Paph St. Swithin

[Katherine]

WOW! lovely. Do you know which St. Swithin this is? I love these plants!

[tucker85]

Beautiful! I'm just starting to get interested in paphs and yours is really nice. Good growing.

[OrchidAddict]

You know, I've got two paphs that grow VERY happily in what I'd consider Cattleya light. They're both Maudiae-type hybrids...one is a Paph Heron's Faire, and the other is a NOID that is very "warty" with mottled foliage. I thought I'd change things up and put them in my indoor greenhouse to see how they liked it, and the growth on both of them slowed down so much it practically ground to a halt. My greenhouse doesn't get as much sun as the windowsills do, and I have some shelving units next to the windows for plants that like bright light but don't like the heat from being directly on the windowsill. That's where I have my Catts, and the two hybrid paphs I mentioned are on the shelf right below the catts. That's where they seem to like it best.

My Heron's Faire gave me two buds while on its sunny shelf last year, but we went away on vacation when it was in spike, and my husband turned the air conditioning off when we left. When we got back the spike had blasted. I nearly cried.

You can try gradually upping the light and see how yours does. If it helps at all, I have actually NEVER burned a paph...I've burned countless phals by accident, but my paphs have never gotten sunburn, and they are often exposed to similar light as my phals. I think they can take more sun than most people give them credit for....with one slight exception...my Brachy paphs are NOT too fond of the sun. But you're talking about multiflorals, right?

I've heard that the multiflorals actually like more sun than their Maudiae counterparts, so you could probably give it more sun and be just fine, since even my Maudiae hybrids do well in Cattleya light. Now that I think of it, I should probably move my multiflorals into higher light, too. My Paph pinocchio hasn't done much since I got it months ago...probably because it needs more light! DOH!! I'm glad you posted this thread...I should have upped the light for my multiflorals long ago!! No wonder they're just sort of sitting there. Whoops!!



At any rate, you've got some lovely blooms going on over there! Three flowers isn't too shabby!!!

Lovely paph and great growing!!

[stateless]

WOW! lovely. Do you know which St. Swithin this is? I love these plants!

thanks Katherine but all I know is the parents are rothchildianum and philippinense , as Yew mentioned

[stateless]

Beautiful! I'm just starting to get interested in paphs and yours is really nice. Good growing.

thank you Jeff I've found them too be not quite as fussy as I thought they would be, mine were outside on a bench under a tree this past summer when we had all that rain and they did fine

[mauraec]

I found that when I gave in and finally purchased a light-meter, my plants inside were getting FAR less light than I thought they were. For anyone who grows indoors, it's worth the investment - what you think is "cattleya" light may be far more like phal or paph light. Just my own experience.

[mauraec]

I found that when I gave in and finally purchased a light-meter, my plants inside were getting FAR less light than I thought they were. For anyone who grows indoors, it's worth the investment - what you think is "cattleya" light may be far more like phal or paph light. Just my own experience.

[Ron-NY]

I don't grow my multiflorals as bright as Catts but I do keep them brighter than traditional Paphs

[OrchidAddict]

I found that when I gave in and finally purchased a light-meter, my plants inside were getting FAR less light than I thought they were. For anyone who grows indoors, it's worth the investment - what you think is "cattleya" light may be far more like phal or paph light. Just my own experience.

I have a cheapo light meter (it's on of those light/ph/soil wetness meters, but I don't think it works right, so I don't even use it). But would it be safe to say that if my catts are happily blooming in their light, it would be fair to assume that's "catt light?" I've tried giving them more and they toast.

I actually have my maudiae-type paphs on a shelf where my phals burn, and they like it, which I find odd. I discovered this when I moved my paphs into the greenhouse for a little while. I had an empty shelf on my stacker, so I put some phals in their place. Every single one of the phals got leaf burn. Now, these were hybrids, not species phals, which I've found like higher light levels, but still...it would seem odd that the phals would burn in light that the paphs loved. Maybe I just have two ridiculously hardy paph hybrids!

[Dorsetman]

Thought you might like to know this ; If it rains on St.Swithins day, we will have 40 days of rain..( old English proverb) .I hope to god it doesn't rain then - we have far too much rain in the last year, ever since the drought ended in March 2012...my walk was cancelled today, because it was pouring with rain...and at tea time we had a thunderstorm with hailstones 1/2 inch diameter... I think I'd like to emigrate to somewhere warmer...

Paph flowers. A bit of info' for you regarding light values. Grow them brighter - they flower more often with smaller duller flowers. Conversely, grow them darker and you get bigger , brighter flowers .... if and when they do flower.
It may be winter light which is more significant , at least for summer flowering species/hybrids ( in my experience, paphs are very seasonal - differing for each different grex, species etc. ). In practice I grow all my paphs in tnhe same greenhouse as the catts etc, but the catts are under sun lamps giving them extra light for 6 months of the year ( in southern England) and the paphs don't get that.