The return of the living dead...

[camille1585]

More floopy leaves? You should use wooden skewers in the pots to help you determine when to water.

[The Mutant]

I agree, it's a very good idea.
I'll buy some wooden skewers today so I can check if they Phals are dry in the middle of the pot.

The one starting to have the "floppy leaves" syndrome is the Phal that was suspected of having thrips. It has been isolated (after I treated it with pesticide) ever since I brought it home (7th of February) but there has been no more signs of thrips.

[The Mutant]

Sooo, now I've checked the other one and found absolutely nothing. It wasn't wet, it was slightly moist, but nothing more. So I removed anything that looked ugly or dead and re-potted it. I'll keep an extra eye on it (wherever I'm supposed to get that eye from) for now, but it seems fine.

I think I might be juuust a little tiny bit paranoid after the whole stem rot incident. Just slightly. Nothing to worry about. Promise. I'm fine. *twitch*

[grasshopper]

Originally Posted by The Mutant

I think I might be juuust a little tiny bit paranoid after the whole stem rot incident. Just slightly. Nothing to worry about. Promise. I'm fine. *twitch*

Hahaha! I think at some point we've all been there.

In addition to wooden skewers, I also use clear pots as much as possible. I can keep tabs on any visible roots and also see any moisture on the inside of the pot. If I see moisture, I dont water.

[The Mutant]

Yup, clear pots are great. All of my Phals are in clear pots and I check them regularly and if the roots are silvery I might wait another day just to be sure that the medium is dry in the middle of the pot as well. But I'll definitely buy some skewers to make things easier for myself.

[The Mutant]

So my little returner from the trash bag had, unfortunately, taken a turn for the worse. Both the mother plant and the basal keiki had started to sag quite a lot so I decided to check how the roots were coming along. I had to remove some more roots, but this time due to me being a newbie and treating them wrong and not because the rot had spread.

I checked the stem as well and discovered a new rot/fungi spot which was removed immediately and then the cut was treated with peroxide (which I bought last week, go me!). I also re-treated the old wound with peroxide and then I sprinkled some fresh cinnamon on the cuts. I'm now letting the roots dry for a bit and then I'll re-pot it in some fungicide treated sphagnum.

Is it a good idea to add some perlite to the sphagnum? I'm thinking about doing that but I'm a bit uncertain.

[camille1585]

What sized pot are you putting it in? Pure sphag generally works well in small pots (say 8cm diameter max), but in larger pots, unless your conditions and watering habits are good for it, it generally doesn't dry out very evenly/well. In those cases it's better to use some sort of mix. Bark+sphag can be good if the plant is used to a moist sphag environment.

[The Mutant]

Oh, it's too big in other words... I think it's a 10 cm pot, but it's a bit deformed now to accommodate the roots. If I make some more holes in it, it might work though...

The thing is, it's not used to a moist sphag environment so maybe it's a bad idea to do it at all?

[camille1585]

It's up to you. There is a bit of a learning curve for watering sphag, but if you think you can manage it with extra holes in the pot, then go ahead. Or put it back in something similar to what it's used to growing in.
Once you decide, it's better to stop repotting it all the time, that adds extra stress.

[The Mutant]

I think I'll put it back into something similar. Thanks for the advice. I'll go and pat my poor abused Phal now and try to leave it alone after the re-potting it.