Bugs or dirt?

[lotis146]

Maybe I should have taken a picture. Maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe I'm just wishing.

I rescued two Phals from lowe's, both were in bone dry sphagnum with wrinkled and limps leaves but two spikes with many flowers. I got them home and gave a good, good soak, saw then the white one had more moss than the dark fuschia. Within a day or so of watering the fuschia made obvious steps toward recovery, however the white one's flowers have started to die, wilting in a way that promises death.

So last night I made the call that it probably has too much moss thus my saturation was probably too much. I took it out of its clear plastic pot and discovered it was packed good. Appeared to need some root pruning and before I knew it I was picking away at the moss to loosen it but it kept loosening so much that I removed most of it. I'd heard elsewhere that it's not good to remove that plug of moss under it, so I didn't. Soaked some bark/Orchid mix for a bit and repotted it in that. Then watered then watered with some orchid food.

Okay, but here's the thing. While I was picking away at the moss I came across a patch of what looked like dirt. Noticed a lot of the moss had these black/dark brown spectacles on them, again assumed to be dirt that somehow was transferred maybe when potted...? Except for the plug in the center of moss I tossed the old in a box I'm waiting to take out when snow melts. I then put the plant next to the other new rescue AND ALL THE REST OF MY GROUP...

But I read in another thread here a very common sense bit of advice to keep new rescues away from the others to stop spread of possible disease and/or bugs. Now I'm paranoid and moved my rescues to the floor from the table where the others are. I'm a newbie enthusiast and have never experienced bugs. Is this dirt or does this ring any bells or send up flags with the knowledgeable folks?

Thanks.
Lotis

[Daethen]

You need to keep them separated by over 10 feet to actually quarantine them. Otherwise it isn't doing the job. Hard to tell what is going on without pics. I remove ALL old media before repotting.

[lepetitmartien]

Pics help, always.

Flowers die, anyway, especially after nearing death.

If you repot, repot in full. Don't leave old substrate, especially decaying old sphag of death.

[lotis146]

Thanks for your replies! I wish I had pictures to share and understand I should have gotten rid of all of the moss. Since I just repotted I will wait to fuss with it again until the rest of the flowers drop. There are four that have stayed on but they are smaller almost like those of a mini Phal and two of them appear to have "not opened" all the way. More than 4 dropped off after I watered it.

But I wanted to drop in and say I went to the Chicago Orchid Exhibit and spoke to someone from the Illinois Orchid Society and described what I came across. She explained that it could have been left over from the medium they plant them in when they're seedlings then just transfer over to a new pot. And/or that this is breaking down as some of the sphagnum moss breaks down. From what I saw this makes sense.

Thank you again,
Lotis