After 8 months of struggling with my phals and much help from everyone on this wonderful fourm this is what i have learned.
I wish to share this info in hopes that some of it may be helpful to the newbies and encourage them not to give
up or be discouraged.
My first mistake like most newbies was overwatering. Most of which was due to the over abundace of rain here in florida.
So I took all the plants out of there pots trimmed off the rotten roots and repoted in fresh medium. Moved them in the house set up on a rack with fluoresent lighting in front of a shaded south window.
Went well for a little while but then my roots shriveled up and rotted again altough I was sparingly watering them.
Back to repotting again. They did ok after that but did not seem to be thriving.
They all started turning red and getting wrinkly.
Now what is wrong. Not enough humitidy so I bought a humidifier and run it 24/7. Things in my house started to mildew but it was doing nothing for the plants.
Too much light I though so I raised the light fixtures and closed the blinds on the windows more.
And reduced the amount of artifical light to 4 hours a day. Still very little improvement.
I checked the plants over thourghly and found some areas of cell colapse and thought I had spider mites even though I could not find any even with the wet paper towel. So I sprayed anyway in hopes that this would help.
It did seem to but only for a short time. I continued to spray as the directions said switched products every now
and then. No luck it only seemed to help for a few days after spraying. I have a pretty good theroy on why, that I will reveal later.
Next thing to happen was the plants started to show signs of fertilizer burn. Brown roots on top and yellowing leaves.
I was only fertilizing once a week 1/4 strenght. How on earth could this be happening. My poor plants were on a
rapid down hill spiral. I flushed all the plants at the sink with lots of water and discontinued using the fertilizer.
This seemed to perk them up some'
I had high hopes that I had fixed the problem. No such luck. Although not as bad the plants still seemed to not be responding well. Except for a few that seemed to have not been affected by any of this. I then began to think I had a virus and started to freak out. Seperating out the plants and almost throwing a few out of the worst but decided to keep them in a far away place.
At this point I was ready to call it quits and give up on growing orchids. I could grow other plants just fine
but these darn orchids just would not act right.
I was in tears over this and feeling like a big failure. But I am not one to give up too easily, so one day I put my mind to it that I was going to think this over very carefully and only focus on the facts.
OK lets see first off the plants are not being overwatered but the roots are dying.
2- I have stopped fertilizing so that is not the problem.
3- They seem to be getting to much light when in truth they are getting very little. And I know this because after
adjusting the light levels I had to move my african violet.
4- The leaves are red, wrinkly, have cell colapse, are becomming chlorotic and have thin distorted growth.
Everytime I would try to research the problems in orchids, the answers I found was overwatering, root loss or virus. What a bummer.
I began to examine my plants again and try to figure out why a few were doing good. They did seem to have bigger roots. Not more just bigger. The leaves were thick and healthy. They have been in the same location and recieved the same watering schedule. Hum, is it genitics, maybe somewhat.
Then one day as I was tring to research wrinkling leaves a site showed up that was titled reconizing drought injury
symptoms on plants. I looked at this site and this is what I found.
1-Plants wilt. One of the first symptoms of drought-stressed plants is the loss of turgidity.
Plants or plant parts become limp and droopy.
2-Plants show a decrease in growth or have no growth this can indicate a decline in root function
3- Plants or sections of them, appear chlorotic (yellow or yellow-green).
4- Plants may leaf out, then die later in the growing season, a result of depleted food reserves.
5- Leaves roll up and/or are misshapen.
6- Leaves are dull in appearance rather than shiny
7- Moderate to large amount of spider mites found. Spider mites are attracted to, and proliferate on,
drought-stressed plants
8- Leaves may turn yellow, red, or purple.
Now we are getting somewhere. These symptoms sound alot like what I am having. I had been using the skewer method to test to see if they needed water but was always unsure so would just wait to the weekly watering schedule.
All my plants were planted in Orchiata bark and upon futher evaluation the plants that were doing better were potted in a smaller bark size that come form the bottom of the bag and they were a bit over potted.
Thus for holding a little more water.
I have around 60 plants and do not wish to carry every one to the sink 3 times a week so this is what I did.
On the larger pots I covered the top with a fair amount of sphagnum moss.
On the smaller pots I repotted with a mixture of the bark, sphag, and sponge rock.
I then begain to lift the pots everyday to feel the weight and judge when they needed water.
I also divided them up acording to there water usage to make watering easier but still test every pot before watering.
This has been over 2 months ago and I am happy to say that my phals are starting to flurish.
All the new leaves are firm and shinny, even the wrinkly ones have put on more weight although still wrinkeled.
I have new roots growing that are fat and green, and my heart is a little lighter.
Now what I learned from all this.
1- overwatering will kill your plants so be very careful.
2- underwatering will kill your plants but it is a long slow death and the symptoms although like under watering in ways are different. And also you will have a hard time finding the effects of underwatering on the net.
3- Plants that are underwatered but not to the point of competely killing them, will be affected harshly by light, fertilize and pest.
4- If you plants are under watered and you spray them with a insecticide/miticide it will coat the leaves and prevent water loss for a short time. Thus they will look better for a few days,
5-The roots will dry up and then when you do water the dead ones will rot and set up a chain reaction that will
rot the few good roots you have.
6-The best way to know if a plant needs water is by weight.
7- If your plants are in any kind of stress with hold fertilize till they are healthy.
8-Sphag. is not always a bad thing.
9- Join a good orchid fourm and read all you can.
10- Growing orchids is a good way to learn patience, creative thinking and most of all fun.
Some pointers for you. Do not make the mistake I did by my fear of overwatering I was slowly killing my plants
by underwatering. You can not water all your orchids on the same schedule. No two orchids are the same, I have
two identical orchids side by side in the same meduim, same size pot, the same light and one always needs more water.
Your enviroment is different from anyone elses. And your enviroment will vary day by day.
Take the time to learn it, what works for you plants and your watering habbits. You will kill a few orchids no
matter how much know but over time the death toll will become less. And last but not least don't give up, you
can grow orchids, learn to love their beauty and complexity. Have fun with your orchids, they will love you for it.
NOTE: This was my experience and may not apply or be agreed upon by everyone. I just wanted to share this
and also to say Thank You to all the OB members out there who have helped me on this journey.
Things I have learned as a newbie and the effects of underwatering
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