need advise for my phal

[Nana Trish]

Bil, where are you located? It would be interesting to compare regions of the country, maybe what works in one area might not in another ?? All your advice and tips are very helpful!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Originally Posted by Nana Trish

Bil, where are you located? It would be interesting to compare regions of the country, maybe what works in one area might not in another ?? All your advice and tips are very helpful!

Right. I'm not going to try it. I know it works for him but I'm not thinking it would work for me. I didn't mean that to sound bad, I hope it was not taken that way. I was giving my

[Nana Trish]

Hey, Shannon, that's why we are all here I guess, to share ideas and get tips and suggestions from others on what has worked well for them. Your post did not sound bad to me at all. Thanks for all your tips and suggestions; they are very helpful to me and I'm sure others as well!

[bil]

Originally Posted by Nana Trish

Bil, where are you located? It would be interesting to compare regions of the country, maybe what works in one area might not in another ?? All your advice and tips are very helpful!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm in the deep south of Spain, hot and dry, until it gets a bit cold in the winter.

---------- Post added at 05:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa

Right. I'm not going to try it. I know it works for him but I'm not thinking it would work for me. I didn't mean that to sound bad, I hope it was not taken that way. I was giving my

Hey, please, I didn't take offence. I don't ever take offence when someone differs in opinion.
I put my ideas forward to see if other people can correct them or improve them.

There are a lot of people who say "Don't wet the crown!"

I ask, "Why not?" because it doesn't make sense to me. That in itself doesn't make me correct, but in order to accept that I am wrong, I need someone to explain why you mustn't wet the crown.

Is that so wrong?

There is nothing to stop you or anyone else buying a cheap NOID phal and testing my idea. Why not? It is unhelpful to tell newbies who are panicking over a dying orchid that wetting the crown was what did it when they should be focussing on something more important.

Last winter I lost one phal from crown rot, and it was one in a group of three in the garage that got a bit colder than did the ones in the garage. The ones in the garage were watered very carefully, BECAUSE it was so cold there, and even tho the crown was dry and I never wetted it, it died from crown rot. All the others in the house got their crowns wetted, and I have been doing it for a year now. Every watering, I wash the leaves and fill the crown. 5 minutes after watering they are empty and the crown is no wetter than it would be in the wild on a cool misty morning, no matter what angle it grew at.

[No-Pro-mwa]

I should try it but I am a scared little mouse and here's another bad thing about me...ok I'm just going to say it......I water mostly in late afternoon I know I'm not suppose to. In Oct. I will be doing it in the morning again.

[bil]

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa

I should try it but I am a scared little mouse and here's another bad thing about me...ok I'm just going to say it......I water mostly in late afternoon I know I'm not suppose to. In Oct. I will be doing it in the morning again.

What medium do you use?

Get a dirt cheap NOID phal, pot it in chunky bark only, so you can't overwater it, and try what I say.

Cold will kill your phals long before a bit of water. At low temps, I would be careful to water early.

17C in the day? where are you?

[No-Pro-mwa]

I live in Wyoming close to the Mountains. Our house does get cold in the winter and also when we get a cold front like we have been getting lately. Yesterday morning we had one come in and when I got up it was 58 F in the house. Because the wind was blowing through the swamp cooler. Frost on the pumpkin so to speak.

I'm sure part of my problem is that it can and does sometimes get cold in my house but if the sun is shinning then it will warm up in the afternoon.

When I potted up my larger phals I used coconut hulls but I have been using a seedling mix on my mini's which I have started putting more spagh in because they were drying out to fast. I also have very low humidity here. I have a few I need to re-pot and I'm not for sure what I am going to use. I would like for them to last 4 or 5 days before I have to water again as I am getting tired of have to water so many every other day.

[Orchid Whisperer]

For what it is worth, here is the reason for the "don't water the crown" recommendation. In a minute I will also give reasons why some people can safely ignore this warning.

Google "wild Phalaenopsis" images and you will see that nearly all wild Phals grow sideways from their locations on trees, roots extending up and down the trunk. In this position, water drips off of the leaves and does not accumulate in the crown. There are exceptions, such as plants formerly called Doritis, now included in Phalaenopsis; these grow vertically, often on rock.

