Phalaenopsis not thriving, losing leaves slowly. Beginner orchid grower. PLEASE HELP

[Besthomeguy]

Phalaenopsis is not thriving, losing leaves slowly. Beginner orchid grower, yet advanced general plant grower.

Hello.
Thank you so much in advance for all your help as I know I have come to the right place.

I know good Karma will undoubtedly come your way for any help you can offer me.

My 5 Phalaenopsis are not thriving & losing leaves slowly as weeks/months go by.

They are the store bought types.

I recently transplanted them from small clear, approximately 4 inch (or so) original pots into larger medium sized clear pots with slits on the side designed for orchids specifically.

At this time I transplanted them into an orchid mix that I bought on Amazon which contains bark and Moss.

Before this transplant I was having problems slowly beginning already with leaves dying and this is the primary reason why I decided to do a transplant because I myself was overwatering and there was a significant amount of dead material within the pot and root ball area that was creating rot.

During this transplanting I stripped the root area of all rotten material and significantly rinsed them off etc.

I have never added or given nutrients to the plants or soil. They are kept outside on my balcony rich kids very little direct sunlight if any. These orchids never get direct sunlight of course and temperatures have been very mild here where I live in Los Angeles typically between 70 and 80 degrees the past few months.

I've done some Research into orchids and I'm aware of common problems and how they typically grow in nature.

I am aware that they typically grow in an aerated growing medium such as on the side of a tree, with higher levels of humidity and no direct light.

I am aware that the most common reason people kill them is related to over watering and root rot.

Since I purchased them a year ago or more they have very slowly declined and I'm not completely sure why.

Keep them outside away from direct light. They're not in a humid area whatsoever as I live in the Los Angeles area.

Of course I would not keep them outside on a blazingly hot day.

I also for the most part make sure to keep them in what I find to be a comfortable environment temperature wise for my own body.

I don't keep them right next to any fan, cooling or heating element.

Like most people I do warm up my apartment with a heater or cool it down from time to time during the Southern California springtime but it's nothing too significant that I would think would affect the orchids whole lot but then again I don't know a lot about these particular orchids.

The water I use has always been straight cold tap water.

I have learned from research that it is okay to let the Orchids dry out significantly from time to time and I water using this in mind.

Of course I'm not an expert though as you folks clearly are.

In the more recent days I have been trying to give them more light by putting them closer to where the direct sunlight is hitting while still not introducing direct sunlight to the orchids.

Also in the more recent days I have been trying to occasionally put a lid over the plastic container that they are in with some residual water lying at the bottom in an attempt to raise the humidity level during this Southern California spring time.

Looks like I have covered all of the details that are possible at this point.

If you click on my profile account link you should be able to access additional details about my plants.

Please feel free to ask me questions, direct me to any tutorials that I have missed or scold me for my ignorance.

I know lots of good karma will undoubtedly come your way for reading all of my gibberish up to this point & for taking your unpaid time to help a fellow Orchid lover and newbie figure some of the stuff out.

I have absolutely fallen madly in love with these orchids. I am borderline obsessed with my plants in general and I truly am desperate, willing to do almost anything to become more of a perfectionist with these plants as I have done with other plants my life.

[Mountaineer370]

First, welcome to the Orchid Board, Besthomeguy!

A couple things jump out at me. First, the new pots you have are the exact type I use for my Phals, and they are nice pots, providing good drainage and air flow through the slots on both the bottoms and sides. But it looks to me like all of the Phals in your photos may be a little over-potted. Are those new pots six inches, or maybe five inches? I can't tell from the photos, but if you went from a four-inch pot, I think all of them could have stayed in a pot that size, just with new potting media. Or, if those are indeed six-inch pots, maybe five-inch pots would be okay if they seemed tight in their four-inch pots.

The other thing is they all look a little dry to me. You said words to the effect that you let them get "significantly dry" before watering. If so, they probably need more water. I grow nothing but Phals, and they are a genus that does not need or want to be significantly dry. In my low-humidity house (especially in the winter), I find myself watering every two to three days on some of them. A few of the larger ones can go four or five days. Come summertime, when the humidity in my house goes up, I can water a little less often.

Have you found this thread on the board? It is long but full of helpful information for newbies growing Phals. Don't get put off by the title, nobody is suggesting newbies are "abusing" their Phals.

The Phal abuse ends here.

Others here who have been growing orchids much longer than I have will chime in soon.

[WaterWitchin]

HomeGuy! Glad kismet has finally ended you up here!

I looked at the older photos on your profile page. That was some crappy medium they were originally in, and likely why they were failing. Putting them into new medium (good looking medium, btw) has been their saving grace. As info, next time you repot don't get too carried away washing off roots. Generally speaking, if it doesn't shake off under a stream or spray of water, leave it. I presume when you were cleaning, you may have stripped off rotting velamen from root (the yucky part, with a wiry inner stem in the middle). Until you get a really good feel for growing, don't cut roots.

They all are looking better in the pictures on this thread as opposed to when you took some of the original pictures on your profile. I presume all "before" pictures taken about the same time in January when you were repotting? All look dehydrated now, but looked worse back in January. They are recovering, but it will be a slooow process. Nothing happens quickly in the orchid world, for the most part, especially better growth.

Do you normally keep them in a cache pot, or just "as is" the way they are in the picture? With those slitted pots, consider putting them into a loosely fitted cache pot. Take the slitted pot out, water, drain, then replace in the cache pot. That will help retain moisture, but they still have air flow. Or consider grouping them in around some other houseplants...that helps keep humidity levels up.

Phalaenopsis (all the genus of yours) don't need to "dry out" but also don't want to be soggy. Hopefully with some of the clear pots they're in now, you will see part of a root here and there down inside the medium. When it gets silvery colored, time to water. That's the easiest way for a beginning grower to know when it's watering time.

Generally, keep the coolest temp they see at around 65F and the highest they see 85-90F. Doubtful they need any more light than they're receiving. They can tolerate shade a whole lot better than they can too much light. I wouldn't worry much about humidity; it isn't one that cares nearly as much about humidity as many genus do.

[Ray]

I think the primary factor for your issues, as my esteemed colleagues have already noted, is that they have been grossly underwatered since you moved them into the current mix.

They probably need to grow new roots to recover from the previous medium, so they need to stay moist.

I suggest you try the following:

1. Adjust your tap water temperature to be tepid.
2. Take each pot to the sink and run water through the medium for a few minutes to really wet it.
3. Wait 15 minutes or so, and repeat that.

That process will "open up" the bark chips to hold more water internally. Once they have drained, put them back in a very warm, shady location and most of them should recover.

If you want to accelerate the process, add KelpMax to your watering a couple of times.

You're going to need to feed them periodically, but I'd not worry about that until they respond to the improved watering.