Phal Potting Mix Help For An X-tra Large Phal

[natasha]

wow, clearly i'm still a youngster! i never ever seen a phal like that! i thought phal only have a couple of leaves, maybe about six, like those that i have... good job!

[peeweelovesbooks]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

What sort of custom made container are you having made for it? What material will it be made from? That could also play into what kind of medium you use.

Hey there! It will be made out of clay. I'm thinking something mimicking a turned wood bowl--very natural and organic looking.

[peeweelovesbooks]

natasha,

I got this about 1 year ago from Baldan's. It's grown about 3 leaves since I got it.

It evidently likes me.


LOLOLOLOL

[camille1585]

Why not just leave it in the basket, but add something over the root to keep humidity while it lives indoors? That way you can leave the plant outside when it is not spiking/blooming, and then bring it in. It's so huge that I wonder if it is pottable!

[rogerman]

It is pottable, if you have a big enough pot lol. I use polystyrene foam at the base of the pots and coconut chips above the foam. My Phals do well like that.....Water doesn't stay in the pot and it is free draining.

[Lagoon]

I still feel the same way about the media & pot sizes - stubborn I know
I've had phals growing in very large clay pots ... (still do) just becareful these sure carry some weight no matter what the media is.
If you're still concerned about the media - open it up with some foam, large grade of perlite or some cut up cork thru-out the media. This stuff is great and can be reused again.
Repotme.com carries lots of great stuff. You can also find some larger pots sizes there.

Good luck

[quiltergal]

Originally Posted by peeweelovesbooks

Hey there! It will be made out of clay. I'm thinking something mimicking a turned wood bowl--very natural and organic looking.

If it's unglazed, and there are plenty of ventilation holes (think knot holes or some other vents that look natural) you would probably be fine to use your current medium. Unglazed clay will dry faster than glazed, so that might be the ticket.

Camille makes a good point too about leaving it in the basket and just throwing some medium on top. The basket will dry even faster than unglazed clay. That way it can move from outdoors to indoors easily.

If you're really concerned about the medium staying too wet work in something inert as Gloria recommended. LECA, large chunks of horticultural charcoal, wine corks, lava rocks would all keep it more open.

Let us know what you decide.

[Gwenchanter]

HOLY COW!! My Barbara Baldan's Mandarins are still in 4 inch pots! What's your secret?

Is "Fancy" the clonal name or is Barbara Baldan's Madarin Fancy a whole different grex than Barbara Baldan's Mandarin?

Do you have any photos of the flowers?

I would be interested to know what color they are because I have a clone from this grex called "Sweet Melody" and I assumed it was the only clone from the grex (it's the one in my photo). I also have three other seedlings, one of which I just posted photos of in this same section of the forum.

The is one of my favorite grexes but so far my plants have been not very vigerous growers. Perhaps they have poorer genetics and thats why they were sold as seedlings and not cloned, which is fine because I like that they are unique.

Needless to say I'm really surprized to see one of that size and hope mine will get a move on!

As far as medium is concerned, I just potted up a phal that had roots so huge I had to put it in a clay pot that is about 18 in. tall and about 12 inches in diameter. I filled it up half way with packing peanuts, then layered that with bark, then put some spag on the very top to keep the upper roots from drying out. It seems pretty happy so far because the peanuts really dry out quickly, and even though the pot is pretty heavy, the peanuts are super light so that helps a lot.