I got "schooled" @ HDepot this am.

[shushu45]

Originally Posted by mmrobledo

Home Depot usually sends back the bad plants almost dying to their growers to get credit for them..lowes marks down the prices and im there almost everyday gettin all the near dead cattleyas

Wish mine would sell Catt.s my lowes sells phals. I have to go to my parents place to get some variety.

[Carpe Diem]

Miss Flower, sales people have no say in the matter. Sales people have to follow Store Policy or lose their job.

[LadySoren]

I am from South Florida and moved to NC 2 years ago. I didn't get into orchids until NC unfortunately. While I was in FL for a week recently, I bought my older sister her very first orchids 2 phals and 1 Cattleya (that one was in a bag. I hadn't bought one of those before). One of the phals had TERRIBLY wrinkled leaves and one fading bloom left so we got to see what color it was. I asked the cashier how much she'd sell it for, and she said $10 or $15 I believe. I felt awkward as it was first time trying to buy a "sad" orchid. So I said never mind and put it back. She felt bad and looked confused so my sister told me that it looked like the GIGO would bring it down in price if I'd ask her. So I headed back and she went down to $5 for me. I repotted it and it had a ton of great roots! It had just been severely dehydrated. It also had a friend plant in it's pot, it was so bad with no leaves that I couldn't tell what it was. Wasn't an orchid though. I stuck the other plant in one of my sisters planters outside and it has started growing

[awakedude985]

LadySoren, welcome to NC. I don't know where you are specifically, but it seems that most of our Lowes around here reduce orchids after the blooms have faded or after we have crazy cold weather. I have 5 Lowes bag rescues and 3 Lowes Phal rescues that all told might have cost $30 (and I got 2 great terra-cotta pots for other uses out of the deal). I have an addiction to "rescuing" plants. It's probably going to get me into trouble one day, but until then...

[james mickelso]

If you cut the flowering part of the spike off now it will most likely push another spike out from one of the nodes below. If left on too long it most likely won't for quite awhile. If potted in sphagnum moss be careful with your watering. Don't soak it.

[elaines]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

If you cut the flowering part of the spike off now it will most likely push another spike out from one of the nodes below. If left on too long it most likely won't for quite awhile.

Sorry about tangent from the thread but I read somewhere that orchids are "pre-programmed" to bloom a certain number of blossoms and that, if something interrupts the blossoming of that number of blooms, the orchid will put out new buds to replace the ones that couldn't bloom.

I got a new kitten a couple of years ago when my most beautiful phal was about to bloom. He immediately hopped on the table, took one look at that beautiful dangling spray of buds and excitedly eliminated all of them in one swipe. He snapped the spike just below the buds. The phal then put out a new branch from lower on the spike and still wound up blooming the same # of blossoms. It didn't bloom the next year, though.

Would cutting the spike of the HDepot orchid to get another cause it to miss its blooming cycle next year? Or is that care dependent? Is it true that orchids have a pre-determined number of blossoms they're determined to bloom?

[awakedude985]

Elaines I've never heard that about the number of blooms an orchid will produce per cycle. I know from experience that you can get another bloom from the same spike by cutting above the 2nd node. I have heard that that can be stressful on the plant and can reduce vegetative and root growth so I can assume that missing or aborting next years blooms could be possible. The phal that I rebloomed this way did bloom the next year, but with fewer and smaller blooms.

[Ashleyma23]

Yes I cut the spike where it was bent and the nodes are green and will probably spike soon.

The roots were great until I repotted it. They dried up and now it is sitting in a vase water.



Sent from my GT-P3113 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

[elaines]

Are all the roots dried totally? How long have you had it in the water? Try not to leave it sitting in straight water for more than an hour or two. I've left orchids in water for 12 hours and they've survived but that was stretching it. As epiphytes, they need air around their roots.

Can you get sphagnum moss? At the big box garden centers, it's sold in tiny bales labeled "orchid moss". Make sure the fine print says "sphagnum". If you can get to an orchid or other supplier that can get you long-fibered sphagnum from New Zealand or Chile, that's far better. If you get the sphagnum dried, soak it in distilled water until it absorbs all or most of the water - often overnight. If it's fresh sphagnum, I don't know how long you need to soak it (still figuring all this out myself). Cut off the phal's roots that are mushy and brown and then wrap the sphagnum around the roots with the sphagnum fibers oriented as vertically as possible, potting it that way. Don't let the sphagnum dry out all the way - just mostly, & probably water it with distilled water while it's still tender.

I'm sure many of the more senior members have better input than I do. Your new phal's so pretty - don't let it drown.

-Elaine

[Ashleyma23]

Thanks for the reply.

Sent from my GT-P31t
13 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2