Home Depot Phals

[rwiskavitch]

I rescued 2 phals from Home Depot. Now a year and a half later one has a keiki but also has new leaves on the base plant and good root growth. The other is blooming off an old spike and also has good leaf and root growth.

I know a keiki is a sign of distress of some sort so I plan on repotting. Should I wait until the roots of the keiki are bigger before I repot? I understand the keiki roots should be about 3-4 inches long before I remove the keiki.

Any advice would be appreciated. Lastly is spagnum acceptable for the new medium? My house is pretty dry in terms of humidity.

Thanks

[magicatt]

I had a phal kei kei once and there wasn't any distress that I could find, roots and leaves ok. So maybe your phal is just happy. Tip it out of its pot and have a good look at the roots. They should be plump and firm to the touch. Squishy and/or black should be cut off.

If you are going to repot I wouldn't worry about the kei kei. I let my kei kei get about 4 roots about four inches long before cutting it from the mother plant.

Maybe someone with more experience will pop into this thread.

I have used spag in the past with some success. The trick is letting it dry mostly before watering again. Also not packing it in really tight. Keep it fluffy if you know what I mean.

Good luck!

[WhiteRabbit]

Some Phals are very prone to keikis, others less so, but will get them on healthy plants. If your plant looks good (good roots, leaves, plant is growing), then there is no reason to be concerned about getting a keiki.

[hagfish]

If your plants appear to be growing well I would say the small plant isn't necessarily the result of stress. It may be that Orchids which reproduce this way are acting like strawberries or spider plants. Whatever the reason, it is probably best to let the roots grow as much as possible before removing the small plant. Something I have noticed about Phalenopsis is that this is the only kind of Orchid I could just place in a ziplock bag (polythene for you Brits) and just leave it there for months. The plants never rotted. Young plants may appreciate this culture in dry environments, perhaps with the addition of a bit of sphagnum.

[Polarizeme]

I agree with what the others have stated.

I have noticed much more aggressive root growth when my Phals are in a fine bark mix in a vented pot. The fine mix stays a little more moist, but not too wet.

It's your call though on the sphag. Maybe you can mix a half and half sphag/fine bark mix? See how that does for you. One thing I can say with my experience is that the sphag breaks down and should be replaced yearly. I do this on all my Pleuros.

I'm actually toying with something different for all of my Pleurothallids.... but I digress....