bad if it saves it's energy and waits to flower for a new fan... but it would be nice!

I read about the discussion about these species as well, and no one seems to really know what's what.

I think mine will be compact too and have a lot of red on the flowers. At least I hope it will. It's also a U.S. import, but from Orchid Inn Ltd., Paph. glanduliferum var. gardineri x sib (Red Star x Red Dragon). Let's just say that I think the flowers might be red-ish. :biggrin:

I like the site you linked to, and it looks like they have a lot of interesting Paphs. :nod: I'll definetly order from them in the future.

My venustum flowered during Christmas, but has done nothing since. I'm waiting for it to grow a new fan, and I think it will... Eventually. ;)

Whatever mine's doing at the moment, I can't belive how fast it's doing it. After it spent most of a year growing one leaf... Guess they do things when they feel like it! The new leaf is definitely thinner than the normal ones, but nothing popping up inside so far!