Help with a rootless phalaenopsis

[Sharon's Sheepdogs]

bil, you and I have been at odds in the past as to the cause of rot in phals so I'm not going to respond to that issue. We can just agree to disagree.

Your growing conditions are important as to how often you would need to water. For one, I would not plant a phal in coarse bark because it would dry out too quickly. I grow indoors with a lot of fans but if you are growing in a greenhouse you might get a different result.

I use 75% medium sized orchiata (5a) with the remaining 25% a combination of New Zealand Sphag & sponge rock along with some medium sized charcoal. As long as you don't compress your medium to tightly, the sphag will not prevent air from reaching the roots.

As a matter of fact, if you refer to the following website, you will find an article by Steven A. Frowine which lists the pros and cons of different types of potting medium. You will see he lists the pros for sphag as "retains water and air." The article can be found at:

Deciding on a Potting Mix for Orchids - dummies

I have no problem sticking the bamboo skewer into my pot with this medium and I actually still use them in many of my orchids. There is an excellent article by Sue Bottom, St. Augustine Orchid Society which goes into detail about using sphag moss at:

http://staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/Sp...ySueBottom.pdf

Sue states "The air filled porosity of sphagnum moss (a measure of the void spaces in the potting mix) ranges from 15 to 26% under general conditions, comparable to bark and greater than peat moss."

The article also addresses the benefits of top dressing with sphag. I urge anyone considering using or adding sphag to their potting mix to first read this article.

As to the use of Physan 20 in my water, a mild dilution of Physan 20 is recommended as a preventative where a strong dilution is required for the treatment of fungus etc.

Anyway, this mix has worked for me with my conditions. You won't know what works in your conditions until you experiment with the different potting mediums. Hope this helps.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Sharon's Sheepdogs

bil, you and I have been at odds in the past as to the cause of rot in phals so I'm not going to respond to that issue. We can just agree to disagree.

Please don't see our difference of opinion as a personal attack on you. It really isn't that.

Some oft repeated advice on here just strikes me as not making sense. It's a bit like the ham joint story. Evere heard of it?

There was a guy going round collecting recipes for a book. He was struck by a particularly nice ham joint and asked the lady of the house for the recipe. She was happy to give it to him. The recipe started off, "Take the ham joint, wash it and cut off the corner part."
He asked her why she cut off the ham joint corner, and she replied, "It's my mother's recipe.. She lives down the road aways if you would like to know why."
Off he went, and asked the mother why she cut off the corner of the joint. "She replied "Well, that's the way my mother told me to do it."
Sure enough, when he asked, the grandmother was still alive, and off they all went to her house. When he explained everything, and asked her why she said to cut the corner off the joint, she replied " That's because back then I didn't have a pot big enough to fit the whole joint in, so I had to cut the corner off to make it fit."

[Sharon's Sheepdogs]

bil, no offense taken. Liked the ham analogy.

[jkofferdahl]

These last few posts show how very different growing styles can achieve the same result. Sharon (I hope that's right, I'd be sheepish if I got the name wrong) doesn't want Phal leaves wet. Bil doesn't care. Both grow successfully. Bil likes big bark chunks, while Sharon feels they dry too quickly. Again, both grow successfully.

I personally have an ongoing love/hate relationship with sphagnum. Used in a closed pot I believe sphagnum leads to root rot and, if too tightly packed around the base of a Phal, can allow moisture to remain in creases and folds, leading to bacterial or fungal issues. However, I use it in basket pots with my Phals, where it retains water for about 36-48 hours after watering, and allows good air movement to the roots. I suppose my point is that, in fact, we do NOT all always put our pants on one leg at a time.

[bil]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

These last few posts show how very different growing styles can achieve the same result. Sharon (I hope that's right, I'd be sheepish if I got the name wrong) doesn't want Phal leaves wet. Bil doesn't care. Both grow successfully. Bil likes big bark chunks, while Sharon feels they dry too quickly. Again, both grow successfully.

