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I’m a newish grower, with a small greenhouse in Massachusetts. Fascinated by paphs and phrags, but still figuring them out. This year I got the phrags into what I call ‘puddle culture’ with a reservoir of water at the bottom of each pot, and I’ve been thrilled at all the vigorous root tips. Still waiting for flowers!

Not doing so well with paphs, which have unhappy roots on repot. They’re going into airier medium each time, but I’m hoping to pick up other tips from all the great experience posted here.
 
Welcome from Idaho! I love my puddle phrags too. Haha. Paphs definitely feel a little fussier to me as well, still figuring them out for sure, also as a newer grower. I will say, I always always repot my new paphs immediately. Probably 80% of the paphs I've bought online from even reputable growers have the start of or a full blowm root issue if they arrive to me potted!
 
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Welcome to Slippertalk from Montreal Canada. A smallish greenhouse will soon be quite crowded. So many wonderful plants out there, too little room.

I grow plants with few or no roots in straight New Zealand sphagnum moss. This works for bare root plants as well. I use leca in the bottom of the pot for aeration then use the sphagnum around the roots and to fill the pot. The sphagnum has been soaked in water for several hours then squeezed to remove most of the water, leaving moist but not soggy moss. I do pack the moss around the plant so it is firm but not tightly packed and do not "fluff" up the moss as some youtube orchid growers suggest--I find "fluffed" moss dries out too quickly in my home environment and I need to water quite frequently. I use small pots (usually regular green pots, now trying clear plastic pots with slits or holes). I cover the potted up plants with a clear plastic dome to increase the humidity in the orchid ICU. I keep the moss moist but not soggy, watering as needed--I do not let it dry out. I grow the rest of my plants under LED lights. The plants in ICU are not under lights until I see new root tips from the cattleya/oncidium/phal hybrids or new leaf growth on the paphs. Once the root tips or new leaves are big enough, I move the plant into the light garden. I had purchased 2 paph seedlings with 4" leaf span, in May 2024. They came bare root and each had 2 viable roots. They stayed under the dome, growing in the moss for 3 months, watered with room temperature tap water, no fertilizer. Then, I repotted into a seedling paph mix once the new leaf was about 1" in size. They continue to produce a new leaf around every 3 months and each leaf is bigger than the previous leaf. I have never used live sphagnum moss but it sounds like an even better option if available.

This system works for me and I have bought around 35% of my plants bare root. I have not tried this method with other types of sphagnum moss. If you decided to give it a try, you may need to adapt it to your growing environment as your humidity may be much higher in a greenhouse.
 
I’m a newish grower, with a small greenhouse in Massachusetts. Fascinated by paphs and phrags, but still figuring them out. This year I got the phrags into what I call ‘puddle culture’ with a reservoir of water at the bottom of each pot, and I’ve been thrilled at all the vigorous root tips. Still waiting for flowers!

Not doing so well with paphs, which have unhappy roots on repot. They’re going into airier medium each time, but I’m hoping to pick up other tips from all the great experience posted here.
Welcome.
 
Look into Semi-hydroponics.

When I was developing the technique, back in my greenhouse in PA some 25 years ago or so, paphs were my “guinea pigs”, and they did so well grown that way, it encouraged me to experiment more broadly.

All my paphs and phrags are grown that way.
 
Welcome to Slippertalk from Montreal Canada. A smallish greenhouse will soon be quite crowded. So many wonderful plants out there, too little room.

I grow plants with few or no roots in straight New Zealand sphagnum moss. This works for bare root plants as well. I use leca in the bottom of the pot for aeration then use the sphagnum around the roots and to fill the pot. The sphagnum has been soaked in water for several hours then squeezed to remove most of the water, leaving moist but not soggy moss. I do pack the moss around the plant so it is firm but not tightly packed and do not "fluff" up the moss as some youtube orchid growers suggest--I find "fluffed" moss dries out too quickly in my home environment and I need to water quite frequently. I use small pots (usually regular green pots, now trying clear plastic pots with slits or holes). I cover the potted up plants with a clear plastic dome to increase the humidity in the orchid ICU. I keep the moss moist but not soggy, watering as needed--I do not let it dry out. I grow the rest of my plants under LED lights. The plants in ICU are not under lights until I see new root tips from the cattleya/oncidium/phal hybrids or new leaf growth on the paphs. Once the root tips or new leaves are big enough, I move the plant into the light garden. I had purchased 2 paph seedlings with 4" leaf span, in May 2024. They came bare root and each had 2 viable roots. They stayed under the dome, growing in the moss for 3 months, watered with room temperature tap water, no fertilizer. Then, I repotted into a seedling paph mix once the new leaf was about 1" in size. They continue to produce a new leaf around every 3 months and each leaf is bigger than the previous leaf. I have never used live sphagnum moss but it sounds like an even better option if available.

This system works for me and I have bought around 35% of my plants bare root. I have not tried this method with other types of sphagnum moss. If you decided to give it a try, you may need to adapt it to your growing environment as your humidity may be much higher in a greenhouse.
Nancy:
I resurrect anything that looks too pitiful with spaghnum, perlite, charcoal. Leca or large perlite on the bottom. Then a plastic bag that sort of fits over the top loosely to raise humidity. I've saved paphs with no roots this way. In 2-3 months with paphs I see roots, usually, in a clear pot, If it comes in bark and looks a bit dissicated, I leave it in bark and cover it with plastic. I call it my incubator.

Cattleyas overgrowing their pots are chopped off and put in spaghnum mix in clay and covered until new growth/roots emerge. In this case the moss is packed firmly to hold the plant. (Chadwick's has a utube video showing this.) I do let it dry pretty well before watering once plant establishes. Some people just put backbulbs in a bread or newspaper bag in damp moss and never touch them until they see new roots. I've held things that way, but get nervous long term.
 
I’m a newish grower, with a small greenhouse in Massachusetts. Fascinated by paphs and phrags, but still figuring them out. This year I got the phrags into what I call ‘puddle culture’ with a reservoir of water at the bottom of each pot, and I’ve been thrilled at all the vigorous root tips. Still waiting for flowers!

Not doing so well with paphs, which have unhappy roots on repot. They’re going into airier medium each time, but I’m hoping to pick up other tips from all the great experience posted here.
Welcome from Virginia.
Deborah
 
I’m a newish grower, with a small greenhouse in Massachusetts. Fascinated by paphs and phrags, but still figuring them out. This year I got the phrags into what I call ‘puddle culture’ with a reservoir of water at the bottom of each pot, and I’ve been thrilled at all the vigorous root tips. Still waiting for flowers!

Not doing so well with paphs, which have unhappy roots on repot. They’re going into airier medium each time, but I’m hoping to pick up other tips from all the great experience posted here.
Welcome from Chicago!

I’d love to see you succeed with thriving Paphiopedilum. Photos and descriptions of your media, temps, lighting, water quality (TDS, ph, etc.). The folks in here have taught me a lot and can usually make excellent suggestions based on your specific info. I’d have to see your roots, know your plants’ provenance and condition upon serving vs. now.
 

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