Small Phal Orchid with Small Flaws

[Optimist]

No orchid needs to be in a pot. Pots are a convenience to people with houses and scheduals and so on. A little orchid can live in big bark fine. The little bark is for paphs, seedlings, oncidiums and orchids that prefer water to be retained for a longer period of time. Phals can actually grow fine with no medium at all.

Get fertilizer especially made for orchids, and use it at a rate less than what is reccommended in the instructions. Like if it says 1/4 th tsp per gallon, go 1/8th. Nitrogen will burn the roots of phals.

The plastic pot on it now is used for mass transport. The best thing you can do for the roots is remove the pot, whether or not you keep the spag in there. As someone suggested, anything that can be made to have good drainage is useable as a pot. I go to the dollar store and get clear acrylic drinking glasses and use a drill to make multiple holes in them. For flat shallow "pots" I go to wal-mart and buy plastic dog dishes and use a drill to make holes.

[TheJadeOrchid]

Originally Posted by Optimist

No orchid needs to be in a pot. Pots are a convenience to people with houses and scheduals and so on. A little orchid can live in big bark fine. The little bark is for paphs, seedlings, oncidiums and orchids that prefer water to be retained for a longer period of time. Phals can actually grow fine with no medium at all.

Get fertilizer especially made for orchids, and use it at a rate less than what is reccommended in the instructions. Like if it says 1/4 th tsp per gallon, go 1/8th. Nitrogen will burn the roots of phals.

The plastic pot on it now is used for mass transport. The best thing you can do for the roots is remove the pot, whether or not you keep the spag in there. As someone suggested, anything that can be made to have good drainage is useable as a pot. I go to the dollar store and get clear acrylic drinking glasses and use a drill to make multiple holes in them. For flat shallow "pots" I go to wal-mart and buy plastic dog dishes and use a drill to make holes.

Thank you. That is what I did. I went to the Dollar Tree and found some small cups.

[TheJadeOrchid]

Update. I was watering my orchid today.

So far so good. But the small orchid has a two spots on it leaves. I am not sure what they are.

I picked up a second NoID Phal orchid, the last three pictures were of it. It had really healthy roots, dry media and a pot that was to small. The roots had grown and pushed it self out of the pot. Picked for $4. It did have this weird coco foam like mass in the middle of it roots. Well I looked today, it had a mystery spot as well.

They were in my kitchen and there is a window A/C unit right across the room. Would that have any effect of them?

I also haven't gotten a fertilizer yet. What about that?

[estación seca]

Phals are warm-growing plants. They seem to tolerate US house temperatures but they aren't especially happy with this, especially in the winter.

[TheJadeOrchid]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Phals are warm-growing plants. They seem to tolerate US house temperatures but they aren't especially happy with this, especially in the winter.

So what could I do for them in the meant time? Finally getting warm days here. So I should acclimate them to the outdoors soon.

[TheJadeOrchid]

Well, something was going on with orchid. i decided to dig in the pot. I know I didn't repot it to long. But something told me to look. well it turns out some of the roots had gone bad. Dry and papery. Plus they were starting to rot. I snipped all the bad roots and I am leaving it bare root for now.

The spot on it's leaf is getting bigger.

[estación seca]

The warmer you can keep them fall/winter/spring, the better. I have a sunroom that's nice and warm during fall/winter/spring days, and this winter I heated it to a minimum of 60 F / 15.5C for the Vandas. The Phals were quite happy.

[TheJadeOrchid]

Originally Posted by estación seca

The warmer you can keep them fall/winter/spring, the better. I have a sunroom that's nice and warm during fall/winter/spring days, and this winter I heated it to a minimum of 60 F / 15.5C for the Vandas. The Phals were quite happy.

The thermometer I have, about 2 steps away, says 72 degrees F. But the humidity is 45%.

[Optimist]

Roots turn over, like leaves. When you change any of the conditions, you will get some root demise. If the roots are rotting you may need to get the water to drain faster. Phals grow on trees. They do not normally have standing water on the roots. It takes only seconds for the roots to take in enough water to turn green. On the other hand, in nature, rain hits phals almost contently and in seasons of dryness there is a thick fog or mist.

So, extrapolate. Water is touching the roots at all times, but it is also not standing on them. Also, roots are dying, and roots are growing. An orchid in the wild has a nest of old dead and live roots around it. The old roots slough off naturally. They are there to grab up rain water and keep humidity around the roots. With enough old roots, you would not need "bark."

With phals--- when in doubt, don't water.

I am in 6b and I have been bringing them out and back in, some on rotation for nearly a month now. When you consistently are 55 degrees or above you can leave them outside.

One spot seems like a sun burn, the other seems like a strange little birthmark. When did that one show up?

Orchids can look a fright. Many of my phals were attacked by an Amazon Parrot, and look really ratty.

Beware, aphids and other creatures love to snack on orchids as well. There will be nibbles, breaks, spider nests, snails, and bird poo on your orchids.

[TheJadeOrchid]

One spot seems like a sun burn, the other seems like a strange little birthmark. When did that one show up?

This dark blackish spot just showed up. I noticed the same day I took those pictures. And the mark on the other one has went away.