I personally have an ongoing love/hate relationship with sphagnum. Used in a closed pot I believe sphagnum leads to root rot and, if too tightly packed around the base of a Phal, can allow moisture to remain in creases and folds, leading to bacterial or fungal issues. However, I use it in basket pots with my Phals, where it retains water for about 36-48 hours after watering, and allows good air movement to the roots. I suppose my point is that, in fact, we do NOT all always put our pants on one leg at a time.

Who needs pants anyway...

I cannot remember who it was that said that phals suffer more from low temps if in moss, ie they shouldn't go below 15 for goodness sake. (Mine routinely hit 12 and once or twice 11 C)
If you read this, do please comment so that when I refer to it I can credit you with that fact.
To me it is yet another reason that beginners should be advised to shun moss.

[alexander_TG]

I have a phal. that is in a similar state as the OP. I had all my roots die off and after cutting the roots and affected stem portion back, I sprayed with peroxide and let dry. I then filled my plastic pot with a medium mixture of bark, pearlite and charcoal 3/4 of the way and set my plant upright on top of that. I then added a layer of sphagnum moss around the top portion of the pot that covered the base of the stem. I keep this layer moist by spraying it periodically and my grow space is kept around 50-57% humidity with dim sunlight exposure in the afternoon. After about a month and a half or so I checked and sure enough I have a new root growing. It is about an inch long already. I had actually almost given up and was taking it out of the pot to trash it when I noticed the root. So I very carefully placed it back into the moss and hope that I will get to see it come back to full health some day. I bought this particular one as a rescue from a big box store for $5.

[Sharon's Sheepdogs]

'jkoferdahl' is absolutely correct. The bottom line is the conditions you are able to provide your orchids will determine the best way to grow them successfully. What works for me might not work for you and there is a huge difference between growing indoors and in a greenhouse.

Unfortunately, you don't know initially what will work and what won't. There is a reason why orchids have the reputation for being difficult to grow and why, in the beginning, you will lose many orchids and will swear on many occasions you are going to give this hobby up. But once you get it right, you will experience success and the exitement of an orchid in bloom that you grew. How many people do you know who can say that?

I just hope that some of the things I've learned along the way might help others but I can't guarantee my recommendations will work for another grower. I'm just suggesting one more thing you can try that might work but it all still comes down to trial and error. A lot of trial and error.

And when you are finally able to successfully grow them, you will receive considerable admiration, wanted or not, from others who never even considered accepting the challenge and that is a great feeling. The feeling of accomplishment.

So hang in there and bil, put your damn pants back on.

Sharon and her sheepdogs

[GoldStar135]

Oh you guys are hilarious! XDD
Thanks for all your opinions! I love reading about all your different growing styles and what works/doesn't work for you. It makes this community so diverse which is something that I really enjoy.

Here's my plan for the near future:
I'll wait until the root grows a little longer, maybe 1/2 an inch/up to an inch, then carefully pot it up in some bark with a small layer of sphagnum on top.
As for my low humidity, I'm considering either a humidifier or one of those large plastic bins to put the orchid in. What do you all think?

As for growing conditions-
Currently the orchid sits about four feet from a northwest (mostly west) facing window. Next to that window are two west facing windows and one south facing window. It gets bright light pretty much the entire day. If it matters much, the color of the walls are light-ish green, and the floor is wooden. The temperature in the room is around 73*F during the sunniest days right now in April and around 68*F during the night. Outside it's getting warmer every day

Thanks for all your help so far!

[Dollythehun]

One thing I do, is get a clear produce bag and place it over the plant. If you can put a couple wires or sticks in there to suspend it. It acts like a little humidity tent.

[PaphLover]

Originally Posted by GoldStar135

As for growing conditions-
If it matters much, the color of the walls are light-ish green, and the floor is wooden.

Oh no, no, no, no, NO! That just won't do.

Walls must, absolutely MUST, be white to reflect the light, and floors tiled to allow for water splashes.

Anything else, and the orchids will revolt.