Questions about orchid care.

[magicsomething]

Hello! I've been researching to keep my orchids healthy (Phalaenopsis, Encyclia and Brassavola, unsure of the excact species).
And I find a lot of information that just make me want more information, as everyone seem to be doing different things on the same plant species.

On the next information I find online.
Truth or False?

Avoid letting water get in the center of the leaves in Phalaenopsis.

Water all days a little.

Water only when dry and a lot.

Clean all orchid leaves.

Let Brassavola dry between watering.

Remove death material, leaves and roots.
(How I remove roots and how I know which roots are dead? People on the videos I see seem to remove anything that doesn't look fresh, but my orchids have 1 or 2 pretty roots and the rest are brown)

Fertilize once a week except while "sleeping" or blooming.

Use fertilizer at half the strenght.

Urea free fertilizer for Phalaenopsis.

Natural fertilizer attracts cockroaches.
(Made from banana peel, potato and cinamon)

Natural fertilizer is not really effective.
(This was very frustrating to read)

Tea bags content is good for orchids that need Nitrogen.
(All need Nitrogen right? And which tea bags? I drink tea at times but, wouldn't know which ones to use, I suppose any from Camelia Sinensis? Black/Green/White)

Low intensity growing lights.
(Carnivorous plants loved intense light but I get they are very different)

The heat from the lamps, hurt the orchids.
(I've grow corals (I know they are not plants) and other plants under flourecent lights before, I never keep a certain distance of the plants from the lights, using fluorecent bulbs, pl or t5, some plants even grow so much that they touched the light bulb)

Orchids don't like "long days"
(I turn on the lamps when I wake up and turn them off when I get to bed, that can be around 17 hours of light, is okay?)

I know all species are different, so if any of this information apply to an specific species, I'd love to know.
I grow my Phalenopsis on a window, but the rest on my room with lamps.
Thank you kindly and sorry for all the questions.

[pipsxlch]

Knowing where you are and your exact conditions would help, but...

I grow Encyclia and Brassavola, so for them- bright light, even intense for the Brassavola. They won't be really 'happy' and won't bloom with less. Mine are in dappled sun/bright shade outside. Water thoroughly 2-4x/week in spring/summer, allowing to dry completely between waterings. Drop down to 1x/week in the winter. Feed weekly weakly (1/4 strength) in the summer; once a month to never in the winter. Best to use a urea free variety. Use a very open well draining potting media. Most of these can take heat; I don't think that from fluorescent bulbs should be too much of an issue. Unless you have a LOT of dust or stuff settling on leaves, I don't see why you should need to clean them unless you find water spots unsightly. Never remove vegetative growths that are green; roots can be healthy and brownish- feel them. Dead roots feel hollow with a wire down them. Leaving them is probably best if you aren't sure. I don't think the plants 'mind' a long day but day length does influence the blooming of many species and you might end up with plants that grow well but don't bloom (also may happen if your light isn't intense enough).

I don't know enough about the tea bags to comment- I don't drink it. 'Natural' fertilizer shouldn't hurt your plants- many of us use them to some degree (such as fish tank water). I can see where roaches would be attracted to banana peels etc., but if your plants are indoors and you don't have roaches, you should be safe.

True never let water get into the crown (middle of plant/leaves) of a Phal and remain. It often can cause rot. They do want indirect lower light levels. Keep them on a more consistent year round schedule, though a cool off in the fall with a little shorter day helps initiate blooming. They don't like to get bone dry (like the Bassavola/Encyclia), but should dry between waterings. Recommended is to use a wooden skewer inserted into middle of pot; if it is slightly damp even hold off watering, if it is dry water. Check out the thread 'The Phal Abuse Ends Here' for the best advice on them. (but if in doubt don't water)

[WhiteRabbit]

I've tried to answer the questions I was able to, addressing them one by one in your post. (sorry about the all caps, I just wanted it to be easy to see my responses.) The American Orchid Society has care sheets with basic, general info for several types of orchids Culture Sheets

Originally Posted by magicsomething

Hello! I've been researching to keep my orchids healthy (Phalaenopsis, Encyclia and Brassavola, unsure of the excact species).
And I find a lot of information that just make me want more information, as everyone seem to be doing different things on the same plant species.

On the next information I find online.
Truth or False?

Avoid letting water get in the center of the leaves in Phalaenopsis. TRUE

Water all days a little. FALSE - WATER WHEN THEY NEED WATER, THEN WATER WELL

Water only when dry and a lot. SOME ORCHIDS WANT TO DRY COMPLETELY BETWEEN WATERINGS, OTHERS DON'T; PHALS SHOULD BE WATERED BEFORE MEDIA IS COMPLETELY DRY, ENCYCLIAS (at least the ones I have) SHOULD DRY COMPLETELY - WATER WELL WHEN WATER IS NEEDED

Clean all orchid leaves. PERSONAL DECISION, UNLESS THERE ARE PESTS (LIKE SCALE) THAT NEED CLEANING OFF, OR THEY ARE SO FILTHY THAT THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT RECEIVED MAY BE REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY, OR SOMETHING HARMFUL HAS GOTTEN ON THEM

Let Brassavola dry between watering. THIAT IS THE GENERAL ADVICE - PERSONALLY, MY (GRANDIFLORA) SEEMS TO PREFER TO NOT DRY COMPLETELY, APROACHING DRY ONLY

Remove death material, leaves and roots.
(How I remove roots and how I know which roots are dead? People on the videos I see seem to remove anything that doesn't look fresh, but my orchids have 1 or 2 pretty roots and the rest are brown) DEAD ROOTS WILL EITHER BE MUSHY AND HOLLOW FEELING (ROTTED), OR SHRIVELED, DRY - CUT THEM OFF WITH SMALL FLORAL PRUNERS, OR OTHER SMALL CUTTING DEVICE, SANITIZING CUTTERS/BLADES IN-BETWEEN PLANTS

Fertilize once a week except while "sleeping" or blooming. MOST PEOPLE FERTILIZE ONCE A WEEK FOR 3 WEEKS, THEN FLUSH THE POTTING MEDIA WELL WITH PLAIN WATER ON THE FOURTH WEEK. FERTILIZE WHEN IN BLOOM. SOME ORCHIDS HAVE A DORMANT PERIOD WHEN FERTILIZER SHOULD BE WITHHELD, BUT MOST WILL APPRECIATE SOME FERTILIZER YEAR-ROUND

Use fertilizer at half the strenght. DEPENDS ON THE FERTILIZER, AND HOW OFTEN YOU FERTILIZE. FERTILIZER FORMULATED FOR ORCHIDS CAN BE USED AS DIRECTED ON THE LABEL

Urea free fertilizer for Phalaenopsis. UREA FREE IS GENERALLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL ORCHIDS. USING UREA FREE IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN COOLER TEMPS - THE NITROGEN FROM UREA IS NOT AVAILABLE TO THE PLANT WHEN TEMPS ARE UNDER 70

Natural fertilizer attracts cockroaches.
(Made from banana peel, potato and cinamon) IT SEEMS REASONABLE TO PRESUME THAT DECOMPOSING FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PEELS WILL ATTRACT BUGS. GROUND CINNAMON CAN BE USED ON FOLIAGE WOUNDS, BUT SHOULD BE KEPT AWAY FROM ROOTS

Natural fertilizer is not really effective.
(This was very frustrating to read) IT'S LIKELY DIFFICULT TO GET THE PROPER BALANCE OF ELEMENTS FOR ORCHIDS

Tea bags content is good for orchids that need Nitrogen.
(All need Nitrogen right? And which tea bags? I drink tea at times but, wouldn't know which ones to use, I suppose any from Camelia Sinensis? Black/Green/White)
I DON'T KNOW [/B]

Low intensity growing lights.
(Carnivorous plants loved intense light but I get they are very different) DIFFERENT ORCHIDS HAVE DIFFERENT LIGHT REQUIREMENTS - BRASSAVOLA REQUIRES MORE THAT PHALAENOPSIS

The heat from the lamps, hurt the orchids.
(I've grow corals (I know they are not plants) and other plants under flourecent lights before, I never keep a certain distance of the plants from the lights, using fluorecent bulbs, pl or t5, some plants even grow so much that they touched the light bulb) I DON'T KNOW [/B]

Orchids don't like "long days"
(I turn on the lamps when I wake up and turn them off when I get to bed, that can be around 17 hours of light, is okay?) I DON'T KNOW PRECISELY - SPECIES FROM NON-EQUITORIAL AREAS WILL GET LONG LIGHT DAYS IN SUMMER [/B]

I know all species are different, so if any of this information apply to an specific species, I'd love to know. THERE ARE A GREAT MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF ORCHIDS, AND EVEN ONES IN THE SAME GENUS MAY HAVE DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS

I grow my Phalenopsis on a window, but the rest on my room with lamps.
Thank you kindly and sorry for all the questions.

[bil]

I ignore the roots mostly when repotting. Never add teabags, banana peel or any other stuff. Orchid roots must breathe and this is why you repot, because bark breaks down and the air gaps close.

As regards wetting the crown. Really? If wetting the cown is going to kill your phal, then how do they survive in the wild? As a point of principle, I wash off the leaves of my phals and fill the crowns with water. I have yet to kill a phal like that and I have yet to find a phal that will even hold water in the crown.

Tell me, if your phals are outside and it rains, do you rush out and dry them?

