Not sure if my phal is drying out too fast

[OhioGranny]

I just read about the skewer trick the other day! Will start using it tomorrow!

[bil]

Originally Posted by OhioGranny

I enjoy putzing with my plants too so watering my phal more often will work. I'm just concerned about root rot. My first orchid was also solely in bark but at the time I didn't know about keeping water out of the crown and between the leaves so I watered/soaked it wrong which caused it's demise.

I try and fill the crowns of my phals with water, but I can't, as the water runs out in seconds. Try it if you don't believe me.
For two years I did this at every watering, washing the leaves, filling the crown and soaking the plant. I didn't lose a single plant.
I would bet good money that wetting the crown had nothing to do with its death.
What will damage them is watering them with cold water. It is always best to water early in the day with ambient temperature water.

Excessive heat and cold will initiate crown rot, not sensible watering. Thinkk about these plants in the wild when it rains. There are no orchid pixies to dry their crowns out there.

"Wetting the crown" is an urban legend which has reached the status of fact, and has been repeated so many times that it is accepted as fact.

[OhioGranny]

Hmmmm.....that is something to think about. I can't imagine someone running around in the wild with paper towels sopping up the water. I'm confused then because I keep my water in gallon jugs sitting out overnight so it was room temp. I was using only bark medium that was drying out fast so was watering about every two days. When I took it apart after it died there were signs of root and stalk rot (black and soft). I was watering by soaking, submerging the whole pot.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by OhioGranny

...I was using only bark medium that was drying out fast so was watering about every two days. When I took it apart after it died there were signs of root and stalk rot (black and soft). I was watering by soaking, submerging the whole pot.

Something doesn't add up... It's very unlikely Phals in bark in pots like yours would really dry out in two days. Very few people in the midwestern US water that often unless their plants are in very small pots. You describe what happens to Phals when their roots stay too wet for too long.

The skewer should help.

[bil]

Originally Posted by OhioGranny

Hmmmm.....that is something to think about. I can't imagine someone running around in the wild with paper towels sopping up the water. I'm confused then because I keep my water in gallon jugs sitting out overnight so it was room temp. I was using only bark medium that was drying out fast so was watering about every two days. When I took it apart after it died there were signs of root and stalk rot (black and soft). I was watering by soaking, submerging the whole pot.

How long and how often were you soaking it, and was it pure bark, coarse or fine, sieved or not? Plus, how deep was the pot, and how long was it since it was repotted please?

[OhioGranny]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Something doesn't add up... It's very unlikely Phals in bark in pots like yours would really dry out in two days. Very few people in the midwestern US water that often unless their plants are in very small pots. You describe what happens to Phals when their roots stay too wet for too long.....

From the research I was doing at the time I thought they were supposed to be watered when most of the roots turned silvery grey and the medium felt dry but I was concerned over how fast that was happening. The day after I watered it it was dry and silvery again but I waited 2-3 days before I watered again. It was probably something I was doing wrong but I couldn't figure it out at the time.

Originally Posted by bil

How long and how often were you soaking it, and was it pure bark, coarse or fine, sieved or not? Plus, how deep was the pot, and how long was it since it was repotted please?

I was soaking it for 45 min as per the instructions I received from a garden/plant nursery where I went to ask questions. The medium bag said it was pure bark (coarse) with nothing added. I don't recall if it said anything about it being sieved. I'm sorry, I don't recall the brand name. I bought it at the nursery. I repotted it a week after I bought it from Walmart. It had a lot of wet moss stuck to it and about half of the roots were brown and hanging on by threads, which I trimmed off. The rest of the roots looked grey and shriveled with little green. I watered it about every 2-3 days because the roots looked even more shriveled and dry by that time. The roots never looked plump and green even after it was just watered. It was in the 5" plastic pot that it came in. I kept it out of the decorative pot so it would get more light but there were no holes in the plastic pot except for on the bottom so I made slits in the pot. When I examined it after it died I saw the black rot at the base of the stem and crown but the roots still looked white and shriveled. To me it looked like I waterlogged the stem and leaf base but under watered the roots which made no sense to me. I was very disheartened. Wish i had found this site back then.

[estación seca]

I'm not clear on the time frame. A lot of Phals from big box stores arrive with the roots already severely damaged. This could have been the case.

[OhioGranny]

Are you referring to the time frame of when I repotted it.....waiting a week? I didn't know anything about orchids when I purchased it so started researching after I brought it home. The info online was confusing as a novice so I went to the nursery and they said to wait a week to replant so the orchid could recover from the shock of the move.

[estación seca]

If it looked like that a week after you bought it, the roots were probably already in bad shape at the store. This is an extremely common situation. Most of these are considered disposable flower arrangements by the people who buy them.

Many people here recommend repotting all orchids as soon as they arrive, unless there is a really good reason not to do so. This gives a better chance of catching root rot before it spreads even further.

[OhioGranny]

When I brought this new orchid home a month ago I repotted it the same day in bark only. The roots looked pretty good with only two small dead roots. Since I'm a bit paranoid now about not watering correctly I panicked when it seemed to be drying out faster than a week plus the flowers wilting....Deja Vu....but I was determined to slow down and instead went out and bought a bark medium I feel is of better grade and took a chance and repotted again and went in search of the experts and found you guys. I'm a lot calmer now after getting everyone's advice here and reading 'The Phal abuse ends here'. The roots of this phal are a lot healthier looking than what I saw with my first orchid. It's reassuring to see this little lady green up after a good drink.

On the phal abuse thread I read that once the flowers fall off I may or may not leave the stems. In this case since the flowers are dying from stress is it better to cut the stems after they fall off so as not to stress the rest of the orchid? Or is it advisable to cut the stems now even though the wilted flowers are still holding on? What will give my orchid the best chance of future health and bloom?