Okay, so I decided to see what everyone thought of the color of my Paph. rothschildianum's leaves. I'm a little concerned that they are TOO light in color and that is may be a nutrient issue, rather than the fact that it gets very bright light. The lowest leaf, in particular, is verging on yellow, and not a normal leaf die off yellow.

Here is a view of where it lives in my growing area.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6k4l0/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/roth3.jpg

The whole plant
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6k4l0/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/roth1.jpg

The lowest, lightest leaf.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6k4l0/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/roth2a.jpg

Thanks for any "light" you can shed! :D

Thanks for posting! It looks nice and healthy to me but you know I'm CD, so not much help from me in the color dept.

I think it looks pretty good Heather. Don't panic!!. When was the last time it put on a new leaf, and what do the roots look like? Also I don't know what would be too much light for a roth. I bet these guys can take just about full sun for at least a few hours a day, so I doubt that you can yellow it out from too much light inside the house. If it seems to be "eating up " its older leaves to add new ones, I'd start with a small addition of epson salts to your regular watering for a while, and see what that does.

Thanks to you both!

Rick - I have notes in my database from December - that newest leaf was sighted 12/5/04, and I made a note of new root growth on
12/20/04. One thing I noticed this morning was that there appears to possibly be a tiny bit of salt build up on some of the bark visible through the holes in the bottom, very TINY amount but still there. After I measure my pH this weekend, I'll give this plant a really good flush. It is potted in my first mix of medium size bark w/ a little chopped sphag. Actually, now that I think of it, my lowii was potted at the same time as this one, in the same mix, and I just repotted that a couple weeks ago, and the mix was getting rather broken down. I wonder if repotting might be a good idea?

I think it looks pretty good Heather. Don't panic!!. When was the last time it put on a new leaf, and what do the roots look like? Also I don't know what would be too much light for a roth. I bet these guys can take just about full sun for at least a few hours a day, so I doubt that you can yellow it out from too much light inside the house. If it seems to be "eating up " its older leaves to add new ones, I'd start with a small addition of epson salts to your regular watering for a while, and see what that does.

Yes, in nature they do get full direct sun part of the day and so much sun, that they appear yellow. They need the bright light to bloom to their full potential.

IMHO repotting is the best fertilizer there is....it is always a good idea. With the mix I use, I repot twice a year and you can see the growth spurt after every repotting.
If you're worried about fertilizer, how are you doing it now? I barely fertilize every watering(1/8tsp per gal) and flush with regular watering every fourth time.
Your roth looks happy to me, having a bottom leaf turn yellow is no big deal...I would worry more about brown leaf tips or rot should that ever happen.
Jon

it looks slightly chlorotic. Reduce light a bit.

Heather
Even though your roth is probably captive seed grown, and adapted to a wide range of mixes, the addition of sphagnum moss to your bark mix will push it to the acidic side, which I think is poor idea for roths. I'd go for a more neutral mix. Mine are in a Antec type CHC mix without any lime or oyster shell added.

Heather
Even though your roth is probably captive seed grown, and adapted to a wide range of mixes, the addition of sphagnum moss to your bark mix will push it to the acidic side, which I think is poor idea for roths. I'd go for a more neutral mix. Mine are in a Antec type CHC mix without any lime or oyster shell added.

Yes, that makes sense. The other mix I have is CHC, diatomite, perlite, and charcoal, which is similar to Antec's and also what I put the lowii into the other day, so I think I'll go with that plan.

Thanks for all of the advice! Jon, I agree, my plant always seem to look happier after I repot.

I thought I ought to confess, that I added some bashed up volcanic rock to my roth and tigrinum mixes. But that is probably more voodoo science than ST.

Ok, just unpotted the roth and it looks pretty good, not one bad root, some actively growing, and maybe half are new since I got it (I think, got to compare pics later. I also tested the pH as I ran a bunch of water through the old medium, and it is about 7.8 w/ a TDS of 160 - but that could be mostly attributed to me running tap water through it.

One thing I noticed is I may have over potted it a little, I can actually get it in a slightly smaller square pot comfortably, so will choose that one this time. Love those square pots!

Thanks for all the help and opinons!

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6k4l0/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/rothroots405.jpg

Very nice fat, juicy roots! :)

Yes
And the hairs look good too.

roots look good...on second thought that plant doesn't look good at all, you send it to me so I can "doctor" it up for you :lol:

Dang PB!!!! You beat me to it. :evil:

Dang PB!!!! You beat me to it. :evil:

The early bird get the worm :lol: :-dance:

Dang PB!!!! You beat me to it. :evil:

The early bird get the worm :lol: :-dance:

Not in this case, you two, I'm keeping my "worm"!!!
:cheeky: