Phal going crazy with new air roots!!!

[AZ OrchidMan]

Hello all,

The two attached picture are from mid July and today, September 24th. I thought I could getting spikes at first, but it looks as if only new air roots are being produced.

Until today we have kept her on the kitchen island. There is only a north facing window where the blinds are kept closed most of the day. I am going to try moving it to the living room with three sky lights. As I noticed that the top leaf was twisting in that direction. Searching for more light I am guessing.

Being in in southwest Arizona I water twice a week. The Phal is in coarse bark with a few small river stones mixed in. I use Mirical Grow orchid spray about once a week, if I remember.

Also, any tricks or tips on getting a spike!!!

[estación seca]

It looks great!

Here in metro Phoenix we start putting them outside in the shade when nights start cooling down, and bring them in when nights are nearing 50 degrees. The chilling helps initiate early bloom spikes. If you don't put them outside they usually bloom anyway, but often later in the season.

We like to have them in flower early, before the heat hits. With this treatment you might have flowers by January sometime, or perhaps later.

[Cym Ladye]

I always thought Phal roots provided more nutrients and held moisture better IN the pot, not outside?

[AZ OrchidMan]

Not sure. This is an orchit I bought for my gf and I have the green thumb so I have been keeping it alive. I think it looks good. Maybe a litrle dark in color. Could be from lack of light! My thought is that opening the blinds all day for the past month have sparked new vigor. I will give the outdoor night method a try for the next month to see if it could stimulate a spike. Temps here is SW Arizona are still in the high 80's to low - mid 90's in the day and high 60's to 70's at night.

How is miracle gro orchid spray? Should I try another fertilizer? Any and all input would be appriceated.

Thank you

[estación seca]

Most orchids do well with very dilute fertilizer applied often during the growing season. Too much fertilizer can kill their roots, though. So it is better to use less rather than more.

Some people like to use a very dilute solution every watering, and others use a slightly stronger solution every 1-2 weeks. But "very dilute" doesn't really mean anything. There are simple ways to measure how much to use.

Fertilizer has 3 numbers on the front label. They stand for the percent of Nitrogen - Phosphorus - and Potassium (Kalium) in that fertilizer, by weight.

What does your label say? It might look something like 10 - 10 - 10 or 30 - 30 - 30. A fertilizer with a first number of 30 would contain 3 times as much nitrogen as a fertilizer with a first number of 10.

This is why advice like "use half strength" isn't useful. It depends on how much is in your fertilizer to start with. Different fertilizers, even with the same numbers on the label, may say to use different amounts per gallon. So "quarter strength" of one might be a different amount than "quarter strength" of another, even if they had the same number. A number of beginners have posted photos of their fertilizer labels here, and we have spotted typographical errors in the directions that could have led to damaging their orchids.

"Half strength" of 30-30-30, when "full strength" is supposed to be 1 tablespoon per gallon, is too much for many orchids.

A better way is to use an easy-to-use online fertilizer calculator to figure it out for you. Nitrogen is calculated in parts per million. If you fertilize with every watering, you can use 10-25 parts per million of nitrogen for your Phalaenopsis. If you fertilize once a week, you might want 20-40 parts per million. This is usually a very small amount of fertilizer, a half teaspoon or less per gallon.

You input the nitrogen number on the label. Then you input the amount of nitrogen you want in your solution in parts per million (PPM.) The calculator tells you how much of your fertilizer powder to add to a gallon of water.

Here is the fertilizer calculator:
Nitrogen Management Calculator - First Rays LLC

At the above Web site you can also read a huge amount about fertilizer and how to use it.

I don't know what's in Miracle Gro orchid spray. Is that a liquid or a powder? Are you supposed to mix it before use? What are the three numbers on the label?

Another thing to think about - Arizona water usually has a lot of dissolved minerals in it. You see this when tap water dries on your windows. Most orchids don't do well with a lot of dissolved minerals in the water. If you add fertilizer the problem gets worse. Store-bought hybrid Phals like your girlfriend's are better able to tolerate dissolved minerals than some other orchids, but no sense pushing it. If you're using high-mineral Colorado River tap water consider using a very low amount of fertilizer, like 10 parts per million, and use it more often. A lot of people collect rain or use reverse osmosis water on their orchids to prevent problems with high mineral content.

[AZ OrchidMan]

Here are the specs from the back of the bottle. It is a spray.

I only water with RO H2O. And when I do, about once ecery two waterings I give a good soaking such that the bark should be cleaned of any excess fertilizer.

[estación seca]

They're charging you a lot of money for water you could probably drink safely.

Orchids don't absorb water, nor nutrients, through the leaves. Just the roots. Spraying it on the leaves is wasting it.

Most people run water (or fertilizer solution) through the medium until it's all wet, then let it get dry. They get the aerial roots wet at the same time. How long it takes to get completely dry after a good soaking depends on how warm and how dry the air is. I don't know your room temperature but you would probably need to water every 5-10 days.

You can tell when it's completely dry inside the pot by putting a wooden cooking skewer in there for 20 minutes, pulling it out and looking at it. When it's still moist the part of the skewer in the moist area turns darker.

I might suggest you get some of the cheapest granular fertilizer you can find and plug that into the nitrogen calculator I mentioned earlier. For example, if you get something 20-20-20 like this:
All Purpose 20-20-20-Jack's Classic - J. R. Peters Inc.

Go to the calculator. Plug in a nitrogen number of 20 and a desired ppm of, say 32 ppm. It tells you to use 0.12 teaspoon which is close to 1/8 teaspoon, something that comes in most measuring spoon sets. You could get 65 ppm by adding 1/4 teaspoon of your 20-20-20 to a gallon of water.

To solution will last for several weeks at room temperature, so you could mix it in a clean milk jug and let it sit there until the next time you need it. Obviously with one plant and using 1/8 teaspoon every 2-3 weeks you don't need to buy much fertilizer.