moss or bark for phal?

[Lady Tottington]

Thanks all, very very much! Hopefully I can figure this out and not kill them.

[Jennyfleur]

Hmm, I can't really add anything to the discussion (as I think all I could've said has been said by everyone else!). However, I've been so absolutely glued to reading this thread since I logged on, I can't wait to see how you get on!

Good luck!

[thakshila smith]

The leaves of my phals died for me some time ago. But roots were there growing nicely around the edge. It did a miracle. Later on Leaves pop up again .
John , Can I believe your rice hulls story ? Never heard of it.

[johnblagg]

Im hurt ....LOL...yes you can repotme even sells them.BUt I will go get pictures of how well they do .I have a friend thet is a phal addict and is actually fairly challenged when it comes to potted plants, and I go every so often on a maitanince visit to make sure they are not bone dry or sitting in a bucket of water drowning...and for all his extraems from one to the other the phals grow great .....I was just there yesterday to check and this summers growth is astounding....I will go get pics

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[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Lady Tottington

Thank you mayres! I don't have access to coir mix... is it something I could purchase online? Thanks for the tip on repotting, the roots do look mightly healthy (for now), and I do have a clear pot that I could repot it to. I will do so this weekend, wish me luck!

You can get a mix pretty close to Mayres proportions from repotme.com. I bought a 12 scoop Select-A-Blend bag with 8 scoops coarse coir, 3 scoops small sponge rock aka perlite and 1 scoop small charcoal, which is as close as I can get to Mike's proportions by ordering that way; works out to approx 67% coir, 25% perlite and 8% charcoal, close enough for rock and roll as they say. Be sure you order the COARSE coir.

There's a great 3 year old thread on this mix on another orchid board, but I don't know if it's proper to post a link to the other board here. Suffice it to say that the mix gets rave reviews from almost all who have tried it.

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

You can get a mix pretty close to Mayres proportions from repotme.com. I bought a 12 scoop Select-A-Blend bag with 8 scoops coarse coir, 3 scoops small sponge rock aka perlite and 1 scoop small charcoal, which is as close as I can get to Mike's proportions by ordering that way; works out to approx 67% coir, 25% perlite and 8% charcoal, close enough for rock and roll as they say. Be sure you order the COARSE coir.

There's a great 3 year old thread on this mix on another orchid board, but I don't know if it's proper to post a link to the other board here. Suffice it to say that the mix gets rave reviews from almost all who have tried it.

Thanks for that tip on ordering from repotme.com! Say, I have a question that may sound really lame, but I never know what "size" to order? Junior Bag, Standard Bag, Cube and THE BOX... I mean aside from price, what are we really talking here??

Also, can you pm me the link to the other thread you mentioned? I'd like to read, thanks!

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by johnblagg

Im hurt ....LOL...yes you can repotme even sells them.BUt I will go get pictures of how well they do .I have a friend thet is a phal addict and is actually fairly challenged when it comes to potted plants, and I go every so often on a maitanince visit to make sure they are not bone dry or sitting in a bucket of water drowning...and for all his extraems from one to the other the phals grow great .....I was just there yesterday to check and this summers growth is astounding....I will go get pics

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K... please tell me more about rice hulls! That photo you linked to of the monster phal is just that!!! HUGE! OMG. I can't get over that. That has to be a like 10-12" pot, no? Are your phals planted in a combo of bark with rice hulls? or?? How do they help? Where to get? My lord, I have dreams of having a phal grow that big. Seriously. Tell me more!

[Queenslander]

Originally Posted by Lady Tottington

Thank you thank you jrodpad! I'm glad I'm not the only overwater-er around. I have implemented skewers, but even then, I think I sometimes get a little itchy at seeing the top of the medium dry that I second guess myself

Good to watch the bottom leaves, I have never heard or done that before, but it makes perfect sense. Also, the packing in of the medium is always such a hard thing for me. Sometimes I see "air" spots when I think I'm done from the sides of my clear spots, and try to get something down in there, but it's never perfect. Are some air spots alright?

Also, very key of what you said about checking new medium every day or two! That is so true! I will checking once I repot every couple days and try to keep tabs on it. I don't want to shock my poor orchid after it was so packed with moss that it's unused to this new medium.

Thank you so much J for these great suggestions. I am planning to read & reread your post. I am so thankful, and I hope I can become a phal grower and not murderer

hugs,
LT

I too was like you. All Phals.in supermarkets are packed in spagnum moss. that is I think because they have travelled a while before settling into shop, and believe me, assistants do not water plants. How many do you see die at their hands. Anyhow, I too, bought one of these, took it home, and looked at it. The spaghnum moss was so wet, it needed rescuing. While it was flowering, I removed all the moss, trimmed some of the roots (which were quite black and mushy), used some cinnamon on the cut roots, styrofoam on the bottom of a clear pot, some light bark, perlite and gently packed in orchid, tucked roots in, and only watered surface for a couple of weeks, when felt dry to touch. Now, 3 months later, this orchid did not hiccup, still flowering and another lot of buds came and are about to flower. A total of 5 months of flowers. Is this a record. ........ So go to it girl.Let us know your progress.

[thakshila smith]

Monster phal Where is it?
John , I am so sorry. I was upset bec we got a lot of hull here . We just burn them using them as firewood only .
Though once I read hull is good material of mulching.
And you know our country exports coconut coirs as for a growing medium.

[Queenslander]

Here she is in all her glory. The same flowers, see the new buds. So the repotting, (whilst in flower) did not set her back.

lol