den questions

[scy]

Hi,

I have a den victoria-reginae and a den miyakei. They are potted in plastic pots with side slits and in a medium bark mix with lava rocks and charcoal in an eastern facing window with low humidity. I water once a week by soaking them in water or weakly diluted fertilizer for 15 minutes.

The seller recommended I reduce watering in the winter by running the water straight through the pot instead of soaking it. I was not sure when to start reducing water so I started in October. The leaves slowly started to yellow and drop for the miyakei. I have only lost 2 leaves so far but it is not in poor health, since the other leaves are still vibrant green and there are plenty of healthy roots.

I found mold in the medium of the den victoria reginae, so I decided to unpot it and found a decent amount of dead roots. I trimmed it up, wrapped the remainder of the roots in a kln moistened paper towel in a ziplock while I soaked new bark mix for repotting. I put it in a smaller pot and noticed there was a small growth at the top of the cane a week later. It turned out to be a bud.

For the victoria-reginae, should I continue to water by running water through the pot or can I go back to soaking it in water? Is there anything else I can to get more buds?

For the miyakei, is there anything else I should be doing to get it to flower?

Thanks for your help!

- Susan