Over many years of growing and also a few years on Orchid board and other forums, most Phal problems seem to be related to rotten roots (packed tight in wet moss) or crown rot. Often the crown rot seems to coincide with the habit lf watering overhead or mist ing, especially late in the day. Many Phals bought at the grocery end up in homes or offices that don't have good air circulation, which allows accumulated water to stay in the crown longer. So, avoiding water in the crown is a good precaution to avoid crown rot.

Is it a "rule" that must be followed? No. If you live in a semi-arid temperate, low humidity climate (Wyoming) or a Mediterranean climate (warm or hot dry summer, cool wet winter, including much of Spain and California), water in the crown is likely to evaporate quickly. You can probably ignore this precaution.

Here in north Georgia (USA) we have high humidity year round. Temperatures are cool to cold in winter to hot in summer. In winter I don't dare water the crowns. I can get away with overhead watering in summer because the plants are outdoors and always have excellent air flow.

So, the recommendation to not water the crown is a general precaution that makes sense where detailed growing conditions are not known. It can be ignored on a case-by-case basis, according to personal choice.

[ewbie]

Hi! Thank you for all the discussions that went through this thread. It is very educational.

I want to show you that I have finally mounted my phal. I tried mounting with this one as I have yet another one lined up to be repotted.

So what should I do after I repot it? Should I water everyday or every other day?

Btw, it's rainy season in our country so humidity is between 60-80. average 70

[bil]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

For what it is worth, here is the reason for the "don't water the crown" recommendation. In a minute I will also give reasons why some people can safely ignore this warning.

Google "wild Phalaenopsis" images and you will see that nearly all wild Phals grow sideways from their locations on trees, roots extending up and down the trunk. In this position, water drips off of the leaves and does not accumulate in the crown. There are exceptions, such as plants formerly called Doritis, now included in Phalaenopsis; these grow vertically, often on rock.

Over many years of growing and also a few years on Orchid board and other forums, most Phal problems seem to be related to rotten roots (packed tight in wet moss) or crown rot. Often the crown rot seems to coincide with the habit lf watering overhead or mist ing, especially late in the day. Many Phals bought at the grocery end up in homes or offices that don't have good air circulation, which allows accumulated water to stay in the crown longer. So, avoiding water in the crown is a good precaution to avoid crown rot.

Is it a "rule" that must be followed? No. If you live in a semi-arid temperate, low humidity climate (Wyoming) or a Mediterranean climate (warm or hot dry summer, cool wet winter, including much of Spain and California), water in the crown is likely to evaporate quickly. You can probably ignore this precaution.

Here in north Georgia (USA) we have high humidity year round. Temperatures are cool to cold in winter to hot in summer. In winter I don't dare water the crowns. I can get away with overhead watering in summer because the plants are outdoors and always have excellent air flow.

So, the recommendation to not water the crown is a general precaution that makes sense where detailed growing conditions are not known. It can be ignored on a case-by-case basis, according to personal choice.

Nice post, thanks for taking the time. A couple of questions please.

"In winter I don't dare water the crowns." What temp do your orchids go down to??

"water in the crown is likely to evaporate quickly. "
That isn't my query so much. The crowns empty so fast that if you fill the upright ones, and go and gget a paper towel, they are empty.
Where the leaves join the crown, that gap will hold water, no matter how it gets there. So in the wild, cold misty days will wett that junction and trap water there. So why isn't that a problem in the wild?

" most Phal problems seem to be related to rotten roots (packed tight in wet moss) or crown rot. "
See! This is the curse the vile Mossites have to endure for abandoning the true road of the Barkistas!
What I would LOVE is your honest assessment (if you can) of percentage of crown rot cases were potted in moss, or open bark.

"Often the crown rot seems to coincide with the habit lf watering overhead or mist ing, especially late in the day."
Here, I must admit, I am pathological about only watering in the morning.

Like I say, I would love to know what % of crown rot cases would be eliminated if all phals were potted in open bark.