Just Add Ice Phalaenopsis Orchid Help

[Summer]

I just purchased my first "Just Add Ice" Phal last night from Sam's wholesale (similar to Costco). It's a beautiful Phal with 3 shoots and several buds & blooms in prominently a yellow color with touches of lavender, white, and varying shades of pink & purple. While it is a little beauty, upon closer inspection, the medium appears to have broken down quite a bit and is very wet, especially the medium inside the pot. There are lots of roots! Some viable & healthy aerated roots, some aerated roots that appear to be dried out, and several green roots inside the medium. However, some of the green roots are looking mushy (I'm assuming root rot may be setting in). My question is... Should I repot immediately? Should I give it another week or so to dry out a bit and then reassess? or Should I wait until my blooms fall to repot? Any experience or advice you have with Just Add Ice orchids would be wonderful 😀 I've included several pics of my new Phal below. If you would take a look at my pics and offer your insight I would so greatly appreciate it 💗

[marcmaubert]

I would repot it carefully to assess the health of the roots and start fresh with new media. It does look strange, maybe they topped it off with fresh media so it would sell faster? There's lots of resources online on how to repot if you need any help! And just as a precaution (i don't know if you're new to orchids or just to this board), don't ever water your orchids with ice, roots don't like that.

[Leafmite]

I agree about the ice. Tropical plants are stressed when exposed to sudden cold. Water that is the same temperature as the roots is best.
I would pot the orchid in new medium. You can reuse the plastic liner in which it came. Good luck with it!

[Summer]

Thank you both so much for your advice!! I do have one other Phal I have repotted and nursed back to health after getting root rot due to my lack of knowledge. However, I have since done lots of research and absorbed every bit of information on Phalaenopsis orchids that I can. I am still a beginnear and I have lots more to learn but, I do have a much better understanding than I did 😉 I agree, I too thought watering with ice seemed odd bc I always water my first little phal with luke warm/room temp water. I do remember reading once while doing my research that once the water reaches the roots inside the pot it will no longer be too cold but, that doesn't make any sense considering most phals have aerated roots... Anyhow, after looking at my phal again today, I completely agree it needs repotted asap! I am wondering if I should go a size bigger on my pot. I know you don't want lots of wiggle room but, so many roots are coming over the top. I guess I'll know more once it's out the pot...

[Leafmite]

I guess that is true. Just use the smallest pot that is needed. Too large of a pot and the medium retains too much water for too long and you get rot. You can also use a chunk of styrofoam in the middle of your roots and pot to prevent a middle that stays damp.

I think, no matter how long we grow orchids, we are always learning something and, in a way, always a little bit of a beginner in some area of the hobby. That is why it is nice to be a part of a community where we can find others to help us when we have questions. So, hello and welcome to the Orchid Board community!

[marcmaubert]

I agree, I guess you'll see how many healthy roots your orchid has once you remove all the old media and rotting roots. Then you can decide if you need a bigger pot or you can reuse the old one. If you have some aerial roots (roots that grew out of the pot and never tried to bury down the media), you can leave them outside the media (if the media suffocates the other roots for whatever reason, the aerial roots could really save your orchid's life).

Welcome to the Orchid Board, and btw, I love those colors on your Phal.

[Summer]

Leafmite, thanks so much for the info on pot size! I knew it needed to be a snug fit but, I wasn't sure why 😄 and I had seen the styrofoam trick with those packing peanuts I think on one of the orchid YouTube channels I'm subscribed to but, I had totally forgotten about it so, thanks for jogging my memory 😉 I agree 100%, it is so nice to have this forum to browse and get helpful info at a moments notice right at your fingertips 😀

[Summer]

Originally Posted by marcmaubert

I

some aerial roots (roots that grew out of the pot and never tried to bury down the media), you can leave them outside the media (if the media suffocates the other roots for whatever reason, the aerial roots could really save your orchid's life).

Welcome to the Orchid Board, and btw, I love those colors on your Phal.

I learned the importance of aerial roots when I repotted my first Phal. Thankfully, I had quite a few nice plump healthy roots above the medium and as you mentioned, I do believe this was a big factor in saving my plant!! I did tuck the roots that I could down into the fresh medium when I repotted but, I still have a few on top. There's a pic of my little Phal below 😊

Thank you 💗 When I saw the beautiful colors I couldn't pass her up 😊

[Roberta]

I think the "just add ice" instruction is there to kill plants so that the seller hopes that the buyer will buy another. If you can manage ice at 60 Deg F or more, guess it would work But it appears that you are very much on the right track. Welcome to the Forum!

[bil]

Originally Posted by Summer

pot size! I knew it needed to be a snug fit

Nope. Ask yourself this. Is it bbetter that the roots have room to grow and spread out, or that they are packed so tightly that they can hardly breathe?

You needd to understand the relationship between media density and media depth.

Because coarse bark (that has been sieved to remove fines) has so many air spaces, the roots can breathe and the water cannot block off the air untill the bark has degraded. Coarse bark takes a long time to degrade.

The fact is, that you could plant a phal in a pot a metre deep and a metre in diameter, and it would do fine. It would be a problem watering it, but that's not the point. In coarse bark, you cannot over water an orchid, and thick rooted epiphyte orchids like phals and cattleyas, should only be potted in coarse bark that has been sieved to remove fines. Fines fill the gaps between the coarse chunks and slow down the passage of air.

Fine bark is MUCH more restrictive too air flow, and when you use fine bark, it should never be deeper than 4 inches, and 3 is better. Once again, diameter is irrelevant, and depth is all.

Moss is problematic, and shouldn't be used for phals unless you have real expertise and know exactly what you are doing. (Mounts are a whole different thing.) Moss used in a pot can become contaminated with algae so if you use pure moss, it can look disgusting, and when deep risks suffocating roots if too deep, and overwatered, or conversely if you use it shallowly, it dries out superfast, and you will be watering it every day.
One of the easiest tricks if you have an orchid that is in need of a lot of water, like phrags or Catasetinae, is to use a decent diameter pot (I like 8" diam) and only 3-4 inches deep. You put a 1-2 inch layer of moss on the bottom, lay out the roots on that and then cover the roots with a 1-2" layer of sieved fine bark.

The moss really holds a lot of water, and the bark acts as mulch to slow down evaporation. I have been running a series of experiments this year with Catasetinae, and that's what the results suggest to me.