Watering Question

[scy]

My sister gave me this NOID phal for Christmas. It's packed in sphag and I put a skewer in the medium to help me determine when to water. I pulled the skewer out and it's barely damp but when I look at the plastic liner, there is a lot of moisture along the edges. The plastic liner sits in a clay pot to keep it from falling over from its weight. My sister watered it on Dec. 24th and that was the last time it was watered.

Also I noticed that some of the roots are not looking so great, particularly on the bottom and the surface. I mist the surface roots (and 2 aerial roots) with water every morning, being careful to avoid the crown. I've also posted some photos from when I first received it (1st photo) and now (2nd & 3rd photos) to get a better assessment.

I know majority of the roots look great, but I noticed that a lot of the aerial roots are dried out despite my misting and the root on the bottom is dying along with another tip that is turning black. It is still in bloom. I have it sitting on a heating pad to help it adjust, since the temps are 70s in the day and close to 55 at night without the heating pad.

My questions are:
1. Is it time for me to water it now?
2. What can I do to help the roots from dying?

Susan

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[camille1585]

The roots still look green and wet, so I wouldn't water. The fact that it's taking so long to dry is not good, and the coolish temps means that it takes even longer to dry.

I would recommend repotting because the sphag is usually packed in there way too tightly for it to ever dry out correctly. It also needs to be in a better pot than what it is in now. Those flimsy plastic things usually only have one hole in the bottom, which is not enough to have proper drainage or air circulation, probably also contributing to the bottom roots dying. You can either put it back in loosely packed sphag or move it to a bark based medium. Sphag works for some and not for others, it depends on your conditions and watering habits. People who are heavy handed with watering usually have trouble with it. Considering that you keep your plant cool, it may be better in bark, which will dry faster in those conditions.

When you repot, be sure to remove any dead/rotting roots. Anything which is firm (regardless of color) is usually a good root.

[CTB]

Ditto

[scy]

I was confused as that seems to only apply to the sides of the plastic liner and the middle seems dry as the skewer was just barely damp. You are absolutely correct about the liner; it only has 1 hole on the bottom. I was worried, because my sister said, "Don't even THINK of repotting it, because you'll kill it! It's flowering and leave it alone!"

Since it is potted in sphag, would repotting it straight in bark be too drastic of a change as it's more accustomed to a more moist environment? I repotted a dendrobium from densely packed sphag to bark and it seemed to pout and drop all leaves although others say it may have been due to drowning in the store from overwatering. It is still in bloom and do not want to do anything detrimental to it.

Susan

[Orchidflowerchild]

I'd just slide it out of the plastic liner and pop it in a bare clay pot. That way you don't have to disturb it, but you won't be waiting weeks for it to dry.

-Cj

[camille1585]

The problem with simply popping in a clay pot is that you've leaving the tight sphag, which is not going to solve the problem. I would still change the medium, because you run the risk of losing the entire plant. If you go to bark, yes the plant is used to more water. But providing you soak the bark well beforehand and are diligent about watering, it should be fine. You could also add some chopped sphag to the bark to increase the water retention.

IMO, the only real risk of repotting a blooming plant is snapping off buds in the process. In general blooming phals I've repotted in the past have held up quite well afterwards. There is a risk that the blooms will fade prematurely, but wouldn't you rather save the plant and have it rebloom in the future?

[RosieC]

I have to agree with Camille. While repotting in bloom can sometimes cause the blooms to drop sooner it it saves the plant it's worth it.

I would also agree about changing the medium. Those flimsy polythene pots with a single hole tend to come with really really tightly packed sphag (at least in Europe they do) and trying to keep the roots alive in that is really difficult. As a minimum I would pull out some of the sphag to losen it up.

[RosieC]

If the roots are still green since the 24th then it is definately drying too slowly. I set two weeks as the absolute outside for drying fully (roots going silver). I prefer 7 days drying as a maxiumum.

If I have a phal taking over a week to dry on a regular basis I seriously consider chaning it's medium and or pot size to increase drying speed. If it's taking close to two weeks on a regular basis I try and repot sooner rather than later.

[Orchid126]

You don't have to repot into straight bark. You can have a sphag-bark mixture.

[scy]

Thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions!

Re Orchid126: I have tried sphag but it seems to not work well with my conditions here. It just never dries regardless of how much or little I use. I have tried to repot my small phals from a total sphag to a bark / little sphag mix with bad results. The bark dried out while the sphag stayed super wet even after waiting 10 days. I personally melted enough large holes that the container looked like swiss cheese.

Re RosieC: Although I do understand that the buds may drop due to the change of conditions, I just want to make sure it doesn't drop all its leaves like my dendrobium did. I want to do what's best for my orchid.

Will the sudden change from sphag to bark be ok? I don't want to repot it if the same thing can happen to my phal. Can anyone confirm?

I already have bark mix soaking in warm water now. Can I also soak it in 1 tsp physan 20 per 1 gallon of water to disinfect the bark mix? If I can do the physan soak, does it require a thorough rinsing afterwards? I also have rooting hormone. Do I just soak the roots or soak both roots & medium?