Strangely confused about how much to water the Phals

[JaimeZX]

Edit: posted this after reading the first 5-6 pages of "phal abuse stops..." plus a random selection of pages throughout the rest of that thread.

I have a variety of NOID phals acquired at different times. They have all been repotted more than once with coarse bark and a little sphagnum peat moss. I continue to use the clear plastic containers they came in, but I have added numerous holes around the sides to increase airflow.

I have the same problem with all of them, repeatedly. They look great, and healthy. They send up a flower spike or two, the flowers sometimes last for a few days or weeks, then they all dry up and fall off, coupled with a shriveling and eventual yellowing of the leaves.

I go to re-pot and most of the roots have rotted away. So then I have to spend forever cleaning up the bottom of the plant before repotting. Close monitoring over the subsequent months reveals vigorously growing roots, leaves sprout, everything looks great, and the process repeats.

So. Water. I have a bamboo stick in each pot. I water when the stick is dry. Watering means soaking the container in fertilized water for 30-60 minutes, then draining. But confusingly that usually takes three weeks or so. My father-in-law has a bunch of Phals as well and admonishes me to water weekly like he does, but I'm certain if I watered even more often the roots would rot faster.

So I'm thinking I need media that absorbs less? I don't know how else to water more frequently but have the roots be drier.

What am I missing? My most recent "failure" was my biggest and most beautiful phal, six happy leaves and two big spikes with numerous large buds on both; that thing went downhill in about ten days. It currently has two leaves, no spikes, and about three sub-1" rootlets.

[Leafmite]

Some tips to keep the roots of Phals healthy:

When potting them up, soak well before un-potting, put them in dry medium, then wait a few days before watering to give the roots a chance to heal so they cannot be infected by fungus (an alternative is to use a fungicide).

If you have problems with solid plastic pots, use a 'basket' pot or a pot with a bunch of holes melted into it (a soldering tool works well for this) to help with air exchange. Fresh air prevents the growth of fungus.

Use a pot that is only slightly larger than the roots so the roots are closer to the fresh air.

Wait until the medium dries completely before watering and then soak the pot until the roots turn green. When the pot feels very light, the medium is dry.

Many years ago, I grew Phals in lava rock and clay pots and soaked them twice a week. The roots were extremely healthy when I gave these Phals away (I had bought them for $1 each after mother's day and did not like the flowers when they bloomed. When I joined an orchid society, I saw my opportunity to unload them).

Currently, I grow my Phals in AAA NZ sphagnum moss (I bought it on Amazon) and use basket pots that just fit the roots. This has been working very well. I wait to water until the medium is completely dry, then soak the moss until the roots turn nice and green.

Summation: The entire point of happy Phal roots is making certain that enough fresh air gets to the roots to prevent fungus from growing and infecting them. If the roots are injured during the potting process, giving them a few days to heal before watering prevents a path for the fungus to enter the roots. When watering, the roots will turn green when they have absorbed enough water.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Two possible problems to consider:

Sphagnum works for Leafmite as a medium, but does not work for everyone. For some people, it just holds too much water. Sphagnum may be fine if you live in a climate that is often arid, or if you are seasonally dry (such as a location where winter requires a lot of central heat). Try gowing a couple plants in just bark and see what happens. Regardless of your type of growing medium, incorporate chunks of inert material, like bark-sized chips of styrofoam, into the base of each pot to improve drainage. If your medium is ever noticeably wet, except right after watering, you either water too often or need better drainage.

Water quality is usually not an issue for Phalaenopsis, unless you live in a place where water is unusually bad. You could have problems like that if you live in certain parts of Texas or Gulf Coast states, or in arid climate states. If you are on city or community water, see if they can tell you the total dissolved solids concentration (250 ppm (=mg/L) is good, lower is better).

[sweetjblue]

Originally Posted by JaimeZX

Watering means soaking the container in fertilized water for 30-60 minutes, then draining. But confusingly that usually takes three weeks or so.

