Limp Leaves on Phals

[SW18]

I've been browsing the forum for a while and just getting around to creating an account. This is going to be a lot of information, just want to get out all the details to try to figure out what's going on, my apologies in advance.

I purchased my first mini phalaenopsis orchids from a grocery store nearly 3 years ago. When I bought them I had done no research but quickly read up on the basics. Over the last 3 years I've slowly made it up to 13 minis and about 8 larger phals. Originally, I repotted all the minis in sphagnum moss in terracotta or orchid specific pots.

One of the many complications is that I am a college student so my plants have to travel between home and school with me. This also means I have to sacrifice the larger plants and leave them at home, with my lovely mother who despite her best efforts can't keep a single plant alive, since I don't have space in my dorm room. At home all of my plants(orchids, succulents, and house plants) struggle because I have windows that barely get any light and when I'm not there my mom tends to forget to water them. At school in the past my minis thrived and grew wonderfully.

In January, when I was given all of my larger orchids, I repotted everyone in the Better-Gro Special Orchid and Planaenopsis Orchid potting mixes. I repotted because I could see some signs of root rot on a couple plants and I was just generally concerned since I kept coming across sources that said sphagnum moss really wasn't the best thing for them. Many of my plants had severe root rot so I ended up cutting away quite a few roots.

Since coming back to school I've struggled with wilted and leathery leaves on nearly all of my minis. At first I was just running under the faucet about 1x a week, as I had done with the moss. But I found that the bark mix wasn't absorbing as much water and the plants were drying out more quickly. I began soaking in water roughly 1x a week instead and at first they seemed happier. So I started watering more on demand and there have been no changes.

I've had very limited leaf growth so far this year and minimal root growth. At most my oldest plants have only rebloomed 1x since I got them nearly 3 years ago. When they're not blooming I fertilize with Miracle-Gro Ready-To-Use Orchid Plant Food Mist about 1x a month. The window they are in is also a SE facing window, and I can't move them because I'm in a dorm.

I'm just looking for advice on how to keep them happier because I'd really like to not lose anyone else. And best case, I'd love for them to bloom again! I'll post photos of my set up at school and some individual pictures.

Thank you for reading this all and thank you for your advice and suggestions in advance!

[Ray]

Limp leaves indicate that the plant is unable to take up sufficient water to compensate for that processed or lost through transpiration, and that suggests a root issue.

Scenario 1: insufficient watering, which can be remedied by doing so more often.

Scenario 2: insufficient water-holding capacity of the medium, which can be improved by watering heavily, waiting 30 minutes, and repeating. Multiple successive waterings "open up" the bark structure, allowing it to absorb more going forward. If you pretreat bark by pouring hot water over it before use, that has a similar effect.

Scenario 3: insifficiently-functioning root system. That can be caused by damaged roots, or simply because you changed the potting medium, and can be remedied by stimulating more root growth. Consider this:

As roots grow, they optimize themselves on a cellular level for that environment, and once grown, cannot change. The roots that grew in the moist sphagnum were exposed to lots of water, so taking it up was no issue. You moved them to a much drier environment, so the existing structure is struggling to absorb enough. Once new roots have grown, and you adjust your culture to compensate for the new root zone conditions, they'll recover fine.

[Dollythehun]

I'm not addressing your question, as who can add to Ray? Moss gets, in my opinion, a bad rap. You had moss and clay pots. It's hard to overwater in a clay pot but, it is easy to underwater. People do not take into account that clay pots breathe. They keep plants generally cooler through evaporation from the clay. My phals are in a north facing greenhouse window. I run two fans nearly continuously (north=cold). So, my phals are probably too dry. They often stick their roots up out of the moss. But, they bloom regularly and are never limp. My thought is what you had wasn't broken and didn't need to be fixed. However, you might learn from this how you make your homebound plants happier. You might also switch to selfwatering planters, or call home more often.😁

[camille1585]

I also have nothing to add to what Ray said. Except a comment about your fertilizer. Change to something that can be dissolved/diluted in the water you water them with, that might help with the lack of blooms. The stuff you have is a foliage spray, and most orchids don't absorb nutrients by the leaves very well.

Growing in sphag gets such a bad rap. It is a great medium, providing that you know how to water it and have the conditions for it (generally doesn't work in my very humid conditions for instance). I also think that you fixed something that wasn't broken. As Dolly says, sphag in clay pots works well. (Bark in clay pots less so, unless you water very often). How often did you change the sphag in the past? If you hadn't repotted in a long time, the rotten roots could just have been due to the sphag breaking down and souring. For that reason plants in sphag often need repotting every 12-18 months.

[SW18]

Thank you everyone for your advice!

Just to address a couple things:

I repotted because I lost a couple plants to root rot and when I'd been home for extended periods of time (summers and winter break) my plants would go over a couple weeks without the moss drying and they reacted poorly to the overly wet conditions. When I repotted every single plant had at least some rotten roots and some even had mold. My main problem, I believe, when using moss to pot is that my living situations tend to have poor air circulation, even with fans on.
Some plants were still fairly new, I acquired them this past Janurary, others had been in the same pots and moss for probably about 2 years.
I'm happy to repot again, maybe in a bark and moss mixture if that sounds like a good middle ground? If not, I'll just continue to water more frequently.

@Dolly, I call home daily and remind my mom, she tries her best just lacks a green thumb and somehow has managed to kill every plant we've had in our house over the past 15 years. Fingers crossed my home orchids survive until I can rescue them again

Thank you again, everyone! I feel like I can breathe again since now I at least have an idea of what's going on and how to help.

[Dollythehun]

Air ciculation is a key factor. Imagine how much air you get growing attached to a tree, which is mostly what they do in the wild.