Question
Dear Mr. Kawasaki,
I bought a lady slipper paphiopedilum orchid from an orchid show last June, 2006, while it was in bloom.  

It bloomed for about a month as I'd thought and the leaves remained growing healthy and spotted green (according to their pattern), but this year it didn't bloom.  It did however double its leaves.  

Someone said that it probably needed repotting and new soil (I know next to nothing about plants) so I bought orchid soil and a slightly larger pot and repotted it according to the instructions.  I also moved it to a different spot in the house, where I now think it got too much sun.  

A few of the leaves are dark brown/black at the very tips (about 1-2 cm) and the largest, longest leaves  won't stand up straight. (When I repotted, I'd steadied them  with a stick at first)  It seems like most of the leaves are less sturdy than they used to be.  

If I overexposed it to light, what can I do?  Should I mist it when I water it? I've moved it away from the window.  How can I bring it back to health?

Thanks for your help.

Linda

Answer
Hello Linda,

Please call me Jim, Mr. sounds so formal. As any of my friends will tell you, I am one of the least formal persons they know.  (grin)  

That the paphiopedilum doubled the number of leaves is a good sign, no flowers this year is not so good.  Repotting it was a good idea but putting it into a larger pot size was probably not so good.  It is better to under pot than over pot most orchids.  Why?  Too large a pot means lots of orchid media and it will tend to remain wet much longer because there are not many roots to take up the water, this leads to an almost constantly wet media which could lead to root rot.  If you still have to old smaller pot, you might try repotting the paph into it.  By the way, is the orchid soil really like soil or is it more chunky, consisting of small bark pieces and maybe some other materials?  Orchid roots need some air around them so it is best to use a media that will remain somewhat open after watering.  When repotting, check the roots for any soft mushy ones, remove any that are as they have rotted.  Loss of live roots can cause the leaves to become droopy.  

It may be that the new place did expose it to too much direct sunlight but that probably is not the cause for the leaf tips to turn brown/black.  Paphs are pretty sensitive to salt and if your water supply is considered to be on the hard side, that is what caused the tips to die back.  If your water is hard, you can try using distilled water for it.  Since distilled water lacks any minerals or nutrients of any kind, use an orchid fertilizer that contains minor amounts of various minerals.  

Paphs do best in bright indirect sunlight with maybe several hours of direct morning sunlight but bright shade the remainder of the day.  

Hope this helps bring you paph back to health.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.