Using bark it shouldn't take 3 weeks for the pot to dry. Could you be overpotting? Generally you should use a pot only big enough to fit the root system in.

Do you ever water with just plain water? What type of fertilizer are you using and how are you mixing it? According to directions? Are you using the same water for each plant, such as putting your fertilizer water in a container and then dunking each plant in that same container? That can lead to spreading disease. Without seeing your plants its hard to say if that could be the case.

It's possible if you never use just plain water, which many people call flushing, you have a buildup of accumulated salts in your potting mix which is not good for the plants and can cause their demise. Like wise if you use your fertilizer at the makers instruction such as 1 teaspoon per gallon of water, your using way too much. Try cutting the amount in half or better yet to only 1/4 the recommended amount. Weakly, weekly.

Plants in nature only get, and require, minimal amounts and that they usually get from runoff after rain, dew or mist.

Just some possible thoughts on the whys of your problems.

Judi

[fishmom]

Yes, 3 weeks is way too long for the pot to dry. If you are using a chunky bark, it won't retain enough water to rot the roots, and you can water pretty much as often as you like.



I would skip the sphagnum moss; I suspect that is what is causing your problems. As Sweetjblue says above, there are other possible causes, but a too-long drying cycle seems like the first thing to fix.

[Dollythehun]

Just my two cents. The skewer method never worked for me. I watered by weight. I water thoroughly, heft the pot and notice the weight. When the pot feels light again, I water. Now I do as Roberta, I use a moss mix. I water when the moss is crispy and again, I notice the weight. I don't soak them, I water them from the top with a turkey baster. I learned the top watering trick from ES. It keeps the moss fluffier than soaking.

I should add that I use clay pots because they breath.

[JaimeZX]

Thanks for the replies, all. It's certainly possible that I'm "overpotting." I suppose it's silly to assume that if I keep using the containers they came in (after a thorough cleaning) that's the right thing to do. Right now, obviously, the one I just did is dramatically over-potted since the roots are maybe an inch long and the pot is probably 6" across and 7" deep. Is it silly to pot for where I expect the roots to be? IY mean, before this last cycle the roots were growing out the holes in the bottom for gosh sakes!

I may have given y'all the wrong impression when I mentioned the sphagnum... it's probably only about 5% by volume. It's mostly there as a topping for the bark, there are little bits scattered farther down that just wind up finding their way down there over time.

In another thread I saw someone mention some pumice/volcanic rock in the mix; seems like that'd give the roots something to grip without absorbing so much moisture. Good idea here?

[Dollythehun]

A repot should allow for a year or two growth. Yes, you're over potted. Everyone of us uses a different medium due to our conditions. You may have to kill a few before you find the magic combination.

[rbarata]

So. Water. I have a bamboo stick in each pot. I water when the stick is dry. Watering means soaking the container in fertilized water for 30-60 minutes, then draining. But confusingly that usually takes three weeks or so.

I have an overpotted phal that is watered only once/month. This is not a recomendable practice if you don't know very well what you're doing.
If you could post a photo of your plant would be a lot easier to see if that's your case.

[JaimeZX]

Great! Always happy to provide more info to help with diagnoses!

@sweetjblue, re: fertilizer - yeah, I'm pretty stingy with it and don't use it every time. Thanks for that thought though.

The guy to the right I repotted about six weeks ago. He seems reasonably happy right now, but tough to see what his roots are doing more than an inch down (when I move the bark chips a bit.) But there are nice green roots going into the bark, plus what appears to be the making of an air root, and a nice fresh leaf shooting up.

Most recent victim is on the left. At bottom is a picture from April 7th when he had six nice leaves and this lovely flower stalk with nice big buds. Not the best picture for comparison but I wasn't expecting to have to use it for diagnostic purposes.








RELATED QUESTION: How often SHOULD I be repotting these things? Ideally not AFTER they "die back." I guess as soon as the leaves start to appear shriveled even though the bamboo stick is still wet I ought to be suspicious about root problems, huh?