Young plant arrivals.

[Winterwhite]

Good morning folks,
I received my three new paphiopedilums yesterday and was a bit surprised at the smallness of the plants. These weren't seedlings, certainly not mature size and looked like they would take two years of growth before I could call them a plant! They were taped into their pots with cotton under the tape so they wouldn't loose their potting mix. Actually I am intimidated by their size.....or perhaps fearful that I will do something wrong. They look as if there isn't much room for error like loosing a leaf or two. This is when you really begin to think about a growing environment. Am i over-reacting? Will they thrive even in the hands of a novus? I am thinking that I will just mist them heavily as my watering routine and can I assume that I can fertilize them much like I would for the other plants. Suggestions would be most welcomed.
This is when you realize that perhaps you just stepped out of your league and that more experience before buying these little guys would have been prudent. Mary

i'm no expert but here goes. your plants sound like really young ones. my older paphs do best with just once a week watering at this time of year( n.e. pa.) and no fertilizer unless i see active growth of root or leaf. if i do fertilize it is at 1/8th the reccomended rate. paphs are very sensitive to fertilizer. i never mist them either. i do suspend their pots inside larger non porous pots allowing a small pool of water to remain in the bottom of the larger pot, but the potted plant should never touch or stand in the pooled water. this has worked for me and i have 5 out of ten in bud or bloom. don't rush yours just give them time. good luck

[mayres]

Good advice! I would basically suggest the same.........

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I would be careful not to let the pots dry out completely, which small pots can do really fast. I ordered a seedling of P. vietnamense, because it sounded like it was half grown and since I had never been successful with plants out of flask, I figured this would be OK. Turns out the were out of stock of that size, so the vendor offered to send two smaller plants, just out of flask a couple of months. Needless to say, I was very worried about the prospects, but agreed. The seedlings where very tiny, but they have been growing so fast, that they have pased up a couple of P. micranthum seedlings that I thought were big enough to not worry about when I bought them. In fact, this rapid growth of the vietnamense makes me think that the micranthum is not being grown at the right temperature, because it is growing just to slowly by comparison. Good luck, and have patience. Cynthia

[BillC]

Hi WW, I had the same experience with a small seedling taped in the pot with packing under the tape. I removed tape and packing, sprayed the plant for a couple of days, then watered thoroughly. The plant has now been only misted for a week and seems to be in good condition. I don't intend to fertilise until it shows signs of growth and then at very dilute strength. Hope all goes well with your paphs. A couple of pics would be nice. Bill

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Bill, why are you holding back on the fertilizer? Paphs are not known for long periods of dormancy, and seedlings are usually encouraged to grow continuously in most species, since the dormancy and with holding fertilizer are usually followed carefully to encourage flowering, which seedling are too young for. Also, Paphs have no reservoir for water, and must not be allowed to dry out completely, at least that is what I have gleaned over the last few years, as I have only recently become a biggish Paph grower. Of course, I very much agree with the dilute fertilizer used on Paphs in general.

[BillC]

Cynthia, Thanks for the question. It was just a gut feeling on my part that I should not start with the fert. too soon, but give the seedling some time to adapt to new conditions. However I will be guided by your experience and start with 20-20-20 highly diluted on the next watering. Bill

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, the fertilizer isn't a real concern, as I've said before, orchids don't need much, but I was a little concerned that you sounded like you might be letting them dry out too much. Seedlings don't have a capacity for drying out much, and some not at all.

[Ellen]

I would be careful about misting the baby paphs. You don't want water to stand in the crown because this can easily cause rotting of the new leaves (or flower buds on a larger plant). It's better to just water the medium once a week or so and try to keep the plants away from heating vents, etc. that could dry them out too much. I remember when I first started growing paphs I had the same experience as Winterwhite - the vendor sent tiny plants with only 2 leaves that looked like they were just out of the flask and not even established in their pots. I was pretty skeptical, but paphs seem to be one orchid that grows well even if potted out very small. They may surprise you and bloom sooner than you think. About the packing - it's standard procedure to put paper, cotton, or some other material over the potting medium and tape it down when shipping orchids. This is done even for large plants, and is nothing to be concerned about.