I can't believe the multis and parvis look as good as they do after being grown in nasty potting soil, but the roots looked pretty miserable. Hopefully they like my culture better.
Since you were surprised with the "nasty" potting soil .
I am thinking with all of the fancy potting mixes the orchidists inventing, I wonder, what substrate do paphs grow on in nature?
There is an orchid garden in Vietnam , the owner put all hundreds of these hirsutissimum directly in the ground.
According to the one who taping the video, the only plants which did not thrive were the ones under deep tree shade, or damaged by the dogs chasing each other. he said, oh, I just grow them like "vietnamese water spinach vegetables"
Plants have very strong green leaves, flowers are large and strong color, absolute no fertilizer, maybe lightly water spray every 3 or 4 days.
Even more crazy, another orchid nursery grows dendrobium in soil mixing with rice hulls , coconut fiber, peanut shells