Paphs grow new leaves

The too-tall fan grows taller

    I was hoping for a bud, but the growth on my noid paph is clearly a new leaf.  I bought this orchid in bloom around July of last year, and it is in good health.  If I'm lucky, it will rebloom for me in the summer.  The orchid has been a fast grower for me, so there is still time for it to finish the new leaf and start on a spike.

     There's a chance that it's not getting sufficient light to flower (which might also explain why the new growth has such a ridiculously tall 'stem').  My paphs and phals are growing under a daylight sunlamp, which I now suspect is not bright enough.  I've ordered a new fixture of T5 fluorescent bulbs, which will hopefully arrive soon.

New leaf on paph sanderianum first became visible about 2 weeks ago

   

     The new growth from paph sanderianum is good news.  It is a young plant which needs to get much bigger before it can hope to bloom.  I've read that sanderianums usually need to develop multiple growths before they flower, and I'll be keeping a hopeful eye out for that.  When I bought the plant 6 months ago from Marlow's Orchids, he had them listed as 2 years from blooming size.  If it grows well, I can hope to see the start of a new fan by the end of the year.

Completed repotting cymbidium Kusuda Shining x Douglas Dillon

Cymbidium in new pot: old pot on left

     It's about a week since I originally tried repotting my cymbidium, and found that I didn't have proper pot for the roots.  Now finally, both the new pot (see picture) and the new media (classic cymbidium mix from repotme.com) have arrived.  

     The mix is different than what I've ever used before.  Instead of primarily bark chips, it seems to be mainly coconut husk.  It seems like a mix that would retain more moisture than plain bark.  I'll see if I like it, and decide whether to use this, or plain bark when it's time to repot my other cymbidium hybrid.

     When transferring the plant from its interim oversize pot (on right) I was happy to see that all the roots were still in good condition, and very dry.  I soaked the plant, and potted it in the new tall pot, with the newest two growths pointing at the center.  

Mushy backbulb on Oncidium

The brown part of the backbulb feels hollow and mushy

     The oldest pseudobulb on my Wilsonara Pacific Perspective is rotting away.  The brownish portion of the pseudobulb (whose color the camera flash so nicely accentuates) is hollow and mushy on the inside.

    I don't want to repot the orchid now, since it's in full bloom, and I don't want to risk losing the flowers early.  The roots seem healthy, so I hope I am not making a big mistake by waiting.  But as soon as a blooms fade, I will be repotting, and cutting off the rotten bulb.  I will also be switching to a different potting medium, perhaps one specifically formulated for oncidiums.  Currently I have it potted in paph&phrag mix, because it's a fine-grade mix and the oncidium's roots are thin.  But the rot seems to indicate that it needs a change.

Big Phal noid not growing?

     What am I to make of my big phal noid?  I bought the phal in bloom last summer, and although its keikis are growing splendidly, the mother plant hasn't done anything in that time.  When I repotted the phal last Fall, it had a decent root system, but no growing root tips.  Even as my smaller noid phal grew a fresh crop of roots, this one hasn't done anything.  Neither has there been any hint of leaf growth.

     The phal lost one leaf in the Fall, and now the oldest two leaves are showing signs of age.  Is the phal waiting for the keikis to finish growing before it can produce any new growth?  I think it will be at least a few more months before they are ready to detach from the mother plant.  The largest of the keikis now has roots that are only 1 inch long, and the other two haven't yet grown roots at all.

Growth on Ctt Jewel Box 'Scheherazade'

New pseudobulb after 1 month of growth

     It's now been almost 2 months since I repotted the Cattlianthe Jewel Box, and it has since seemed to establish itself.  The one new pseudobulb has grown considerably in the past month. 

     The wrinkling of the new pseudobulbs seems to have partially reversed.  They now have one permanent wrinkle each, but have otherwise filled back out.

New root peeks out

     I've also noticed a new root poking through the holes in the pot.  I take this as a very positive sign that the roots have adapted well to the repotting and are now growing fresh tips.

     Now if only I could have flowers!

Repotting Cymbidium Kusuda Shining X Douglas Dillon

A look inside the cymbidium pot

     I decided to repot the last of my new orchids today.  The cymbidium had recovered from being shipped to my apartment without issue, and since it didn't look ready to bloom anytime soon, I thought it would be as good a time as any to repot.  In general I like to repot orchids soon after I receive them so that I can clearly know what the state of the roots and media is.

     the cymbidium was planted in a mix which was primarily sphagnum moss and perlite.  The root mass was large and healthy, but thankfully not terribly overgrown.  Remembering my mistakes with repotting my other cymbidium, I tried to be extra gentle on the roots while prying the old media out.  I held the roots under a running faucet for several minutes, which helped wash out much of the remaining debris, and helped soften and uncoil the roots.

A beautiful root mass

     In the end, I didn't have to trim many dead roots at all.  I ran into trouble when trying to find a new pot to repot the orchid in.  The old one seemed to small, but the only pots I had which were tall enough to contain the root mass, were also much to wide at the rim.  In the end I temporarily potted the cymbidium into an oversize 7 inch pot using dry coarse media.

oversize orchid pot with old pot for comparison

     Meanwhile I ordered a new pot which is 6 inches at the widest, and 8 inches tall.  Since cymbidium roots tend to grow long (much more so than other orchid roots) I expect a taller pot to fit the root shape better.  I was also dismayed at the cost of larger sized ceramic pots ($30+), so I picked out the one that was on sale, selecting by price and dimensions rather than aesthetics.  I also ordered some cymbidium potting media.  When the new purchases arrive, I will transfer the orchid to new pot and media.

Repotting Paphiopedilum sanderianum

Young Paphiopedilum sanderianum plant

    It is a testament to the Paph sanderianum's slow growth that this is the first time I am writing about this orchid since I introduced it when starting this blog.  I've had the orchid for about 6 months now, and all it's done is finish growing a new leaf.

Another leaf?

     Now there is a hint of something new pushing out from the crown; it is almost certainly another leaf.  Bolstered by the new growth and the incipient Spring, I decided to finally repot the orchid for the first time.

     I was immediately struck by how dark the paph's roots are (much darker than those of my noid paph).  Most of the roots seemed healthy, but I didn't notice any new growing root tips.  There were however several broken roots, which I trimmed off before returning the paph to its pot.

Paph sanderianum roots after trimming

The old paph potting media

     I noticed that the old paph media had rocks mixed in with the bark and perlite.  I guess the rocks help increase the drainage of the media.  Since rock doesn't degrade like bark does, I picked out the pebbles and mixed them in with fresh media, and used that to repot the orchid back in its original pot.