My first repot- traditional way failed?

[Bribie]

Hi,

I tried to repot one of the healthiest phals, which I got this spring, the traditional way, meaning using bark chips, perlite, charcoal and sphagnum moss. I was very successful with FWC phals in Australia but some of my new phals were not thriving in FWC after we moved to Canada and I’ve decided to give the regular potting mix a try.

I used pro-mix orchid mix, mixed with a bit of sphagnum and put a thin layer of sphagnum on top of the pot with a bamboo skewer as my watering guide. I was spraying the sphagnum on the top occasionally and I watered twice so far in the last month or so and this is the condition as of today. One thick yellow leaf fell and 3 more leaves yellowing.. The bamboo is still moist in the middle.

All my other phals in FWC are doing okay. Some are not in their perfect conditions and some are in ICU (sphag’n bag) but I haven’t killed any yet.
What did I do wrong?
It is very tempting to go back to the FWC with this girl.
I’m going to depot and check the roots now...

[estación seca]

The leaves are dropping because the plant isn't getting enough water. That is either because you aren't watering enough, or the roots are ill. I can't tell which. Skewers don't always work well in a very chunky mix.

If you use large chunks of mix there will be air at the roots and you can water almost every day. If the mix is more closed you need to be more careful.

[Bribie]

Almost all the roots were still moist and papery. Pretty bad root rot. There was a new root started to coming but I accidentally broke it. There is another sign of new root though. Sent her to the ICU.

I have two phals ready to be discharged from ICU. I’m scared to pot them in the orchid mix. I don’t think I can take good care of them.

[estación seca]

You definitely can take good care of them.

If you've had trouble with rotting roots, I would suggest using larger chunks of potting mix rather than smaller. You can water frequently when potted in large bark and not worry about rotting roots.

I forgot to ask about temperatures. Phals grow better as temperatures rise. What are the temperatures now in your growing area?

[Bribie]

Thank you for the encouragement, estacion seca,
The orchid mix has quite large barks in it. Much larger than the media some of the phals came in with. Did I mix too much moss?

Two phals ready to be potted from sphag’n bag didn’t like FWC. One didn’t do anything for almost a whole year. Didn’t loose any root or leaves either. I think they both had enough roots. They are growing rather sideways (Horizontal) than going down. If I put all the roots in the media, the bottom of their stems need to go under the media completely. Is that okay?

---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:46 PM ----------

Oh, I’m in southern Alberta and we r having crazy weather these days. Super hot for a few days and quite cool for a few weeks and another scorching days to follow or something like that. One of my FWC reblooming phal had a bud blast from the extreme temperature changes. The house has air conditioning and humidifier kicks in with heating, which we are not in need right now.
Today is quite mild 73/48 forecast and we'll have a wet week next week.

[estación seca]

I haven't used full water culture. I can't envision how it would likely be more successful long-term compared to media in a pot. I do grow in a method called semihydroponics.

Whether to use the moss or not depends on your watering. It might be simpler to pot without the moss, and water more often.

Phals in habitat grow sideways, with their leaves hanging down. Water can run out of the crown and not pool there. Often they will slowly assume this position as they grow. Most of the time when potting Phals the very base of the leaves should be at the surface of the new medium in the pot, and people try to situate them mostly upright. That means the leafless part of the stem gets buried. A lot of people cut off the lower part of a leafless stem if it has no roots; Phals tend to grow new roots from just below the leaves.

Mid 70s F / 23C is acceptable but cool for Phals. They will grow and flower, but slower than if they were warmer. 48 F / 9C is definitely cooler than I would keep mine. If your plants are inside,they are probably warmer. The warmer you can keep Phals, the faster they grow. Realize full water culture or semihydroponics will somewhat cool the media due to evaporation, and your house might already be on the cool side for Phals.

[Bribie]

Yeah, I hear you about “more successful in long term” that’s another reason I wanted to try the traditional method of growing orchids in media. I was more focused on keep them alive and watch them bloom every 6 month or each year when I started my orchid life. So many friends had orchids and keep killing them. Now I had a bit of experience (only with FWC) I’d love to see them grow bigger and produce more flowers if I can. But again, having them keep alive in FWC is much better than seeing them dying for sure.

I keep my phals almost always indoors (even when I was in Australia) in the environment fit for humans. Not too cold, not too warm with central air conditioning system. I know they might be in cooler room here than earlier this week but not too cold as outside that’s for sure.

I might be able to cut a wee tiny bit of stem of one phal but not the other one. I’ll do some research before I cut the stem though... I don’t want them to die

[WaterWitchin]

It may also have to do with the roots of your plant being acclimated to FWC, and now in bark. New roots tend to grow in the medium one chooses to put them in. Old roots grown one medium many times don't make the transition to a different medium. Did it have any new root growth starting upon transition? Or all roots from being grown in FWC?

I've never grown in FWC, only experimented, but have revived poorly or no roots plants in... can't remember what it's called, but where you soak the roots, then pour out water a few times a week. I grow in semi-hydro, and they transition into it well with that method.

Transitioning from bark to SH takes longer, much more (if not all) old roots eventually die. I would think likely the same going from a wetter environment like FWC to bark.

[Ray]

More traditional culture for phals will likely be more successful for you due to the temperatures. The guy that invented water culture (Rod Venger of the former Venger's Orchids in Colorado Springs) found that he absolutely had to keep the water above 70°F at all times to be successful.

I generally agree with ES' underwatering speculation, but part of the root loss you are seeing may be due simply to the change of medium - the optimally-functioning roots in the old medium are suboptimal for the new stuff. The best time to repot is when brand new roots are emerging from the base of the plant, so they can take over support of the plant as the old roots fail.

[Bribie]

WaterWitchin, thank you for the comment.
This phal was in sphagnum when I bought it and I repotted in orchid mix (bark, perlite, charcoal, and sphagnum), never in FWC, now in ICU.

I haven’t tried transferring plants from FWC to regular orchid mix yet but considering doing with some of my phals so for they didn’t thrive in FWC and lost most of their roots.

Some phals adapted to FWC right away with no root loss and happy enough to re-bloom constantly and I have no plan changing their living environment.