faster growing plant. Now, what would you say is the ideal size of
pot
for
a given paph? At present, the largest leaves on the larger plant are
about
10 cm long, and those on the smaller one are half that.

When you take it out of the pot (you can even repot it in spike although
I
wouldn't unless I had to), look at the roots and choose a pot that they
will
fit comfortably in.

Thanks. So I can expect to use a pot of about the same size as the one
the
pair came in for the larger of the two, and probably a smaller pot for the
smaller one. I would suppose that putting the two plants into separate
pots
would have an efect comparable to putting a single plant into a slightly
larger pot.

Makes sense although until u unpot it, you really can't tell. The smaller
plant may have a larger root system...


When in doubt, water it. That is in contrast to almost
everything
else, where the rule is "when in doubt, don't". Other than that,
less
light than your catts. Everything else is about the same. Paphs
are
very easy once you have killed a couple... *grin*. Actually paphs
are
very easy, and this hybrid is easier than most.

So, then, in a sense, paphs would be better for beginners than phals
or
dends, even though the ones I have seen tend to be much more expensive
than
either, because the beginner is less likely to kill them with the
kindness
of watering them at every opportunity. I wonder why they aren't more
common
and affordable?

They are more expensive because they have yet to be cloned so one can
only
get copies of a particular plant by dividing it making awarded ones
expensive. And the seedlings tend to grow slower than other orchids
although some paphs grow quickly and some are notoriously slow to
mature.
Also, some don't make a lot of seed...

OK. But this suggests that there may be an opportunity for a patient man
to
make a bit more from them than would be the case for phals.

Yes except the time and materials required to keep it longer add to the cost
to the grower...

Do you have any ideas or info on why they haven't been clond yet?

Actually, I believe it's being worked on and there has been some success.
I've heard rumors... But basically, the techniques that have been
successful for cloning other orchids just don't work for Paphs - another
indication that maybe they're not really orchids

Also, you can overwater Paphs and some like to be pretty dry (concolor
and
the other brachys) although underwatering them is more common,
especially
under lights.

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if they can be over watered, but I am
guessing
that is harder to do than it is for phals. But I was thinking of the
beginner, whose most likely mistake is to overwater, something that paphs
would likely handle better than phals. And I am guessing that a watering
frequency that would make paphs happy would likely drown a phal.

Yes, that I believe would especially be true for most of the hybrids. I do
have several that I've killed or almost killed by over watering (concolor,
sukhakulii, bellatulum and it's cousins). Also, you still want to make sure
the leaves especially the crown is dry by the time it cools off in the
evening.

Take care,
Jerry