A few phala questions

[RomanticOne]

Hi everyone!

I've been having kind of bad luck with plants and such, and I really want to turn it around with this orchid since it's too pretty to kill.

I bought my orchid a couple weeks ago and I'm kind of freaked if I'm already failing. I really don't want to kill this beautiful flower since I do seem to have bad luck with plants, but I really would like to actually keep a plant alive for a long time since I think flowers (especially orchids) are beautiful.

My first question is that I noticed that the bottoms of the petals are withering a little bit and I'm wondering if that's normal? I'll try to get a picture put up so I can show you guys what I mean.

And my other one is that it's kind of freaking me out that it looks like the top part of my orchid (I'm trying to figure out a name for her, haha) is kind of drooping, so I'm wondering if it's trying to tell me that it needs something. The drooping seems a little worse since I've taken these pictures. I check the moss every day before I go to bed to be sure it has water.

I also put up a picture of how I have the orchid set up. I have it by a window, but the blinds are always closed on the window so sunlight is not directly beating on it, and I'm wondering if I did that correctly?

I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm such a worrywart about these types of things. Thanks in advance for any info you guys can give me.

[bdelfiero]

You have a pretty Phalaenopsis there, and the color is lovely. But unfortunately, I think it is suffering from root rot because of your watering schedule. I will have attached a few links about Phalaenopsis basic care.

Phalaenopsis Care - Phalaenopsis Care

Care Instructions for Phalaenopsis Orchids

You should check out the roots immediately buy pulling out your plant from the pot and see if it's all rotten. Maybe you could post some pictures of the roots too. There's a lot of information in this board about root rot and complete instruction on how to treat them.

[RomanticOne]

Thank you for the links, I'm checking them out right now.
Is there any special way or method for taking the flower out of the pot? I'm sorry for asking a stupid question, I read that some plants go into "shock" when repotting and such, so I want to make sure I don't freak it out.

Thank you for your response. I hope that there is hope for this little one.

[trdyl]

RomanticOne, Welcome to OB!

If it is in a plastic pot you can squeeze the sides of the pot to help loosen roots. Then grab the plant at the base pull up. It is as easy as that.

[RomanticOne]

Originally Posted by trdyl

RomanticOne, Welcome to OB!

If it is in a plastic pot you can squeeze the sides of the pot to help loosen roots. Then grab the plant at the base pull up. It is as easy as that.

Thank you for the welcome! I've been liking it here so far, I've been lurking in threads.

Unfortunately it came in a glass pot, there aren't any holes on the bottom. One of my online friends who works in a flower shop told me to let water run through it in a sink when watering it, but the pot doesn't have the holes on the bottom for me to do that

[trdyl]

What type of growing medium is it in? Moss or a bark based?

[RomanticOne]

I'm pretty sure it's moss, I just took a picture of it:



I also took a picture of the pot it came in. It said on the bottom that it's ceramic:

[trdyl]

Look's like from your discription of what it is potted in it will have root rot. It needs to be in a pot with drainage holes. Most people seem to have more success with a bark based mix. There is another popular option for culture called Semi-Hypronics(S/H). Which I use. For now until you get it repotted make sure after watering that you drain it. You can find more information on S/H on OB and here is a very good link also:

Semi-hydroponics Orchid Plants T5 Lighting

[bdelfiero]

Ted was right, your Phal is suffering from root rot and you have to re-pot it immediately. S/H works best for me. I once had a Phal which also suffered from root rot and put it into S/H and recovered very well.

If you see the roots are rotting, i will suggest that you cut-off the flower spike, it will help your plant to concentrate on its rooting process.

Also, you can try to search in this board about series of threads regarding root rot and remedies. On the upper left part of your screen, there's a search button and you can type in "root rot" and you will see a lot of information.

Good luck, I hope you save your Phal and it will surely give you another flowers next cycle.

[RosieC]

I agree with the advice above. A pot without holes in the bottom is BAD BAD BAD. Combine that with Moss and you are likely to have even more problems.

To remove it from the pot gently try and pull some of the moss out from the top until it is loose enough to pull the plant out gently. Even if you have nothing to put it back in to I would advise getting it out of there in the hope you can save some roots. I've kept them bare root for periods of time rather than having them in bad medium.

I'm guessing you are going to find the roots in a bad condition, I'm hoping you will still have SOME good ones.

I favour bark and some people advise that a healthy plant will do best in S/H, although moving it to S/H will often kill existing roots, so if they are already dead it might be as good as any other way to try and rescue it.

I would say get it out that pot and take some pics of the roots so we can advise you what to do next.