Soaked overnight in water and droopy phal keiki is better!

[amarin28]

Do phals grow in water?

Overnight my keiki who was droopy and wrinkled is now stiffer leafed and looking so much better. I popped his roots in water. Can an orchid grow in water? I previously had this baby planted in medium bark and a little sphagnum moss around the roots.

What shall I plant him in?

Thank you.

[estación seca]

People do grow Phals in water. There are pluses and minuses. Most houses are not warm enough in winter to do it well. My observation of other people's experiences has been it doesn't work well long term.

Look up the semi-hydroponics forum here. That is not growing in water, but the roots do stay moist. It does work long term.

[amarin28]

Thank you! I do read the threads regarding those clay beads. Not sure I want to buy more stuff! I think I will recover it and try repotting.

[fishmom]

If you are potting in a chunky bark medium, you cannot overwater that baby. A daily run-through, or even a soak in another container, with water discarded after, would not be to much, as the roots will stay moist and still have air available in the spaces between chunks. Bark doesn't hold much water, especially at the beginning when it is fresh, so don't hold back. It is best to pot the keiki in the medium you intend to grow it in, and not to plan on miving it again later.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by amarin28

Overnight my keiki who was droopy and wrinkled is now stiffer leafed and looking so much better. I popped his roots in water. Can an orchid grow in water?

There is one method where NEW roots of various kinds of orchids (including phals) are able to handle a water environment ----- that's when those new roots grow into the water or if those NEW roots begin their growth IN water.

Unadapted 'regular' roots generally can't handle the low or lower oxygen environment, so tend to die (the roots that is) ---- which means it's generally a case of existing roots dying first, followed by new roots that can handle the water environment. They had to give this water growing a method a name ----- so they call it water culture or full water culture ---- aka 'FWC'.

But it doesn't necessarily mean fire and forget ---- because orchid roots require oxygen to survive. So if the water does get too low in oxygen, then even those adapted roots could/will die. This means that the water needs to be replaced with new water every once in a while. How that is done is up to the grower ------ but may at least require consideration of time/effort and whether the orchid or pot needs to be moved around or tinkered with every once in a while (or a lot) - and the more tinkering and moving around, and changing things, the more chance for issues - maybe.

There are always some exceptions - but may still have to think about whether this is going to be done for 1 plant, or for say 10 plants, or 50 plants.

For your case, your regular roots are able to get water into them, which then helped the plant to recover. But those regular roots will most likely NOT be able to handle being under-water for too long, and will/would likely die if left under-water.

I've been growing 1 phal for approximately 6 months now - purchased in mid November last year.

Finally got a flower spike!!!!! Seen Here

Amarin - it's growing in scoria in the tropics, and developed a few nice leaves since the time I bought it.