Phals in sphagnum moss going on bark?

[Sandra75]

I have re-potted some of my Phals.

They were bought potted in sphagnum moss and on their new cycle, I re-potted them in bark-sponge rock-charcoal mix.

I'm not sure its going well. The leaves are being limps now. Can it be that the root are used to the moss?

Thank for any input!

[Paul Mc]

A few things came to mind. If you could post pictures of the plant and the roots that might be helpful as well.

First off, it might be the switch from moss to your new mix. It went from a damp environment to a drier environment. Most new mixes get drier quicker until they start to break down a bit. You might want to increase the watering for a while.

You probably should check the roots. If the roots are plump and healthy, then you might want to consider the light. Is the light too bright or too little?

Without pictures it is hard to judge for me personally. Perhaps someone else might have some suggestions.

[Sandra75]

Thank you Paul Mc!

I think the light is ok since they went back to their usual spot.

I dont have pics of the roots since the re-potting is done. They seemed to have nice roots! I cut the mushy ones out, trim a little from the older good roots.

Maybe I squashed the roots too much when putting mix in the pot.

[RosieC]

I think roots do grow a covering which is based on their enviroment as they grow. A drastic change can cause those roots to struggle. For example when using S/H techniques the roots can grow down into the water resevoir and be fine, but existing roots grown elsewhere will rot if put in the same enviroment.

I've heard that roots grown in moss have an easier time moving to S/H than they do to bark, because both are damp enviroments.

I'm not really sure as I generally don't buy orchids in moss and the few I have are things like Masdies which I've kept in moss.

[ELORCHID]

I recently had the same issue, I tried watering more often but that didn't help, so I just repotted my phal in sphagnum again. The leaves are not limp anymore and its growing lots of new roots. When I use sphagnum I try not to pack it too tight and I allow the spagmun to get fairly dry before I water it again. Hope this helps.

[Paul Mc]

You might try using Dyna-Gro ProTekt, about 1/2 to 1/4 the recommended dosage every watering. It's supposed to help by seeping into the roots and makes the roots and the orchid stronger against environmental stresses. I've used it on my suffering phal's before with great success. It took about a month or two, but they survived.

You also might consider moving it to a lower light area while it gets used to it's new growing condition. This would move the energy spent from converting photosynthesis to surviving. Just a thought.

In addition, you might want to increase the watering cycle to twice, if not three times, a week and increase humidity if at all possible. That may make the situation worse as ELORCHID posted, but I've always moved mine from sphag to fresh bark mix and watered more regularly with great results. In fact, I make sure that the medium is well soaked each time I water at this point.

Another thing you might try is placing a large ziploc bag around the entire plant, fill the base with a bit of water but not enough to actually get into the plant. Use rocks in the bottom if necessary to keep it elevated. Leave the back open so air can get in, but this will help to increase humidity levels. If you do this, be sure to move the plant to a location where it won't get baked in the bag. This one is just a side thought - I have never tried it but it seems like it might help as it is very similar to the sphag and bag method used to promote roots on failing orchids.

One last thought here. Sometimes it takes a while for plants to adjust, say about a month or more. If you think your orchid can make it you might want to tough it out. My experience has been that even though I'm sweating it out for a month or so, they have all survived the transition eventually with continued use of the Dyna-Gro ProTekt.

[Sandra75]

This particular orchid, I tried watering more often since leaves were limp and the roots became rot! My other 2 repotted in bark from moss, they are kinda limp but doing way better. I will repot again tho to moss. It has a keiki so I dont want to touch that one.

[Paul Mc]

It may be an overwatering issue then if all of them are kinda limp and more water caused root rot. It may be more beneficial to leave them in the bark and let them recover while reducing the amount of light they get. The reduction of light will help them focus on recovering. I would highly suggest the DynTek ProTekt at this point as well to help with the environmental stress/transition.

As for the one with the keiki, as I had to learn the hard way, it may not necessarily be happy. Phal's either produce keiki's as they get to maturity and are happy or produce them in a last ditch effort to ensure survival of the species. I lost my mother and have nearly lost the keiki because I didn't look at the roots early enough to tell me what was happening. I thought it was happy, and then it started to die. You should really look at the roots of the one with the keiki before you determine if it's truly happy or not based upon my experience.

[Sandra75]

I went limp right after repotting. Was just after that I started watering more often since the bark dries up way faster than the moss. It was perfectly fine with nice plump green roots when I repotted tho! Leaves went limp within 24 hours! Was after 2 weeks I saw it wasnt recovering that I started watering more often.

[Discus]

Keeping the plant more humid might help it adjust to the new medium; try a modified "spag n bag" by making a "tent" over the plant out of some transparent plastic.