Thanks for the replies, everyone..

ok, now to answer some of the questions posed to me... my growing area is in fact inside my house. i grow my paphs under a small rack with shade netting (as many growers in the tropics do).. In terms of 'naturalness' i try to provide as much air and light as possible for the brachys, parvis and multifloras. so, i hang them!

u can see pics at the growing areas megathread. i don't mind insects, creepy-crawlies etc... In Malaysia, all you have to do if you want moss is to leave a brick in the open... a few weeks later moss will have grown on it. I do put some mosses in my paph pots, near the surface of the medium. They grow on the moist sphagnum...
I am not willing to try converting to pure leaf mould as a medium because of the various reasons mentioned above.. furthermore, I'm studying away from home, so my dad has to water them for me... But yesterday, i tried putting dried leaves on the surface of all my paph pots, just as a way to give them fertiliser. I use the dried leaves of the false chinese juniper (thuja sp.) Well, I think that growing plants in a way that is as natural as possible will make them grow hardier and better, but may not as beautiful... I believe that in conventional growing methods, the plants are easily subjected to shock and distress.. So, they may not even cope with several days of dryness.
I am not willing yet to try mounting any of my paphs, in case of casualties when I'm away... :sob: I know that paphs can be mounted, but only the ones that can establish properly to the growing conditions provided. For example, if i were to mount paph villosum (which is epiphytic), it may not have adequate moisture as villosum grows in naturally dripping-wet conditions. I may try with lowii, but since i have only 1 lowii...
I agree with terrestrial man. I tried the same method with my ludisia. So i hope i can see some improvement soon.

I also tried it on sum of my small bulbos and coelogynes, cos they have such thin roots that burn easily, and I'm too lazy to foliar feed them. But I am curious with terrestrial man's choice of paph to mount. Why delenatii? Why not a naturally epiphytic species like lowii, parishii or villosum? A general question to everyone: Won't any of you be able to provide conditions for mounting in greenhouses? If anybody can grow phals mounted, i'm sure they can do satisfactorily with paphs too...
I agree that soil is a very unsuitable potting medium. Most growers in Malaysia use burnt earth to pot paphs, but the drainage tends to deteriorate and roots often rot. I know of a grower who uses pure perlite, but he is using the semi-hydroponic technique...It is rather a challenge to create the perfect medium for these fussy (and temperamental) plants...
Lastly, someone commented that growing paphs in bark, or whatever else, is not considered as potting them as epiphytes. I have to disagree on this. If truly epiphytic orchids like vandas, cattleyas etc are potted in bark, and paphs are also treated the same way, then why the exception for paphs? Aren't the other orchids also potted as epiphytes?
