Paphs/Repot

How often are you watering? I'm also interested in the responses, as I have a paph that needs to be repotted...

--j_a

Diana Kulaga wrote:

Remember that we grow outside, so it depends on the weather. It's been dry, so a couple of times a week lately. I don't ever over water. If anything, I'm stingy that way. But I'm wondering if these guys need a serious bath to get them going again. They weren't dried out when I repotted, and the CHC wicks up water quite well. Still....

Diana

Take a representative plant out of pot at once and check the roots. It won't hurt it and you need to know if the roots are rotting and if so, overwatering them now will be the kiss of death. Note the moisture level of the mix. If the roots are good, I would suggest (assuming they are loosely in the mix rather than tightly packed) they could use some TLC, including copious watering.

Other thought: has the CHC been soaked to leach out salts? If not, the salt levels will kill the roots. I don't know if you are used to using CHC or not.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas.

Have you considered semi-hydroponics for them?

They were actually the first plants I used when I began experimenting with the idea, and they seem to thrive.

SH saved my one and only awarded paph. Having said that I don't grow much of anything in SH. I'm not sure why. I guess I'm a bark kinda person. But as bark becomes unavailable I guess I'll have to shift to something else.

Diana, remember its OK to unpot paphs as Tennis said. If you read Bob Wellensteins paph pages you'll see that he and Lynn often used to pot and unpot paphs until the sat right in the pot for them. You'd never do that to a cattleya for example. (ladyslipper.org, IIRC. might be .com) The Tonkins used to repot every 6 months in plain straight fine bark, no additives.

I'd wonder about the salt in the CHC, too. That's why I don't use it (too lazy to leach it properly) Also new medium is more open and airy than the old broken down stuff, so routine watering habits might not be enough for freshly repotted plants. Or maybe the new medium is just plain too open for them in the first place (too chunky and not fine enough).

Why did you change potting medium? Can't get it anymore? (Just a question, I know it sounds challenging when read but I don't mean it that way.)

K Barrett

Thanks, T, but they were repotted about 2 weeks ago and the roots were quite good. That's when the trouble started. And it's not all of them.

I use quite a bit of CHC, for Oncids, Catt seedlings, some Epis and Enc's too. I always soak, rinse and repeat before using it. And I lighten it up with small Aliflor, sponge rock, charcoal and sometimes add a little spagnum too.

Diana