Hey Craig, you might want to find out what kind of Paph you have before you stick it in that window. I fried two pretty good only to later learn they couldn’t handle direct light. The mix you mentioned sounds fine.
Hey Dino. Don’t be getting overly impressed. I started with native Cyps about 5 years ago. All died that year. I tried again the next year with somewhat better success. As of this year, I see nothing coming up just yet. This happens with unseasonably cold weather. Here’s what I had: 1 Cypripedium acaule, 3 C. kentuckiense, 3 C. reginae forma albolabium, 3 C, candidum, and I was looking to buy 2 C. parviflorum var. pubescens and 2 C. formosanum. Think I better wait until I see what is going on here. I also have bog orchids and those seem to be doing perfectly fine. I have Calopogan tuberoses alba, Spiranthes cernua odorata, S. lacera, some sort of Plananthera (forgot), as well as Habenaria repens. The Water Spider Orchids are gorgeous and I just added that last year. I only have one of those and I’m thinking I’d like quite a few more if that particular plant comes back. I have what I believe to be Epipactis helleborine (European origin) and that was already on the property however my girlfriend thinks I may have misidentified this and that it is actually Coeloglossum viride which is a Green Bracted Orchid that is native. That’s what I have/had outside. I should know what made it in about 6 weeks.
As far as the orchids in my home, I just started this past February. I can’t even identify half of what I bought. I bought them because I liked their leaves and blooms and figured I’d give them a whirl. A few came with little stakes that had the binomial on them and a few I was able to call the source to ask for the name of what I bought but other than that, lots of mottled leaf unidentified Paphs. For whatever reason, I seem to have ideal conditions for these. High humidity and a tremendous amount of indirect light in the area where I have them all set out. All of the orchids I have (even the two I originally scorched) are pushing out new growth and most are either flowering again or sending up flower stalks. Call this beginners luck as I just found a small green and white slipper flower on one of my baby Paphs hiding behind foliage of other plants today. It is really pretty. So, am I an orchid grower- no. But I certainly do seem to have a horse shoe up my rear when it comes to all the orchids I have over here according to my friends who are absolutely “jaw dropping” in shock that mine arent' all dead. Actually, I am sort of in shock too as I purchased them sort of expecting that they would go to orchid heaven within a very short time. I got lucky in having purchased plants that just happen to be doing well in this one bathroom of my home combined with getting some tips here and reading a lot of information about growing them on the web. Next I want to try a Sago Palm for in that bathroom. I want to get one that is about 5’ tall though. Wouldn’t it be neat to arrange orchids around a Sago and to also add a few orchids to wall pockets?