Help with Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica crown

[BriDroid]

I ordered this online from a reputable grower, and according to them it's fine. I'm kind of questioning that. I've attached a pic. When it arrived, there was some attached dead plant material and some growing medium in the crown. I removed the dead plant part with tweezers and tried to clean the media out with a q-tip like the grower said.

I do have what they called a pup coming out of the side with some healthy roots under it.

My question, will the crown ever recover? If it starts to die back, what can I do to save the tiny pup?

This plant is maybe 3-4 inches across right now.

Thanks so much,
Brian

[LovePhals]

It looks to me like it had an infection but is better. Is that a keiki coming from it? There is media/dirt in the crown and it looks dipped. That doesn't really look normal to me. It doesn't look like it will bloom for a very long time to me.

[BriDroid]

Thanks.

Being new, I'm not sure what you mean by "dipped"?

Yes, that's a keiki coming out on the side and it has some healthy green roots under it.

I think I just need to watch that main crown and main two leaves and make sure they stay healthy.

[LovePhals]

That is good that it has new growth, I also see the new roots. If it has that it is probably an old infection and OK. It wasn't sold as blooming size, right? If not, I wouldn't worry too much, it looks OK to me! Be careful not to get any water in the crown where the damage was.
Oh.. and you may want to down-pot that. I would put cinnamon in the crown to dry it out and not get it on the keiki.

[BriDroid]

No, it was sold as a small plant. I was just hoping that it would be bigger than a keiki. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks for all the advice!

[RNCollins]

Hi Brian,

I'm a newbie, so I don't know how helpful I can be, but I'll try...

After watering your Phal be sure to keep the keiki and the crown/center part of the big plant dry. I would use a paper towel to dry up the water.

If the growing point/crown of the main plant has been damaged too much, you may not get any new growth from there. That is why it is important to keep the keiki healthy because the older plant may no longer be able to flower.

One book that i still love to read and drool over the pictures is Ortho's Complete Guide to Orchids. You can buy it used on Amazon for cents. There are nice pictures of both species and hybrids, along with cultural, historical, botanical info, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide...ide+to+orchids

[jcec1]

It looks a bit overpotted to me. I would check out the roots and possibly put it in a smaller pot.