Newbie needs help with Phal

[Chiral224]

Hi there,

I am completely new to plants and especially orchids. I bought a beautiful pair of phals at the local florist which are in bloom with lots of buds to open. They are packed pretty tight in moss and I have poked around to see how the roots look and they seem ok. I'm trying to resist the urge to pull them out and have a look!
Questions!

When do I water? Right now the top is very try and I've been trying to loosen up the moss to prevent rot. Its still moist in the middle and the roots are green. Do I fertilize when I water? Or wait till it finishes flowering? They are sitting in plastic containers and wrapped in plastic/cloth with a bow (). Should I take them out to get air moving through the bottom? I've been lightly misting the top layer just to wet the moss a little and add some humidity. I also mist the plastic that the container is wrapped in (not the leaves or flowers).

Light? They sit in front of a northish facing window for the day. the leaves are a nice bright green, but starting to go yellow along the edges...(I also posted in the pests section because I may have other issues).

I'm not sure if a north window is bright enough, and I dont think my place is warm enough. Maybe need some artificial light? any suggestions on what and where to buy (I'm in Canada)?

Humidity...I have no idea how humid it is here. I'm on the 'wet' coast (Vancouver)...i do run a humidifier (but it blows cold) and they do take a shower with me...and I do the misting thing. I also have a small bamboo plant that I wet down and place with them, and a bowl of water with some rocks. (not a humidity tray thing...).

They have been doing ok. I've had them a couple weeks and I havent watered them yet (other than misting the top layer a bit). Blooms are opening, but I may have pests/fungus! These are cell phone pics, my camera broke...and my phone recently did too!

These are my new babies, and I really want to keep them going Please any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

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[Zoi2]

The first thing I would do is take the plastic wrap off, water will be sitting in there and your roots will rot. Orchids do not like standing in water.
I would then take the plants out of the sphag moss they are in and check the roots. If they are brown and mushy, they are rotten-cut them off and replant in an orchid mix.
The best pots are clear plastic with drainage holes in the bottom and slits on the sides. Only water when the roots are silvery white, not green. When you water/fertilize, run it through the pot and let it drain.
Phals like humidity, if your room is dry, just set the pot on a humidity tray. Misting really does not add humidity to the air or the plant. They also like East light.
What kind of pests/fungus do you think you have?
Joann

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[Chiral224]

Originally Posted by Zoi2

The first thing I would do is take the plastic wrap off, water will be sitting in there and your roots will rot. Orchids do not like standing in water.
I would then take the plants out of the sphag moss they are in and check the roots. If they are brown and mushy, they are rotten-cut them off and replant in an orchid mix.
The best pots are clear plastic with drainage holes in the bottom and slits on the sides. Only water when the roots are silvery white, not green. When you water/fertilize, run it through the pot and let it drain.
Phals like humidity, if your room is dry, just set the pot on a humidity tray. Misting really does not add humidity to the air or the plant. They also like East light.
What kind of pests/fungus do you think you have?
Joann

Ok, I took them out of the wrap
I'm nervous about taking them out of their pots...wont I lose the flowers and buds? Do I fertilize every time I water? I was told not to fertilize when there are flowers, is that true?
Yeah, I dont have east light. I'll be moving to south light next week. I'm in an apartment, so I just face the one way. should I get extra lighting?
bugs/fungus..not sure. the leaves on one have this mottled waterdrop lightgreen pattern on the underside (not there originally) and on the top/bottom side its like someone knicked the leaf with a knife and left an open white scar (3-5 mm x 1-2 mm) raised up. mostly on the top, but I noticed 2 on the bottom and also on the edges. Also, something seems to be eating the edges of the leaf which has turned black. I've looked for bugs and dont see any...??

Thanks!!

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[Zoi2]

Are there drainage holes in the pot? Is the moss wet on the bottom?
Joann

[Chiral224]

Yes there are holes in the bottom. some small rocks in one, dont see any in the other..just moss!! But, I did some poking (hope I dont kill it!) and the roots i could see were green. one was a bit mushy and i took off what I could, the rest of it looked good. Its damp, but not soaking. I rooted through more of the top of it too to try and break up the moss. Its definitely wetter than I thought, but ok. Nothing smelled rotting, and the roots i did see all looked good. But there was another hard white bump on the topside of a leaf which I scraped off...any ideas? Is it ok to mist the top layer of moss just for some dampness? top inch is really dry...?

[Zoi2]

No, I would not mist it at all, the moss is too wet right now. The roots need to dry out a bit and turn silvery white. I don't know about the hard white bump, how big was it? I would definately repot to check the roots and medium for bugs.
Joann

[Chiral224]

Originally Posted by Zoi2

No, I would not mist it at all, the moss is too wet right now. The roots need to dry out a bit and turn silvery white. I don't know about the hard white bump, how big was it? I would definately repot to check the roots and medium for bugs.
Joann

it was about 2mm...really weird!

[Zoi2]

That kind of sounds like scale. Any way you can take a close up picture of your leaves?
Joann

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I would uncomplicate things and take the plant out of the pot and check for root damage and pests, then repot.

Wetting the roots before a repotting session makes it easier to not damage them, but you still need to be careful. It also helps if you have a magnifying glass or a jeweler's loupe for any small difficult to see or identify objects.

Don't worry about the flowers, they'll bloom again if they blast out. It's better to have the plant and lose the flowers than to lose both.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The reason I like to be careful with the roots is because the plants re-establish themselves faster and will rebloom within it's normal bloom cycle.