Couple questions about my new phal

[sheiman]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

repotting phals in bloom doenst seem to bother them much as long as you disturb the roots as little as possible....pick out all the old moss gently....i use bark for my phals, but its pretty much an individual choice....i put the bark in around the plant and shake the pot some to settle the bark around the roots....i have found that phals like to be potted a little more loosely than say cattleyas who like a tight pot....gl and enjoy! thats a very pretty phal!

Thank you! That was going to be my next question actually - how tightly phals need to be potted. 3 out of 4 that I've bought were really tightly packed with moss when I got them and I've repotted them the same way. But I think next time I pot them I'll do bark.

[cabbo]

I think bark dries out too quickly for phals but it depends on your environment of course. They do seem to do better when potted looser. The commercial growers really seem to pack it in as tight as possible.

[annehylee]

I personally prefer bark mixture and to plant them loosely. When I repot using the bark mixture, I don't really have to worry about the medium being packed too tightly either. So for me, bark mixture seems to be very user friendly.

Regardless of which medium my phals are in, I always look at the roots to see if it needs water. OB members have taught me () that if the roots look kind silvery, it's about time to water and if it's green, leave it be. I've made the mistake of over watering and had a root rot with on my phal, which is on the road to recovery right now...

Also, I've repotted all my phals when it was brought home (in bloom) and they're all doing very very well.

[Zdenglan]

From experience tightly packed rootball is better, mine seem to like to be almost pot bound and they flower better than the ones i've rescued almost root dead. When I repot I use the next closest available pot size.