I need advice on my phalaenopsis orchids

[rbarata]

What's your medium?

[Idiggi]

Mine is bark chips from amazon. Has good reviews so i got that.

---------- Post added at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 PM ----------

I also mixed some egg shell and dried bananna peal. I heard orchids love it. I use it as an organic fert.

[rbarata]

What size are the chips? Can you post a close photo of the pot and medium?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Egg shells are not necessary for a Phal, the calcium carbonate/calcium bicarbonate in your water is good enough. Banana peels invite fungus gnats or fruit flies to your plant and also could cause other issues with introducing mold. If you wanted to use organic nutrients to the water you use for watering the orchids you might want to try using old aquarium water with lots of fish poop in it. You could also try scraping off frog droppings and using that in the water (if you have frogs as pets). Lizard droppings work well too (if you have these as pets). Bird droppings are good to use (if you have these as pets). Otherwise, it is better to use some of the fertilizers you can dissolve in water something along the lines of a 20-20-20 NPK is fine.

If you wanted to use banana peels for orchids, I recommend them for easy to grow terrestrial orchids like Bletilla striata.

[Idiggi]

I am new to growing orchids. I will bare in mind to what you said about using bananna peals it makes alot of sense. They might attract gnats and other pests and induce mold. I put my orchids out today as it was raining. The medium i used new but i noticed it has mixed sized bark chips. The reviews say they havnt had any problems using it. All positive reviews. Thats what i look for.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You know the irony is that, the Drosophila melanogaster or Drosophila hydei fruit flies are kinda pesky to us humans and they are not the pollinators for Phalaenopsis, but certain Phalaenopsis are mostly pollinated by a different genus of fruit fly that is common throughout the Asian tropics. Just a fyi.

For example, Phalaenopsis bellina is pollinated by the fruit flies in the genus Bactrocera.

Egg shells crushed into a powder might work for stuff like most Paphiopedilum spp. or hybrids, or certain Phragmipedium spp. or hybrids. The calcium has to be bioavailable for the plants to use.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Idiggi

I am new to growing orchids. I will bare in mind to what you said about using bananna peals it makes alot of sense. They might attract gnats and other pests and induce mold. I put my orchids out today as it was raining. The medium i used new but i noticed it has mixed sized bark chips. The reviews say they havnt had any problems using it. All positive reviews. Thats what i look for.

Any medium has positives and negatives. (If a person gives it a "good review" either it matches their growing conditions or they haven't been using it long enough to find the problems that can take months to develop.) A lot depends on your conditions - humidity, watering frequency, etc. Sphagnum can be great - or deadly. In judging whether a growing medium is good - for you - you need to work backwards from what you are trying to accomplish. For instance, Phalaenopsis need lots of air around their roots, and a wet-dry cycle. They have evolved growing on trees in a warm, humid climate, getting rained on nearly daily. Why don't they rot? Because they have no medium at all so dry out when it stops raining. Your home is different... so you need to put it in a pot with some open, well-drained medium to give it both the air and moisture that it needs. So "What am I trying to achieve" must be known before you can address the "How am I going to achieve it?"

[rbarata]

Your home is different... so you need to put it in a pot with some open, well-drained medium to give it both the air and moisture that it needs. So "What am I trying to achieve" must be known before you can address the "How am I going to achieve it?"

That's why I asked for the chips size...The smaller its size, the less air flow you'll get after watering.