I'm back.... - Page 2 - Orchid Board

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #11 04-08-2012, 04:56 PM

You might also be interested in watching this brief video of Phalaenopsis in the wild.

Visiting Phalaenopsis cornucervi (orchid) habitat in the swamp of Borneo-part 1 - YouTube

Let me explain the point of "Sphag and Bag"...

It is to raise humidity - that's it. There's nothing special about specifically using a bag. People use a bag because it's super cheap and very available. And if things don't work out, it's easily disposable and makes for a fast and easy clean up.

My point being is that you can raise humidity a number of ways, including buying a humidifier. This way, you don't have to worry about the problems of providing proper air circulation inside the bag.

If you look at the photos in the link to the page I provided and the video link I put up in this post, you'll understand the principle behind raising the humidity better.

1st - they come from tropical Asia (specifically Malaysia and Indonesia). I happen to have been born in Indonesia and have visited the place once. It is very humid there. If you were visiting Indonesia, depending on where you went, you'd be sweating all the time and feel sticky because of the humidity. Basically, after coming out of a shower, you'd be sweating again.

2nd - they come from swamp forests. The evaporated water from the swamp makes the humidity unbearable.

katie3718 · #12 04-08-2012, 06:45 PM

Thanks for everyone's input...

Terri, are you in the Portland area by any chance? If I ordered the Fir Bark, is this all I would need for a media for repotting my plant again? What would I do in the meantime while I'm waiting for it to arrive? Also, I don't know which Fir Bark option I would select out of all these: http://www.calwesttropical.com/index...ories/fir-bark

I just went and looked at the roots again and uncovered some tiny greenish roots coming out of the base of the plant (see pic, right above thumb), so maybe this means I still have a chance.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #13 04-08-2012, 06:54 PM

Medium grade fir bark should work out fine.

katie3718 · #14 04-08-2012, 07:12 PM

oh great thank you, philip. I think I'm also going to get a new pot from here, I heard that plastic was a good idea...any suggestions on which size? http://www.calwesttropical.com/index...r-plastic-pots

quiltergal · #15 04-08-2012, 09:22 PM

Hi Katie. I'm down in southern Oregon in the Medford/Ashland area.

I'd say go no larger than a 5" pot or smaller. http://www.calwesttropical.com/index...-pot---10-pack Note the price is for a 10 pack. You can't buy just one. You never know when you might need more pots though!

I mix my own media. 4 parts Coco Husk Chunks to 1 part perlite to 1 part charcoal. It looks like CalWest has 1/4 cuft of premixed media that has Rexius bark, perlite and charcoal. http://www.calwesttropical.com/index...ium-orchid-mix I'm guessing it's ready to use as well which will save you a step. That might suit your needs for the time being. When you have lots of plants to repot every spring it's more cost effective to buy each component in bulk and mix your own.

Another alternative is to check at a hydroponics store if you have one locally. They sometimes carry orchid stuff, or can order it for you.

katie3718 · #16 04-08-2012, 10:22 PM

Thanks so much for your advice!
I went ahead and took things into my own hands just now... I headed down to Lowe's and got some THICKER mix, a 4" pot, and some Sphagnum Moss.
At this point I am attempting the "Bag and Sphag" method (will post pix of my progress)... The roots might be worse than I thought, but I haven't lost hope...
The first pic is of the products I bought, the second pic is the plant soaking in water with the pot and bag I will put it in afterward...
Wish me luck!
Katie

james mickelso · #17 04-08-2012, 10:54 PM

Hi Katie, please go to the portland orchid society.org webpage and then join them. They will be able to help you immesureably. Unless you live in north dakota (and there may be a club there) most medium size and larger cities have an orchid club and they welcome everyone with open arms. As for your phal, I would leave it out of any media for a couple of weeks and let it heal. Just mist it daily. Especially the under side of the leaves. As you can see from the essay on the kerangas, phals live on tree branches and do very well with no media at all. But for most of the year they get at least a misting nearly every day and the humidity is high. So just put it in a small clay pot without any media, just hang the roots in the pot and the leaves will support it ok, and mist it every day. Morning and evening if you have time. If your roots are very mushy and dark, I would drench them in a 10% peroxide solution for 5 minutes. But it's not that necessary. After you put it in a small clay pot, put it in a bright place but not direct sunlight. But as bright as you can find. Warm is good too. If it is dry inside your house, fill a pie tin or clay pot saucer with gravel and pour in water nearly to the top. Place the pot with the phal on top of the gravel. It helps raise the humidity up. Do not set the pot itself in water. Raise the water level to just below the bottom of the pot. When your phal has new roots (an inch long) then get some good course orchid mix (probably from a club member hint hint) and pot it up. The courser the media the more often you can water your new healthy phal without worrying about rotting roots. Portland is still cool and dreary right now so find a nice warm bright spot ofr your phal and in a few months you'll see nice white roots. Let us know how you come out.

katie3718 · #18 04-15-2012, 03:11 PM

hi james, thank you for your thoughtful response... well, the thing is, my roots are kind of non-existent from what i can tell. there are just little twig-like growths sprouting out from where the roots should be. I dont know what these little growths are - i posted a pic in my last entry. Well anyway, so i had read and heard that when there are no roots, the sphag n bag method can be a next step, so i am attempting it. i'll post a pic. i've had it in there for about a week now. it's just a plastic pot with wetted sphagnum moss inside a ziplock bag. i can tell it's really humid inside because there is condensation on the inside of the bag. we'll see what happens!
regards
katie

katie3718 · #19 04-18-2012, 01:01 AM

Ok guys, for anyone who is interested I am going to let you know what is going on with my current Phal root revival attempt...

I decided to re-bag the plant because today I went out and got some SuperThrive. So, I undid the current setup, soaked the whole plant some water with a bit of SuperThrive, and then re-bagged it. I cut a small hole at a corner of the bag for drainage, and poked some holes near the top of the bag for ventilation. This time, instead of putting it in front of a window, I put it in a darker area (see pic). You can see it's also close to my heater so the environment should be nice and warm (not that we are using the heater that often these days). Oh, I also soaked the sphagnum moss that I used in the water/SuperThrive solution before wrapping it around the roots.

I am feeling slightly more confident with this set up, because SuperThrive seems to be commonly recommended, but for some reason I still don't have very high hopes. It has been and will continue to be difficult to sit and wait.

One thing I don't understand is what exactly the twig-looking things are coming out of the bulb of the plant. I don't think they represent actual roots, but they are located where the roots should be - where they used to be.

Oh, by the way, another reason I feel like the first set up wasn't functioning was that one of the leaves turned yellow and fell off as soon as I took it out

Don't know exactly what this means either (pic).

Ok, well let me know if you have any more input, and I will keep you updated. I am going to do my best to be patient, and in a few weeks, assuming I won't make any more adjustments any sooner, I'll let you know what's up with my Phal.

quiltergal · #20 04-18-2012, 03:58 AM

Those wirey things are root cores. The core is normally surrounded by a thick coating called velamen. It acts like a sponge and soaks up the surrounding water and sends it to the root core. The core sends the water where it needs to go in the plant. When roots rot it's the velamen that rots and slips off leaving the core behind.