Paph. delenatii

[Tobi]

I bought this Paph 2 years ago while in bloom. It had 2 blooms and last year
it bloomed again with 1 flower. This spring I got a new growth, but the leaves
from the bloom 2 years ago turned yellow and died. Now this late fall, the leaves
from last years growth are also turing yellow. The new growth leaves from
this year look good (all be it quite small). I repotted it last month thinking
maybe the roots were roting, but they looked good. It is now in a mix of
small bark, charcoal, lava roc and chopped sphag. Is it common for this
species to loose leaves from previous growths or are my growing conditions
not right. It is in a northeast window, limited morning sheltered sun. Since
I have never had a great deal of luck with growing Paphs, any advice would
be helpful.
Thanks,
Tobi

[tom499]

How much light are you giving it? mottled leave paphs dont want bright light. Its and odd order for it to die off, usually new growth fails first.

[mayres]

I've only been growing paphs for 2-3 years, but this DOES appear to be the normal process. After blooming the old growth yellows and fades away and the new comes for next year - ideally eventually MULTIPLE growths with multiple associated flowers.

[tom499]

That is interesting, i have paphs with growths 2 years old stilll there and green. Anyone got a book on their growth habits?

[Tobi]

Tom - I'm pretty sure I'm giving it the right light. As I stated, it's in a northeast window
with a thin sheltered UV light shade, so it's getting light but no direct sunlight.

Mike - Thanks. I only have a couple of Paphs since I haven't had great luck with them.
I wasn't certain if Paph leaves from older growths turn yellow and die like this. Hopefully
Kevin will enlighten me if this is normal as it seems the newer growths are not growing
as agressively as I thought they would. I thought maybe since this is a species that
they might behave slightly differently than hybrids.

[kmarch]

Tobi,
It is not unusual in some Paphs for the old growths to eventually die off, but usually not quite that fast. The blooming and new growth is encouraging, but usually an old growth would not die off before the new growth is mature. Your new growth looks healthy to me. Paphs in the Parvisepalum section grow more slowly than those in other sections.

I think your light is probably fine.

What are your temps and do you have a constant year-round temps or do they fluctuate seasonally?

How moist are you keeping your Paph?

[Tobi]

Thanks for responding Kevin. My temps in the room are 60-62 F winter low 70-72 F day.
Summer temps are anywhere between 72-80 F day and 60-70 F eve. I water pretty
much weekly year round and sometimes every 4-5 days in the middles of summer.

[patlee]

Hhhhmmmmm...I am interested in this discussion because I have a Paph. delenatii also. And kind of like yours,Tobi, it has never bloomed, but it has six or seven really healthy looking leaves. The last time I repotted (last month) I was surprised to see only one very long root(all spiraled in the pot,but kind of like a big tap root) and numerous smaller roots. I know that Paphs have no means of storing water and there root systems are different than,say,my Phals. It is a beautiful plant, but will I ever see a bloom with the roots this plant has? Are they the norm? What do you think, Kmarch? How are the roots on your paphs?
Maybe I am just used to seeing the fat Phal roots

[kmarch]

Paph delenatii (check the capitalization patlee, it's a species so no capital on delenatii - I corrected your post) comes from southern Vietnam. In nature they experience cool winters, around 10C (50F) for winter night time low with about 27C (80F) winter daytime highs. Summer averages are around 17C (63F) summer nights, and about 34C (93F) daytime highs. In addition to the cool winter nights, notice the extreme diurnal (day/night) temp difference (17C, 30F) year round.

South Vietnam is especially wet in autumn, in Sept-Dec (March-June in the southern hemisphere) then drier (but not dry) the rest of the year.

I have probably close to 15 P. delenatii in various stages, seedlings up to previously bloomed plants. I've been growing them for various lengths of time (10-14 months). I am getting good growth, both leaf and root, but no blooms yet. I am growing mine indoors where the lowest night time winter temp is about 15C (60F).

In nature it flowers in late autumn at/near the end of the rainy season so it is possible that either the autumn temp drops, the autumn increase in rain or a combination of the two initiate blooming. After the first of the year, I'm going to try growing some of them outdoors here in Melbourne to see if I can get them to bloom.