Couple Of Questions About My Phals

[SamiSmith]

Hi All,
Couple questions for the group, hoping someone can help. I've had my first phal for a little over a year. I repotted appx 8 months ago in a vanda basket with a mix of sphag, medium bark, charcoal, and lava rock. It has seemed to be doing well, though it never rebloomed, it did grow two new leaves and several roots. Recently though its leaves have started to yellow and I'm about to loose a second leaf mid stem, not the usual loss of the bottom leaf. I water weekly and put it in filtered light during the day. The aerial roots look good as do the ones I can see through the basket. What could be causing this and how do I get it to stop before its too late? Is it time to repot again? Also, I received a beautiful red orchid 2 days ago as a gift from my boyfriend. He got it through orchids.com and when I opened it I examined the roots through the pot. They look very green, firm, and by all means healthy. It was in full bloom and I had hoped to enjoy the flowers for a few months, and hopefully have it still in bloom so he could enjoy it too when he returned. The problem is the blooms are already wilting and Im not sure why. I waited a day to water, its planted in an all sphag medium, and placed it in filtered sunlight. Is the plant simply trying to adjust? Im sad to see it drop its blooms so soon and am hoping its not a sign of health problems. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[LizB88]

It's my understanding that rapid bloom drop is usually because of changes in temperature that affect the plant.

I'm not sure what is going on but I had a grower tell me that when you use lava in the mix, you have to make sure that is clean and does not have too many mineral in it, so its better to wash the medium before using it.

My mother had an orchid on a large lava rock, and she had to keep sitting on water. (orchid was killed by my sister, when my mother went on vacation, she use tap water, instead of distil water). Too many minerals on the rock.

Sorry can't be of much help, I'll give you a bump

[MysticOrchid]

Losing flowers or buds is generally a sign that your plant is temperature stressed or environment stressed. Should be OK soon, but avoid filtered sunlight, because it's bad for your orchids (personal experience). Give them a windowsill with northern exposure, mine are doing fantastic on northern exposure. And as the person before me said, avoid using lava rock. Instead of that you can use charcoal, it's very good for orchids, because it acts like a natural fungicide, and has many other properties. I have a friend from Thailand that grows HUGE phalaenopsis orchids mounted on a large pieces of burned wood(charcoal) or planted in charcoal and nothing more. They're really healthy looking plants with good sized bloom spikes. Well, good luck with growing your orchids!

[WhiteRabbit]

I don't know how filtered light might be bad? Unless it's too much or too little light, or too hot. ...