Water culture update

[Spookylady]

Hi everyone, as you may remember I have 5 phals in water culture. It was something I saw online and thought I'd like to try it out.

Two of the phals are ones I took from someone who didn't know how to care for them (they cut the leaves! ) and I thought I could rescue them. One of them didn't make it. It just couldn't get past the damage done. The other one is doing semi-OK.

I have one phal that's about 2 years old and is LOVING water culture. I have two pretty big ones with 4+ leaves each that I don't think are too happy with it. One of them has been getting mushy roots and I'm afraid if I keep trimming them it won't have any roots left. It does have some new root growth toward the top of the stem.

Seeing that the two may not be happy in water I'm going to put them into New Zealand sphagnum moss I ordered (it's on the way). I've been reading about how to water and fertilize orchids in moss. I really, really hope I can make them all happy. Even if they don't bloom I want them to be healthy!

Here's some pictures of them not long after I put them into water culture. I can tell from these pictures and today that there are way less roots on the big ones.

As always, any advice from more experienced folks is very, very much appreciated.

[fooferdoggie]

why not do a soak? a couple overnight soaks then dry the rest of the time like my vanda's in their jars seems to work well. I soak one 2 times a week overnight and make sure the jar is drained well when I dump the water out. I dump the water then let it sit for a bit and dump it again to gt the rest out.

[Spookylady]

My phals are in glass beakers. When I let them dry out the roots look really sinewy and silvery. I will try doing a soak and then dump out the water. I've been letting them dry out over the weekend (I have them at work) by dumping out all the water on Friday afternoons and putting water back in on Monday mornings. I'm going to try doing the opposite - leaving them dry during the week then soaking them over the weekend.

Thanks for the advice!!

[fooferdoggie]

Originally Posted by Spookylady

My phals are in glass beakers. When I let them dry out the roots look really sinewy and silvery. I will try doing a soak and then dump out the water. I've been letting them dry out over the weekend (I have them at work) by dumping out all the water on Friday afternoons and putting water back in on Monday mornings. I'm going to try doing the opposite - leaving them dry during the week then soaking them over the weekend.

Thanks for the advice!!

yes try that. I have phals in water in s/h mounted and one in the vase it was in s/h but was only doing so so. the one is water is fine but slow growing the one in the vase with twice week watering is growing like a weed. I debated on moving the ones out of s/h in the the vases but it is more plants then I want to haul to the bathroom twice a week. I use about 1/3 teaspoon food in the soak. but the roots are ok silvery. I have not tested soak times but my vanda's thrive on the two overnight soaks so I just use that for the phal.

[Spookylady]

Thanks for your comments. I'm really concerned about the root loss I've been experiencing. One of my phals has been in water culture for about 3 months. It has 12 leaves - one of them is relatively new and one at the bottom is yellowing. It just doesn't have a lot of roots and that's worrying me.

My two big phals have 3+ leaves each but definitely fewer roots than when I put them in water - I've had to cut a lot off due to them being mushy. One of them appears to be growing some new roots but I'm not completely sure. They just don't seem very happy.

Just so you know I'm a huge worrywart and I'm sure that's not helping anything, haha.

[fooferdoggie]

this guy has been in water for over a year. he has blood twice but not a lot of growth and more air roots then anything else. this little guy has grown far more in the 2 or three months since I took him out of s/h. he is really happy.

[Spookylady]

This one has way more roots than mine do. When I first unpotted my 2 large phals their root systems were so-so and I had to cut some but I feel like I've cut back way more than I wanted since putting them in water culture. Maybe I'm not being patient enough? I know they grow slowly. Going to try the water-on-weekends-only thing...

[aliceinwl]

I have a vanda that’s doing really well with overnight soaks. I put it in water in the evening and pull it out first thing in the morning. I think if you let your Phals dry out daily they might do better.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Spookylady

Thanks for your comments. I'm really concerned about the root loss I've been experiencing. One of my phals has been in water culture for about 3 months. It has 12 leaves - one of them is relatively new and one at the bottom is yellowing. It just doesn't have a lot of roots and that's worrying me.

My two big phals have 3+ leaves each but definitely fewer roots than when I put them in water - I've had to cut a lot off due to them being mushy. One of them appears to be growing some new roots but I'm not completely sure. They just don't seem very happy.

Just so you know I'm a huge worrywart and I'm sure that's not helping anything, haha.

3 months is really not a long time. Just like when switching to S/H root loss should be expected at first, because the existing roots are not adapted to living in water 24/7. The new roots growing into the water should do just fine.

Over the years, there have been a fair amount of posts about water culture and Phals. My impression is that it doesn't often work well in the long term for many people who try it. Results seem much more variable than with substrates or the bareroot with daily soaking approach. I've always thought that this could be due to the dissolved oxygen content being rather low in a standing vessel of water, which then limits plant/root growth and health.

[Spookylady]

Hi Camille. First, your orchids are just gorgeous! Second, thank you so much for your message. At least two of my 4 phals aren't happy so they're going into moss and hopefully will be able go get some more roots going.