Post Repot Panic

[Jfray]

Ok, so I repoted my phal last week. I am a newbie to this and I used solely sphagnum moss and I put the plant into a square orchid pot with ventilation on all sides. I chose the moss because I live in Florida and I was assuming the plant would dry out fairly quickly. I am now PANICING because I inspected the moss today to see if it needed watering and it was still fairly moist in the middle! Should I repot AGAIN and use a bark mix? Do I just need to keep calm and orchid on? Please help!

[Fiacre]

How humid is it in your neck of the woods in Florida? I'm assuming pretty darn humid, in which case you don't need to worry so much about keeping the humidity up for your Phal. How do the roots on your Phal look? Silverish and green are good, brown and squishy are bad.

Also, how often are you watering it? How long has it been since the last watering? Phals hate having wet roots, so if it's been a couple days and it's still very moist in the middle, then that's a problem. You'd be surprised by how drought tolerant Phals can be, and erring on the side of under-watering is usually healthier for them in the long run, so it may be a good idea to consider a bark mix instead.

I know here in my neck of the woods, it's quite hot and humid, and one of the first Phals I got came packed in moss. Even watering only once a week, the thing died swiftly from root rot. Bark is the only way to go for me with Phals if I want them to live.

But, over all, don't panic. Orchids are sturdy creatures, and tolerate human error pretty well.

[Roberta]

If it's still wet in the middle, just don't water again until it is barely damp. (Don't let it dry out completely, a downside of moss is that if it is very dry, it takes a good soaking to re-wet) But as long as you let the plant get its desired wet-dry cycle, it should be fine. As the moss dries, air is pulled into the root zone, which is what you want to happen. You will learn how long it takes to get the to the desired level of dryness, and then you won't have to "hover" so much because you'll know when to water again.

[Jfray]

I watered it a week ago, I am just nervous that it is sitting in too much moisture with the moss. I think I'll have a go at repotting it (again) in bark mix so I can sleep easy. Even from my extensive online research I can't tell if the roots are ok, or screwed. Some of them are brownish (not silvery) but have fresh bright green new growth on the end, so I just left them. Should I cut these off?

[Fiacre]

Yeah, that sounds like too long for the moss to still be wet to me, at least in my experience. I'd give the bark mix a try, and take it easy on the watering for the first little while after repotting to give the roots a chance to recover a bit.

If they're just "brownish", and not totally squishy and obviously bad, I would hold off on snipping them if they still have green tips. You can always check on the roots next time you repot, and if the roots have died, you can remove them then. I've had some roots on my Phals that developed brown sections, but were still alive.

You may also want to get some bamboo skewers to help monitor your watering after you get your Phal repotted. That way you can know for sure whether or not the medium is still wet without having to remove your Phal from the pot.

That's what I'd do. I've had to save a couple of Phals from root issues before, and it seems to work for me.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Jfray

I watered it a week ago, I am just nervous that it is sitting in too much moisture with the moss. I think I'll have a go at repotting it (again) in bark mix so I can sleep easy. Even from my extensive online research I can't tell if the roots are ok, or screwed. Some of them are brownish (not silvery) but have fresh bright green new growth on the end, so I just left them. Should I cut these off?

No, I would leave those roots since they do have new green growth.

[SFLguy]

Skewers are the way to go, especially indoors. Outside, you can either mount them with with a Sphagnum/bark mix or just bark onto a tree. The Sphagnum and bark can be held in place by burlap stapled in to the tree itself

[Jfray]

Ok, one last question! (For now...)

I repotted the phal into bark charcoal mix. I am SUPER pleased because it seems much more sturdy. The roots look pretty rough and just yellowish, not much green.

When should i begin to fertilize? Should I start a regular schedule now? Or wait and let it settle in a bit?

[SFLguy]

Let it sit, the roots are yellow because they were in a pot so they didn't get any light (that's normal and expected)