Help me keep my new mini phal alive.

[RandomGemini]

Moss is easy, just water it less often than you water your plants in bark. If you water every 7 days with the bark plants, water the plant in moss every 10. Make sure the center of the moss is dry before you water. Do loosen the moss a bit as advised. The real key to being successful with any medium, IMO is air flow. Tightly packed moss doesn't allow for that. I would repot it in bark when it's ready to be repotted though.

[lotis146]

I recognize the plastic pot it's currently in. Is the material really flimsy and it's basically two inches high and about 1 inch diameter?

I have three mini Dtps right now that were potted in those when I bought them. As I said in my "confession" like thread 2/3 suffered the worst from my drought. It might serve you well to get a 2" clay pot or a clear plastic pot that is one size up from these and repot when you're ready. Be really careful when you remove the moss, some say use tweezers.

I have a mini phal (well Dtps) that I got about 5 yrs ago before I had interest in Orchids (as a gift). It's never even thrown a spike since then. In the last 6 months I've repotted it twice, first time it was too big a pot. I settled on a moss mixture that I mixed moss with some coconut choir/bark chunks. This plant came to me in moss and even though it hasn't ever flowered again I managed to keep it alive without knowing what I was doing, so I'm sticking with at least some moss. I've been watering with everyone else (rest of plants) weekly and by then the moss on top is nearly bone dry. I fill the clay pot until the water sits on top and is no longer absorbed, then I let it sit for 15 minutes. After that I dump all the water out, well a much will come out when I tip it over. My guy has since grown a couple roots and started a new leaf this last week. It helps to pay more attention to it for the first couple of weeks until you get a feel for your conditions and how your plant is responding, as well as the medium.

Keep us posted & good luck! (I've not used the toothpick trick YET but I think that's very helpful.)

[RandomGemini]

Just for your info, Dtps has been reclassified as phalaenopsis. Some companies haven't gotten around to changing their labeling.

[Leafmite]

Good luck with your new phal. I grow my species phals in basket pots with moss in the top half and either lava rock or styrofoam peanuts in the bottom. I usually grow the hybrids in straight red lava rock but two of them came with very new-looking medium (one in bark, the other in moss) and have been doing very well in these so I just have left them in it. The important thing is to make certain that the medium dries evenly, that the middle and bottom do not stay wet after the top part of the medium has dried. When that happens, it is time to re-pot in a set up that keeps all the roots equally happy.

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by RandomGemini

Just for your info, Dtps has been reclassified as phalaenopsis. Some companies haven't gotten around to changing their labeling.

Are you saying Dtps is no longer relevant then? I've read that it is classified in the Phal genus but not that it is about to be wiped out entirely. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you (not that that would be a huge surprise as they look so much the same!).

[RandomGemini]

That's correct. Dtps is now a defunct genus, as is Doritis. Both are now phalaenopsis. DNA testing proved that Doritis and Phalaenopsis are the same species. As best I can tell, this happened back in 2009 and many growers just haven't updated their names for their plants yet.

[Brenda Aarts]

That moss looks sopping wet. Be careful. I have killed several plants by overwatering when in that tight moss. I have now made it a habit to repot into my own mix (bark mix) as soon as possible...sometimes even when it's still flowering. Good luck with your new plant.


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