Christmas Orchids - What are they?

[scy]

Originally Posted by Zootrophion

Lovely orchids! The phal looks healthy with nice green roots that don't seem to show any symptoms of "overwatering." Just be careful not to water--keep the sphag on the dry side and enjoy the flowers. In the picture, the sphag looks very wet, so you do not need to water for several days at least. The flowers would last until early spring, which is the best time for repotting, since the plant is about to start a new growth cycle. I personally plant all my phals in fir bark, which dries out faster and is much more manageable, since I've lost too many orchids potted in sphag.

It does have beautiful healthy roots, but I want to be able to keep them that way. I haven't watered it yet since I only received it 2 days ago. My other orchids are potted in bark, so I normally water from the top and then let them soak in water for about 10-15 minutes. I know I probably can't do that with sphag. My guess would be to slowly pour water until I see it draining at the bottom?

[scy]

Originally Posted by rangiku

scy, most of my Phals are potted in sphagnum and doing just fine. You can use thin bamboo skewers, the kind you use to barbeque, stick it in the moss towards the middle. Pull it out every now and again to check. If it is barely damp, time to water. When in doubt, wait a day and check again. Depending on the size of the pot, sometimes I don't water for almost 2 weeks.

And, you have a very lovely sister.

Rangiku, please share the secret of how to work with sphag as I've had bad luck with it. My dendrobium was overpacked with it from the store so it was drowning in water since day 1. I tried to have another go at it with a phal by repotting in a bark/sphag mix, but the bark dried and the sphag didn't. The top layer of sphag was super dry and crunchy to the touch, but it was wet in the middle and bottom (sphag only, not bark). I watered it again when I didn't see much humidity inside the pot. It wasn't long until I started to see fuzzy white mold inside the pot regardless of the fact that I dipped in physan before using it.

I do have skewers in my other orchid pots, but they will only go in maybe 2 inches on the miltoniopsis and new phal. I did gently rotate it as I inserted it to make sure I did not hit a root.

[scy]

After posting this, I thought why would I have trouble inserting the skewer into the Miltoniopsis if it's potted in bark? I went over to take a closer look and found that it's really potted in green moss within a plastic green pot! The green pot was placed into a clay pot and all covered up with bark on top and around the sides of the pot to keep it from wobbling.

I have a skewer inside this for about 2-3 inches. What if it's still wet past the skewer and I water it when the skewer is dry? Will it get too wet? What do I do? I won't really have any visual clues like the phal with the clear plastic liner.

Sorry for the panic. I keep hearing my sister's words, "Don't you even think of repotting this! Leave it alone or you'll kill it!" They're just so beautiful that I don't want to kill them.

Susan

[CTB]

outstanding colors!

[rangiku]

I really don't have a secret, scy. I make sure the skewer hits the bottom of the pot and then back off just a tiny bit. If any part of the skewer is damp, I don't water.

Take a deep breath, you (and your orchids will be fine). Enjoy your lovelies.