The Phal abuse ends here.

[Rowangreen]

LOL!

It is a good question, so I hope you make it's own thread...

[pinkhairedneko]

I just bought a Phal. on Saturday (the 7th) at the Red Butte Garden Show. I live in Logan UT, so it's pretty dry up here. I put the orchid inside a pot that has rocks and water to give it more humidity and I also have a fan in my room to keep air circulating all day. It's pretty cool at night, and I watered it on Monday morning and let it dry out all day. Unfortunately it's looking a little sad. I'm not sure why....







The petals on one flower are a little wilty too.

I watered it by putting it in a bowl for ~30min, then I let it drain out, and left it to dry. The blinds were open to let some sun in, but they were mostly closed. Any thing I can do, or is it just fine?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Change the potting medium and I think your orchid should be ok.

[pinkhairedneko]

What should I change it to? I've never had an orchid before. I know that I can use bark and/or moss, but I don't know the specifics, or if there are more options.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I recommend reading this sticky from the beginning. There is mention of some basic info on Phalaenopsis and how to cultivate them in the first 10 or so pages.

If the links don't work, I'll repost the links.

Should you choose bark as a potting medium, a medium grade bark should work fine.

Medium grade CHC will work too.

If you have further questions, ask away.

[Miadunn]

Hi guys! I have 3 Phals that I recently repotted and they seem to be doing worse. The leaves are all very droopy which I thought indicated that it wasn't getting enough water but then looking at the roots they are all mushy/rotted. I also noticed shortly after potting that the roots had some white mold on them. So I put a box fan on them and wiped the roots with alcohol. That seemed to eliminate the mold. I am holding off on my watering until they are completely dry in hopes of saving them. I am just very frustrated because to me the signs are confusing what I thought was correct:leaves look underwatered/roots look overwatered...

I just repotted these a month ago and they had some green roots but now them seem to all be gone. Should I pull them out of the pot and do some more surgery? Can these survive with little to no roots? I have been watering with a Superthrive/Physan mixture but don't have any KLN...

Also, another idea I had read on here is to take them out of their medium and mist them daily until new roots form. Ideas?

Facts:

South Window on humidity tray
Medium is :
•AAA New Zealand Sphagnum Moss
•Medium Orchiata™ Monterey Bark
•Medium Hydroton
•Large Sponge Rock
•Medium Cork Nuggets

Planted in 3.75/4.25/5.5 Oxygen Core Dual Net pots

Please help me save these!!!! I am getting so frustrated and discouraged.

[Im Just Saying]

Originally Posted by Miadunn

Hi guys! I have 3 Phals that I recently repotted and they seem to be doing worse. The leaves are all very droopy which I thought indicated that it wasn't getting enough water but then looking at the roots they are all mushy/rotted. I also noticed shortly after potting that the roots had some white mold on them. So I put a box fan on them and wiped the roots with alcohol. That seemed to eliminate the mold. I am holding off on my watering until they are completely dry in hopes of saving them. I am just very frustrated because to me the signs are confusing what I thought was correct:leaves look underwatered/roots look overwatered...

I just repotted these a month ago and they had some green roots but now them seem to all be gone. Should I pull them out of the pot and do some more surgery? Can these survive with little to no roots? I have been watering with a Superthrive/Physan mixture but don't have any KLN...

Also, another idea I had read on here is to take them out of their medium and mist them daily until new roots form. Ideas?

Please help me save these!!!! I am getting so frustrated and discouraged.

If your roots are rotted you will have to take them back out and trim off the bad roots (rotted/mushy not firm/green or tan). You don't need superthrive and KLN they are both rooting hormones too much of the stuff can mutate your next set of blooms. In regards to your question about surviving with little roots I have a rescue phal that had very few roots after trimming off the dried/rotted ones. As of now it is not potted and is resting on a makeshift humidity tray. After a 15 minute soak in superthrive and misting the roots and underside of the leaves twice daily for the last two weeks it is now throwing out new root nubbins like crazy. So don't give up hope just yet!

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Miadunn]

Originally Posted by Im Just Saying

In regards to your question about surviving with little roots I have a rescue phal that had very few roots after trimming off the dried/rotted ones. As of now it is not potted and is resting on a makeshift humidity tray. After a 15 minute soak in superthrive and misting the roots and underside of the leaves twice daily for the last two weeks it is now throwing out new root nubbins like crazy. So don't give up hope just yet!

Thanks so much for your response! I pulled all of them out of their pots and trimmed all the dead roots, which was ALL of them. No viable roots to be seen. So I tried the Sphag and Bag method found on another member's site. It doesn't seem to be working though...All the leaves fell off one of my plants so I think I might try to change the environment. Maybe I'll try misting the underside of the leaves like you said...For the Home Depot ones I am just going to try to return them b/c it's just shy of a month since I got them and I feel like that was a waste of $$$$!!! Has anyone returned there? I couldn't find anything on their website...

Thanks for the encouragement though!!! I think I need to start healthy before trying to rescue since I don't have much experience!

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Gage]

Originally Posted by Miadunn

Thanks so much for your response! I pulled all of them out of their pots and trimmed all the dead roots, which was ALL of them. No viable roots to be seen. So I tried the Sphag and Bag method found on another member's site. It doesn't seem to be working though...All the leaves fell off one of my plants so I think I might try to change the environment. Maybe I'll try misting the underside of the leaves like you said...For the Home Depot ones I am just going to try to return them b/c it's just shy of a month since I got them and I feel like that was a waste of $$$$!!! Has anyone returned there? I couldn't find anything on their website...

Thanks for the encouragement though!!! I think I need to start healthy before trying to rescue since I don't have much experience!

Home Depot takes returns on plants within a year if you have the receipt, Lowe's may be the same but I'm not sure. I agree that starting with healthy plants in the beginning is wise.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[meghan]

Hi, I'm sorry if this has been asked before but I was curious about roots?

I just brought home a Phal that my cousin had for many months. It looks pretty healthy considering it was in this strange plastic sleeve sitting in a terracotta pot. Both only had one central drainage hole and was sitting in water. The roots look really good considering how tightly packed in sphagnum it was packed. It has a root as long as the spike!
Now some of the roots that were exposed on top are very very dark green on the topside, it almost looks black really but it's not mushy and the rest of it is healthy as well.
There are some black spots on some roots but overall they are green and light yellow-white.
Is the dark green something I should worry about or is it fine to leave it?

Thanks for any help!