The latest edition of "Fine Gardening" had a piece about this stuff and found that it made little, if any difference. There was a thread about this a while back: http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6701
Here's a pic of my Paph. Juno (Paph. callosum x Paph. fairrieanum). It does look much like the bloom myoxdex posted in this thread a while back: http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1920&highlight=juno. Did you see the movie of the same name?
This blossom is my first re-blooming of Paph. 'Booth's St. Bern x Baby Gland' from Windyhill Farms. One of the blossoms has a spike of tissue sticking out. The other blossom does not. What's up? Just curious. Thanks for any information. Here's a photo of the pouch:
Wilson
This stuff is a "hydrogel" that takes up large quantities of water, then releases it slowly. It comes as small dry granules. I had purchased some orchids from Windy Hill and noticed several small rubbery clear bits in the potting mix when I repotted them. I asked Marilyn LeDoux about it and...
Hien--
Unless you are dome shaped and orange with spots, the bugs don't look like you. Not only do they stink a bit, they can bite, unlike the nice friendly red american ladybugs. Thanks all for the information.
My P. spicerianum is sending upt three also. They are the first blooms on this plant and the first species paph I have managed to get to bloom from a seedling. It must be an easy one!