BBQ Charcoal.....

[meltmelt]

Hello all. I am quite new to Orchids and I think I may have made a very bad mistake.

Today I ran into a whole mess of decent looking $2.00 Phaelenopsis (clearance)...

Assuming their problems were primarily sunburn, and over-watering, I decided to re-pot 3 of the Phals in Phal Mix + Charcoal......

Kingsford Charcoal, that is..

There is no lighter fluid in the crushed briquettes, though it seems they may still be toxic from what I could find on google.

How big of an emergency is this? What should I do, and should I be doing it immediately?


Thank you, meltmelt

[james mickelso]

Repot them asap. If not sooner. All Kingsford charcol briquettes have lighter fluid in them. If nothing else, get them out of the pots and water the roots and then leave them out of the pots until you get siomething else to pot them in. Better that than letting them die of petroleum poisoning.

[Mira-Claude]

I don't know about toxicity but I wouldn't take a chance, take them out of the medium and rinse them out. If you can with distilled water! or as pure water as you can.
Repot them in new medium and wait it out.
They will probably kill the leaves they had to get rid of the poison in their system.
I hope they will make new ones though.

[james mickelso]

You can get a bag of hardwood charcol at most Home Depot stores for around $15. Most nurseries carry charcol also. I think even Lowes carries hardwood charcol.

[meltmelt]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm hoping that with them only being in the mix for a few hours, that the damage will be minimal.

After a thorough rinsing, I lightly packed them in a mixture of damp peat moss/miracle grow orchid mix, to maintain moisture while I head to town for new supplies.

Is this another mistake? (it's all I had on hand..)

So now i'm off to town to buy clear pots with drainage holes, materials for a new substrate, and possibly some sterilizing or rooting chemicals?

My new planned substrate will be composed of the following:

Coconut Coir, Lump charcoal, Perlite, and Lava Rock as the primary component.

To be fertilized with Guano Tea, sparingly.


Is this a viable plan? I really want to save these guys



Thank you

[james mickelso]

Yeah this is a good plan. You didn't need to plant them in anything as long as you misted them a couple times a day. Phals normally grow on tree branches with no soil.

[james mickelso]

Nice find by the way. I never can get the Home Cheapo around here to discount their nearly dead orchids. The most important thing to remember is not to over water them once potted up. They like to be water, and then dry out nearly all the way then be watered again. They are not roses or poppies. They don't like their roots wet all the time. If you do nothing else to them, just make sure they don't get over watered. Read the phal care sheet at the top of this category. And give them dappled light. Your hand held a foot away from them should cast a diffuse shadow. And they like a light breeze. Let us know if we can help with anything else.

[Wynn Dee13]

I just wanted to add that Miricle Grow orchid mix is NOT a good mix for almost all orchids. It is too soil like with the peat in it. Like James said you didn't need to put them in that mix. They can be bare root for a few days just fine. You just need to water the roots a couple times a day. The mix you plan on using should be fine but take James's advice and don't over water. Most people kill orchids by over watering them than under watering. Good luck!

[Leafmite]

I would just add, avoid crown rot by not getting water on the leaves. The mix you plan to create sounds very nice. Good luck!

[Cym Ladye]

"My new planned substrate will be composed of the following:

Coconut Coir, Lump charcoal, Perlite, and Lava Rock as the primary component.

To be fertilized with Guano Tea, sparingly."

MeltMelt,



Firstly, Phals are epiphytes living on trees, so need an open, well draining mix. Mine have never done well with coir as it is too dense a medium. Medium CHC is OK but still too water retentive, in my opinion. You might consider just using a good quality medium sized fir bark.

Secondly, skip the charcoal. It serves no use in the long run.

Thirdly, skip the lava rock. Most lava rock products do nothing but absorb salts and when they get to the toxic level, cause the roots to die.

Perlite, RIGHT ON!

I have to laugh when I see the plethora of "Hobo Stews" growers are coming up with. Yes, some are predicated by the fact that some products are not available locally to a grower, but I have always adhered to the "Keep it simple" theory in the beginning. I have seen growers planting in nothing but rocks; nothing but course perlite; nothing but charcoal; pure eucalyptus chips; pure redwood shavings; and actual heavy soil from their gardens. The secret to any of these mixes working is that each grower learned how to water and fertilize for the specific medium.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not recommending this one step approach, just stating that almost any product may be used to keep a plant from falling over in its pot.

Unless you have a thing about Guano Tea, Phals will do well with almost any dilute solution of a balanced fertilizer for orchids, easily available at most garden/box stores. In short, fertilizing with something is better than not fertilizing at all!

Now that I have used all the smilies that I felt applied, Good Luck,

Cym Ladye