I keep hearing this, and I think it is an urban orchid myth that has beenn repeated so often people think it is fact.

Now, by all means show me a valid reason why you shouldn't wet the crown, and I will stop saying this.

Caveat, phals should be watered in the morning with water that is of the same temp. If you shock one with cold water, you might, if it is in a bad way, do some damage. Chilling a phal below its minimum temp WILL start crown rot.

[magicsomething]

Hello!
Thank you for reply.
I got some additional questions...
If I made a natural fertilizer, a mixture of banana and cinnamon, then removed the banana peel and cinnamon, after let them rest on the water.
Would this water that has colored and get a light cinnamon smell be bad for orchid roots?

[bil]

Originally Posted by magicsomething

Hello!
Thank you for reply.
I got some additional questions...
If I made a natural fertilizer, a mixture of banana and cinnamon, then removed the banana peel and cinnamon, after let them rest on the water.
Would this water that has colored and get a light cinnamon smell be bad for orchid roots?

and how would you know what the balance is of the nutrients?

Trust me on this. What orchids get in the wild, is what they need in captivity.

While compost tea for normal potted plants is fine, orchids are very, very different.

What does an epiphyte get? It gets pure rainwater, with a soupçon of salts (fertilisers=salts).

I would suggest you go to First Rays site (google it) and do some reading there. I find like a lot of others that I get very good results with an ultra low dose of Klite at every watering, dissolved in RO water.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by magicsomething

Hello!
Thank you for reply.
I got some additional questions...
If I made a natural fertilizer, a mixture of banana and cinnamon, then removed the banana peel and cinnamon, after let them rest on the water.
Would this water that has colored and get a light cinnamon smell be bad for orchid roots?

Cinnamon is a desiccant...it's best to avoid getting it on the roots.

Why wouldn't you just use a balanced fert rather than trying to mix up some concoction that might not be giving your orchids what it needs?

[No-Pro-mwa]

Originally Posted by bil

I ignore the roots mostly when repotting. Never add teabags, banana peel or any other stuff. Orchid roots must breathe and this is why you repot, because bark breaks down and the air gaps close.

As regards wetting the crown. Really? If wetting the cown is going to kill your phal, then how do they survive in the wild? As a point of principle, I wash off the leaves of my phals and fill the crowns with water. I have yet to kill a phal like that and I have yet to find a phal that will even hold water in the crown.

Tell me, if your phals are outside and it rains, do you rush out and dry them?

I keep hearing this, and I think it is an urban orchid myth that has beenn repeated so often people think it is fact.

Now, by all means show me a valid reason why you shouldn't wet the crown, and I will stop saying this.

Caveat, phals should be watered in the morning with water that is of the same temp. If you shock one with cold water, you might, if it is in a bad way, do some damage. Chilling a phal below its minimum temp WILL start crown rot.

I know, I know bil it works for you but in my house which can get fairly cold at night it is not a good idea for me to put water in the crowns. Goodness I killed my mannii I had had for 10 years because I was spritzing the roots every day because most of them were not in the pot. They were outside of it and I wanted to get them water every day and the ones that were down in the pot I was afraid would be to wet.

I know I didn't even get it in the crown but did get it on the steam. It rotted from the bottom up. This is the only thing that could have happened to it and I was doing it very early in the morning as I had to be gone buy 7:30 AM. It took only 1 month for it to die and I'm still pissed at myself for it.

I'm not trying to fight with you over it but I just don't think it works for all of us

[bil]

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa

I know, I know bil it works for you but in my house which can get fairly cold at night it is not a good idea for me to put water in the crowns. Goodness I killed my mannii I had had for 10 years because I was spritzing the roots every day because most of them were not in the pot. They were outside of it and I wanted to get them water every day and the ones that were down in the pot I was afraid would be to wet.

I know I didn't even get it in the crown but did get it on the steam. It rotted from the bottom up. This is the only thing that could have happened to it and I was doing it very early in the morning as I had to be gone buy 7:30 AM. It took only 1 month for it to die and I'm still pissed at myself for it.

I'm not trying to fight with you over it but I just don't think it works for all of us

Really really not fighting, just striving to understand. If I had to guess what killed your plant, it would be cold. That and the possibility that the roots rotted.

I have worked in other fields where there are DEEPLY held beliefs as to the cause of some things, but as soon as you start to unravel it, it comes apart. I am convinced that it isn't just a case of it working for me.

Does anyone on here go out and dry their outside phals if it rains?

[Arizona Jeanie]

I'm not a grower with a lot of experience, but--ambient humidity here is very low, I've never dried the phal crowns and never had a problem. Also, the plants like to start tilting sideways in the pot, water doesn't stay in the crown very long. So, I've read the advice to not leave water in the crown, but never followed it and never had a problem.