Paph. lowii culture advice

[Mafate]

Hello all,

I grow this P. lowii in my collection since March 2023. Last year, it flowered for the first time and produced 3 flowers. This year, it is growing a new flower stem but as you can see, the shoot that produces this flower stem is much smaller than the one that produced last year's stem. I think there will be only two flowers this year.

So I wonder what I'm doing wrong. As you can see, it is in front of a south-facing window (protected by a veil in summer so that it does not burn), growing in pure pine bark, watered once a week and fertilized every 2 weeks with a 20/20/20 NPK fertilizer at about 780 µS/cm.

Thank you very much in advance for your advice.

 

[Justin]

The plant looks generally healthy so it is probably a matter of some environmental tweaks. For me, lowii likes a lot of light, frequent watering, warm temps, and good humidity.

Also they can grow big root systems. It looks like your plant could move into a bigger pot.

 

[Mafate]

Hi Justin, thank you for your help. So I will try to repot it in a bigger pot, which is what I had planned anyway, and to increase humidity. However, about watering, I read on Michael Tibbs' site not to overwater this species. That's not what your experience has taught you?

Regards.

 

[Justin]

Hi Justin, thank you for your help. So I will try to repot it in a bigger pot, which is what I had planned anyway, and to increase humidity. However, about watering, I read on Michael Tibbs' site not to overwater this species. That's not what your experience has taught you?

Regards.

"overwatering" is a relative concept. It depends on your conditions.