I am so going to have nightmares about my fiance mowing down my cyms! He isn't a plant lover, but he doen't complain about my little pots of starting lily bulbs (for the outside) OR especially my orchid invasion that accompanied me when I moved in. One time he said "Are you going to buy many more plants honey?" and THAT was enough to warrant my meanest look of death (I have to be stern or he may progress to the "mower" stage! lol!). And yes, I'm buying more. Oh - I lost all my 8 Phals in a freak hail storm (That happens in Calgary). I have one Phal I bought last year. It looks great, but won't grow leaves and won't flower, so I'm getting sick of it. It better be growing roots at least. I'll switch to phosphorous, repot and cool it this fall and see what happens. I just bought my first paph, so I'm axious to see If I can get THAT to give me a bud. I am really obsessing over it, which I sure the paph can detect, and that's why it's hiding it's babies from me :(

I don't completely disagree, with you Orrin but I am completely underwhelmed by the description of the light situation for the paphs and suspect that even the paph that is not in decline hasn't done anything in the way of recovery or advancement from when it was first brought 'home'. In fact the location that is used for the Catts sounds ideal for the paphs(!) and IMO moving it to still less light is entirely the wrong response to its decline. What is a 'root problem' but a failure of the roots to do the job they are intended to? Without the energy from light running the various metabolic processes everything fails roots first. The cure is not to repot or root prune or water less or any of the usual palliatives it is to get more light energy into the plant so it can repair the roots and get on with things. I have looked over the supplied information source in the past and it is excellent but I lament the tendecy to look all over for trouble and employ all manner of potting materials and watering schemes while never mentioning the importance of good light. A great many of us are keeping orchids in light that wouldn't keep the buds on an African Violet. How do I know? Because many of the same people growing phals and paphs tried growing AV's in the same spot years before and when they wouldn't behave they went over to orchids. In the present case plenty of light is available but with the heavy glazing on the glass and the generally low angle of winter sun (even in FL) it does no harm to be generous to even paphs. Try it. Tell me if they do worse or better for being given an hour or two of actual SUN in the morning. H

Hello Brooke, When I suggested to Larissa if she uses a Ziploc that she not use any potting medium because she is fighting scales. If you have an orchid that has no roots you also dont need a potting medium. Here are some pictures of small paphs growths that broke off during potting that I ziplocked. This is the paph pictured in the bag above. You can see the new root growth just where the brown meets the green. There is a similar new root on the other side. This is after two weeks. This is another paph broken off during repotting. Root after about a month in a ziplock bag. There is a new leaf also growing from the apex, but you canÂt see it in this photo. When the roots get about an inch I will pot them up in bark, continue zip locking until the roots get well established in the medium. You can use sphag but it breaks down very quickly in this environment. What is happening is that the Ziplock bag is air tight, so the little bit of moisture that is in the bag stays in the bag creating 100% humidity. You donÂt need medium to hold the moisture. The bag contains it. Moisture travels into the cells that are desiccated. When you blow into the bag you raise the CO2 level up slightly in the bag helping with the plants carbon fixing. This helps in creating new growth. I admit not to do any experiment to prove this against not breathing in the bag and just filling the bag with air, but I feel reasonably assured that that is what is happening based on my experience and knowledge. I assume this bag would be out of any direct sunlight during recuperation? Yes. Whenever any person, animal or plant is recuperating the less stress the better. The bag method does not guarantee that a unhealthy orchid will recover. Some are headed south no matter what you do. Hello Sheila, How long in the baggie is 'a long time'? a week, a month? Once a orchid has fully recovered or reestablished roots into a medium you can take it out of the bag. I once did an experiment where I had a paph that had no roots. I bagged it grew the roots, potted it, put it back into the bag, and grew it for about three years in the bag. I wanted to see how long I could grow it in the bag after three years I decided it could go for as long as one wanted. One caveat was it didnÂt flower in the bag. During the three years I would add water from time to time, once the roots were established a little water with fertilizer. The roots grew well even outside the pot and you could see the fuzzy root hairs found on paphs. There were a few growths and a strong root system when I took it out of the bag and flowered it. I either gave it away or sold it. I thought I had pictures of it, but canÂt find them now. 'Every now & then opening the bag', same question, once a day, couple times week??? Once a week usually but I admit to be lacs-a-dasial about it. I would sometime blow up the bags whenever they looked like they were going down. If you blow into them more regularly you will probably have better results. Incidentally, I also use this trick if I am going on vacation, and some orchids need to be watered during the time I am not there. I havenÂt lost any healthy orchids

Hi lwowk/Larissa: My pair of 27w CFL's are about 2 ft away from the paphiopedilum x maudiae. The back-of-the-box info says a 27w CFL (=100w incandescent) has 1750 lumens. Note that I flower phalaenopsis equestris and amabilis, and Amesiella monticola under identical light set up. And these generally require more light than paphiopedilums which generally live on the forest floor. 55w CFL would be very bright by contrast. I would experiment and see how plant responds with growth, leaf color, etc. The only downside is that paphiopedilums are slow - and it could take weeks for an inciting event to express itself in plant growth. But if it burns, it should happen within 1-2 days. Play it by sight/ear. My 2 new growths that came out in August are still growing, slowly. Your plant is new(?) and probably spending its energy acclimating to your environment than into keiki growth - so don't worry. Plus it's winter. Do watch watering in winter. SCALES: I use Q-tip with 70% ethanol, checking 1-2 times a week. Persistence is the key. My Q-tipping rate eventually overtakes their multiplication rate and they disappear. Scales are cunning and hide in the most unlikely places. I have no experience using Neem or Safers on paphiopedilum. Check the link. Good luck, alvin