Normal reaction to change in Phal's media?

[cluelessmidwesterner]

As I posted in the Potting forum (see Wait on fertilizer after repot) I bought a NOID Phal. After owning her a week I repotted her because her media was completely broke down and not drying out. During the repot I discovered there was a moss plug in the center of the pot. I repotted her in bark that was soaked over night and from a plastic pot to a clay pot. I waited a week before watering her. She seemed fine with the week wait meaning the leaves hadn't become floppy nor had she dropped her blooms.

Friday morning the media was dry so I let her soak bucket of room temp water for 10 minutes then draining for 10 minutes then soaked her again for 10 min. Last night I check her and she seemed a little droopy but I put it down to maybe transplant shock Today (Monday) the leaves are totally floppy and easily bent. I dug down in the media to check if it was dry (it was) and have watered her this morning by letting her soak for one 10 minute session. The humidity of the room (50-60%) nor the temperature hasn't changed in the two weeks. The only thing that has changed is the amount of light she's getting since we've gone from over-casted days to actual sunny to partly sunny days.

Am I doing something wrong with letting her soak, not giving her enough humidity, too much light or is this normal reaction from going from a media that held on to a lot of water to one that does not?

[Ray]

If the plant had viable roots before repotting, what you might be seeing is a side effect of them not being optimal for the new potting medium conditions.

As roots grow, they "tailor" themselves on a microscopic level to be optimized for those conditions, and once the cells have grown, they cannot change. When we repot, we move them into an entirely different set of conditions for which they are not optimized, so they don't function as well as they had been.

Phalaenopsis are usually pretty good about such changes, but as a general rule, it's best to wait until you see new roots emerging from the base of the plant for repotting, as those will take over quickly.

Knowing, however, that sometimes you cannot wait, what you can do now to help is as many of these things as you can muster:

Maximize the humidity. My "go-to" method is to invert a plastic bag over the plant and pot.

Keep the plant VERY warm. A seedling heat mat can help accelerate recovery, if you don't have a really warm room.

Keep the plant in deep shade.

Treat with a good stimulating hormone like KelpMax.

[aliceinwl]

You may also want to check out the sticky about gauging moisture with skewers. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it really helped me learn when to water, especially plants in opaque pots.

[Leafmite]

I never had much of a problem moving Phals from one medium to another (in my case, moss to red lava rock). The roots were always fine.

The real problem is not the new medium but that when one is removing old medium, the stiff roots can sometimes crack or be nicked. These little injuries need to heal before the roots are exposed to damp medium so that infections do not have a place to enter and kill the roots. So, when potting up an orchid, keep the roots dry for a few days to give them a chance to heal, then water well. Another trick is to soak orchids roots well before removing the old medium so that the roots will be more flexible and not as prone to injury.

An alternative to letting the roots dry and heal is to use a fungus preventative.

Good luck!

[cluelessmidwesterner]

The roots at the time I reported were in fairly good shape. By soak the pot I didn't unintentionally kill the roots, did I?

So my take away I should
1. bag the Phal in a large bag to help increase humidity
2. Keep their roots as warm.
3. Treat with a Kelp root stimulate
4. Use a Fungal drench to prevent a problem

So what should I use as fungal drench since I would have to use this product in my house since its much too cold (30's) out of doors and I could only make a gallon at the most at the time? I am inexperienced so I don't want a product that takes as degree in chemistry to mix up and will require a haz-mat suit to handle in the home.

[Ray]

Personally, I'd not bother with a fungicide.

[Leafmite]

I always just use the 'keep the roots dry for a couple of days' method. If you are uncertain of the root health, it will not hurt a Phal to take it out of the pot so you can check the roots. Then you can remove any roots that are not alive and let dry for a couple of days before potting the orchid in medium. The rest of your strategy seems good...kelp, warmth, and extra humidity. Good luck!

[cluelessmidwesterner]

It surprising sometimes how quickly plants change especially when environment is tweaked. This Phal had spent about a week on a seedling mat and nothing changed. The lower leaves were floppy, dropping its flowers but still growing bud out of the spike. I decided put together my present from my daughter, a four shelf mini greenhouse. I set it up, minus the poly covering, which set the Phal a few inches closer to my grow light. Today I watered it thoroughly and placed it back on the mat. A few hours later and the lower leaves had began to firm up. At first I thought I had just imagined it so when I went in to turn on the grow light late this afternoon I checked again. They were firmer. Hopefully this is a sign that this Phal is starting to snap out of its transplant shock.

[estación seca]

I'm seeing this for the first time. I suspect you didn't water it enough after transplanting.

[Leafmite]

That is a very good sign. You must have good, healthy roots!