New phal, no drainage, and other issues

[Island Girl]

The only thing I have to add, after James' wonderfully informative post, is that the "bumps" u r seeing on the roots, r actually hairs that phal roots grow, so they can attach themselves to trees, rocks, etc in the wild (they are epiphytes after all ) In your case, they r just on older roots, so they don't look as pretty as they normally do (maybe I'm crazy, but I love the way some Phals get "hairy" roots! Lol) if I had a pic of some, I would post them... Hmm... I will go look, & see if I can take a pic of these "hairs" for u to see

[KrissieLynn]

Originally Posted by flexdc

Btw has anyone ever sen Just add Ice a message that adding ice to orchids will kill them?
I think it is a travesty to lie like that. It is a marketing ploy for lazy people! And watering your plant under the kitchen sink is not that much trouble!
Andrew

It is 100% a marketing ploy to sell several million in a certain time frame. People buy the orchid, kill it slowly with ice, get bummed when it dies, and then go out and buy a new one, and repeat the process over and over.

Yes, it's irritating, and even infuriating, but I can't tell you how many times I've been able to educate orchid owners about how to properly water them.

BUT I will say this- one of my prettiest and favorite orchids is a Just Add Ice that is the colors of the sunset: pinks, mauve, and yellows. And it was one of the healthiest from the start.

[shushu45]

Originally Posted by KrissieLynn

BUT I will say this- one of my prettiest and favorite orchids is a Just Add Ice that is the colors of the sunset: pinks, mauve, and yellows. And it was one of the healthiest from the start.

Mine is the same way.

[allyqat]

Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for your support and knowledge!

I have not yet tried the H2O2 test on the medium, but I will do that tonight.

The skewered leaf is yellowing further, which is to be expected. It's actually the third leaf, with two smaller leaves underneath, one of which is quickly yellowing.

I've been too scared to unseat her, but I watered her with Feed Me fertilizer yesterday, and I will try to unearth the inner pot tonight, and see what's going on down there.

I didn't know about velamin, that it absorbs so quickly! I'll soak some more bark mix tonight and transplant her probably tomorrow - I'll take exposed root pictures. Question: the Feed Me fertilizer from repotme.com is specially formulated for orchids - do I need to dilute it to 1/2 or 1/4 strength for weekly watering? Another question: do you think my overhead fan left on all day provides sufficient or excessive air circulation? The orchid sways a little in the air flow.

I saw the 'Not all dead roots are dead' post - will definitely help in selecting proper roots to remove. Hey, when I cut the decaying roots with a sterilized instrument, do I need to treat the cut ends with anything? I know the cut tissue is vulnerable to disease, and that cinnamon dries out the tissue too much. Any thoughts?

I'll need to tell the lady who gave me this orchid to stop using ice!

I didn't know that about the hairs! I thought roots like this were diseased.

I'm glad to hear that JAI orchids are generally healthy Thank you all for your comments and great advice. Your pictures and experience are invaluable.

[azredsand]

James great pictures!!! Can you please share what type of potting mix that you use. If you make your own, what are the ratios that you use?

Thanks

[james mickelso]

Redsand, I make my own and the mix of ingredients depends on what I am repotting. On the catt and laelia end I use a bunch (2-3 handfuls) of orchiata bark, a hand full of sponge rock, and an equal amount of charcoal. For phals and oncids I use equal parts bark, sponge rock, charcoal with a small handful of peat moss. There's nothing important as to ratios. For catts I want a fast draining mix so I can water any time I want yet the mix dries out in a couple hours. Humidity here is around 40% to 60% day time. Temps around 65*f day time. For phals I use a little more sponge rock so the mix retains moisture at the roots without being wet. I put most everything in this mix. It has served me well for years. When I would use the book's recipes say for oncids which is a denser mix of 1/4 inch bark, with some fine perlite mixed in, I would get rot issues. I came to realize that the most important thing to me was air flow through the mix. Almost never any issues with root rot. Most of the issues I see here on this board are root related. Roots are not happy and the plant founders. Simple as that. I watered this past weekend and the pots are still heavy. So I just water the small stuff. So to sum up, I tailor the mix to suit the plant I am potting so that it stays just moist but never wet. I use straight lava cinder for some of my plals and oncids. Also some of my cats. I like it because it dries quickly on the outer surface but retains a lot of moisture trapped in the pores of the rock.

[Skayc1]

One of the orchids I bought from lowes clearance sale the store employee had removed it from the plastic pot inside the decorative no drainage pot & planted it in the decorative one, It was blooming, with wilted leaves, I removed it from the decorative pot & the root damage was extensive. Their is very little roots -maybe 1 healthy short root, I cut the flower off to encourage it to grow better roots.