Phalaenopsis and Denbrodium Nobile repotting and after care

[D_novice]

I should have posted a poll before I said what was in the article. The choices would have been:

H20 ppm for paphiopedilum collection, 200-800

a) Probably a recipe for a world class collection
b) That sounds crazy but I guess it might not kill them...right away
c) Do yourself a favor and buy an R/O filter because you might not kill your plants right away but that will never work
d) I will bet good money your plants will be dead in six months.

I am guessing C and D would have carried the day by a decent margin, and A would have been pretty darn lonely.

[estación seca]

Raising hand... what are the rest of their cultural methods? Potting mix? pH adjustment of water, with or without fertilizer? Water treatment - softener? RO treatment? Which Paphs? since some grow on limestone....

[D_novice]

I don't think the article would have mentioned 200-800 PPM tap water if they were using R/O or treating the water in some other way that made it not just tap water and that changed the PPM.

As I mentioned, they fertilize with Ca Nitrate only.

Their potting mix is 60% orchiata, 20% cut moss, 10% bamboo charcoal, and 10% river sand.

They were fairly recently gifted a famous collection of 7000 Paphs, on top of what they'd already collected. That makes it unlikely that they are all one type.

It would be interesting to get a more complete description, although the article is more complete than what I've described. But compared to most of what I hear, 200-800 PPM and only nitrogen fertilizer sounded pretty amazing.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by D_novice

I just read in the CSA journal that the Huntington Museum (Pasadena, Los Angeles County, CA, USA) grows its 7000+ paphs using city water, PPM 200-800, fertilizes with only calcium nitrate, includes 20% sheet moss in their mix, and waters them every ten days in winter, 2x/week in summer (plus misting). And they are growing fabulously.

So, there's no one recipe. I'm sure there are hundreds of different ideas on how to grow and feed everything, including just paphs. And I bet none of them call for only Ca Nitrate and 200-800 ppm water.

Even if some details were left incomplete in the description in CSA journal, to me its further evidence that lots of different things work, and that rationales based on observation or experimentation or speculation are just that. Different things work, plants are adaptable.

If you want more details, contact Brandon Tam btam@huntington.org
He's the person managing the Paph collection, which is quite large, and can fill in any details that the article may have left out. (not sure that Calcium nitrate is all that they're fed, I know they do use well water with that TDS range) And the plants are gorgeous. Phrags get RO I am pretty sure, but not the Paphs.

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[Pakmanwong]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I have taken notes on all of them.

So I have repotted my phal yesterday in a clear pot with many holes using bark, perlite, charcoal, hydroponic grow media, and a little bit of spagnum moss, I had tried shaking the pot and using a stick to compact the mix a little better. I am feeling insecure about the result, becasue some tears and color changing on the roots are observed. I am attaching a few pictures of the visible root system from yesterday and today for comparison purposes.

Did I mess it up? What actions should I take in case the root system further deteriorates?

[Roberta]

Don't worry about a bit of root damage - there are plenty of roots to keep the plant happy, and if it wants to grow more, it will. (If some or all new roots are outside the pot, no worries, that's just what it likes to do naturally. Let it ramble if it is so inclined.)

[D_novice]

I completely understand the inclination to check the progress of the plant daily, or even multiple times per day. I think it may be a terminal symptom that you've caught the orchid disease, and the only cure is to keep fooling around with orchids and buying more, and accept that heartbreak and joy is in your future.

However, as I mentioned before, you have to wait for results with orchids (and plants). It's not day to day progress - it's week to week, month to month.

The best medicine is to get a bunch more orchids so that you can't possibly check every detail of every one every day

Your pot looks good, lots of air space for the roots. The Phal should take to it, over time. It needs time to adjust to the new microenvironment

[Pakmanwong]

Thanks Roberta! I am looking forward to seeing my phal growing more roots! LET IT RAMBLE!!!!

D_Novice, you are right! I need to get into the game and get more orchids to keep me busy, so that I am not checking on this poor plant every five minutes lmao

Thanks for the positive comments, I am encouraged!!

[Pakmanwong]

Updates: The flowers on the newly repotted phal have faded and many of the roots shrunk and died, only three green roots are left the leaves still seem to be fine... is there anything I can do to save it...?

[D_novice]

Originally Posted by Pakmanwong

Updates: The flowers on the newly repotted phal have faded and many of the roots shrunk and died, only three green roots are left the leaves still seem to be fine... is there anything I can do to save it...?

Don't give up yet. Flowers fade (that sounds like the beginning of lovelorn song!), and it's hard to say about the roots (photo?). Three good roots might be plenty for this plant, and I'm not sure if the others have died.

Probably you shouldn't change anything in order to save it, that would just make it adjust to even more that is new. The only exception would be if you see evidence of pests (like mealy bug, little snails) in which case you should treat them with rubbing alcohol, cinnamon, etc. But if there's nothing apparent, wait it out...post photos...read the AOS phalaenopsis culture sheet, etc.