To put cinnamon or not

[No-Pro-mwa]

I just did a dumb thing last night as I was potting up my moms phal. It had a long stem on it with all the roots dead but the roots up above were alive. So I cut the stem off but I forgot to put cinnamon on it.

Should I take it back out of the pot and put it on or leave it alone?

[Leafmite]

You should be fine.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Ok thanks, was laying in bed this morning and thought of it. Freaked me out. I have never had to cut off and old stem like that before.

[Island Girl]

Just leave it dry for a few days, so it can heal.... Which IMHO, should be done anyways, potted in moist potting mix, & no water for the first week (give or take, depends on orchid). When you have a wound, and it stays damp, that opens it to infection, and takes longer to heal, but if it's left dry, it will heal a lot quicker.

[tucker85]

I don't use any treatment when I cut an orchid and I've never had a problem.

[RosieC]

I don't use cinnamon on cut spikes. They dry up well on their own.

I only use it on cuts on the leaves/stem of the orchid.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Well it was the stem not the spike. I had never seen an orchid with this long of a stem. It must have been around a long time. I think I bought it for her a couple of years ago from Safeway. But it has to be an old phal to have that long a stem.

Ok Mary linn I will keep it dry. Luckily I hadn't watered it yet today. My mom is going to dye when she sees how small of a pot I put this in. It was in a 5 inch plastic and now it's in a 3 inch clay. It was the only one I had that size and I thought the clay might hold it up better as it has big leaves.

It was also in sphagnum.