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| Paph Adam Hausermann x Duncan York (6 years after purchase) |
I repotted my two paphiopedilum seedlings today, and was shocked to realize that 6 whole years have passed since I bought these orchid seedlings. While the growth on seedling #1 has remained rather stunted over (years of dehydration by neglect circa 2013-2015 haven't helped), the plant on the left has managed to establish a healthy root system, and has really grown up to what I think should be flowering size.
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| Evidence of damage on orchid |
However, even this large and healthy plant bears multiple signs of past damage. One leaf was half chewed off by my mischievous cat, when I had dared to try growing this orchid on a windowsill instead of safely within a glass terrarium. Several of the longer leaves are bent and broken from being tossed around during multiple moves between apartments over the years. Another leaf is significantly shorter than it should be--evidence that I had failed to sufficiently water this orchid during that period of time.
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| Cat is sizing up opportunity to attack a newly exposed orchid |
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| Even my presence is not a deterrent against attack |
I decided to repot the paph because it has been a long while since I've refreshed its media. Also, the plant was a little top heavy in its pot, and would frequently dry out too much between waterings. I had noticed a new growth developing at the base of the main plant, and this seemed like a good time to switch up to a larger pot.
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| New growth on paphiopedilum orchid |
The paph had a healthy clump of roots, which explains its great recent growth. I tried to be very gently in the repotting, disturbing the roots as little as possible.
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| Lots of healthy roots on paphiopedilum orchid |
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| Paphiopedilum after repotting |
Here is the paph after repotting. The final pot is perhaps a little bigger than it should be, but I didn't have an intermediate size between the old pot and the new. I had a problem with the orchid completely drying out between my weekly waterings when it was in a smaller pot, so hopefully this larger size will keep a better balance of moisture. And if I'm really lucky, perhaps I'll see it flower by end of summer.
