Questions about growing medium for phals

[Ross]

I, for one, use straight fir bark. The largest chunks I can find. I let the roots go totally dry between watering, unlike some of the above advice. I, not only haven't had any rotted roots, the Phal roots are very fat and healthy (at least 1/4" thick). I don't have space for mounted Phals, or that's how I'd grow them. I have one small-growing Phal chibae mounted, but being a mini, that doesn't really count, does it?

[OzPhal]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

I mount all my Phals.

What environment do you grow your phals in? watering/fertilising regime etc?

[orchidsamore]

Buffalo

the peat etc mixture holds more water and as it is smaller distributes it more evenly around the roots. But we only use it on pot 6 inches or larger.

4 inch pots are pure sphag.

a Bark sphag mix would be drier than pure sphag.

Chose whatever medium best suits your watering habits.

Gravel ? well Phals do excellent in semi-hydro. I would use that over pure gravel. It is easy to see when the saucer is empty needing water and the hydro pellets keep water at around 8% on the roots. That is the limit they can wick.

Acid - all plants like a slightly acid medium. Plants can not absorb micro-nutrients in an alkaline medium. Since most water supplies are alkaline it prevents the medium from going so acid that it will effect the plant.

Commercially I ignore the PH or add citric acid to make the medium more acid.

[Orchid126]

Mounting orchids requires daily or twice a day watering, depending on what your climate is. If you are not prepared to give the orchids that much attention, then putting them in pots would be better. For phals, in my climate here in New Jersey I put the phals in a mixture of two thirds small bark, one third sphagnum moss and a handful of perlite. This allows me to water the phals once a week to ten days.

You can start with a medium and then observe how the plants do, and then you can tweak it to suit your watering habits.

[se7en0ne0ne]

Originally Posted by Orchid126

Mounting orchids requires daily or twice a day watering, depending on what your climate is. If you are not prepared to give the orchids that much attention, then putting them in pots would be better. For phals, in my climate here in New Jersey I put the phals in a mixture of two thirds small bark, one third sphagnum moss and a handful of perlite. This allows me to water the phals once a week to ten days.

You can start with a medium and then observe how the plants do, and then you can tweak it to suit your watering habits.

how often do you need to repot with the mixture of small bark, one third sphagnum moss and a handful of perlite?

also, when people advise "it depends on what your climate is", is the general rule that if I live in a warm climate or I don't water often, I should have a medium that is able to retain water well and vice versa?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by OzPhal

What environment do you grow your phals in? watering/fertilising regime etc?

Temperature (indoors):

winter: 70's F to 80's F (day), 60's F to 70's F (night)

summer: high 80's F to 90's F (day), high 70's F (night)

Relative Humidity: 60% to 70%

Water everyday, sometimes twice a day (summer).

Water once every two days to everyday cooler months.

I fertilize about once every two weeks.

RO/DI water

Mounted on cork bark with sparse moss lightly covering roots.

Light: bright shade

They're positioned horizontally with the leaf tips pointing down, as per how they'd grow in the wild.

Phal appendiculata
Phal modesta
Phal tetraspis

All roughly grown under my care for nearly 2 yrs.

[OzPhal]

Very nice! so do you have controlled conditions i.e. glasshouse with heating/cooling etc? Do you have any pics of your mounts? do you use raw cork or something else?

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Temperature (indoors):

winter: 70's F to 80's F (day), 60's F to 70's F (night)

summer: high 80's F to 90's F (day), high 70's F (night)

Relative Humidity: 60% to 70%

Water everyday, sometimes twice a day (summer).

Water once every two days to everyday cooler months.

I fertilize about once every two weeks.

RO/DI water

Mounted on cork bark with sparse moss lightly covering roots.

Light: bright shade

They're positioned horizontally with the leaf tips pointing down, as per how they'd grow in the wild.

Phal appendiculata
Phal modesta
Phal tetraspis

All roughly grown under my care for nearly 2 yrs.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I grow in the house. Not controlled. But the environment is so consistent and stable I don't need to do anything extra.

The cork is the virgin cork bark sold in a bag. I scrub them clean of lichens and debris before using. If you like growing lichens and have an environment for which they can grow in cultivation separate from your orchid collection, go for it, it's up to you.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The first two are to primarily show the before pics of Phal modesta var. coerulea. I will note that the miniature Phal next to the Phal modesta var. coerulea is a Phal appendiculata that had passed on for unknown reasons. I suspect it's humidity related. As you can see, Phal appendiculata is tiny.

The third pic is the Phal modesta var. coerulea now (as in I just snapped the pic a few minutes ago - hot off the press).

I couldn't find an older mouted Phal tetraspis pic (had one but it's not convenient to look for it, it's posted on an old thread here anyways), so the next one is Phal tetraspis now.

The next one is the before pic of Phal appendiculata (I had two btw, that's why I've had this just about as long as the other Phals). The last is Phal appendiculata now. For those of you who own Phal gibbosa, Phal lobbii, or Phal parishii; Phal appendiculata is a bit smaller than all of those.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Gasp!!! I almost forgot, I also own Phal x leucorrhoda! The very last one is a pic of a bigger Phal x leucorrhoda and a smaller one on top.