Phals blooming in clay pellets and wood baskets

[mtorchid]

Both of these had rotting roots at one time so I decided to put them into wood "vanda baskets" using clay pellets (LECA) as the medium. NZ moss just lays on top to help preserve humidity for the topmost roots. Other Phals I have are in Semi-Hydro and a couple miniature ones are mounted onto cork bark. They all are doing well in their various different mediums, perhaps Phals (hybrids) are more forgiving than other orchids.

[Pattywack]

They look beautiful in their baskets. Very happy orchids. I should try this with a couple of mini NOID Phals I have. Congratulations on the save and blooms!

[mtorchid]

Thanks- at least there's no way they will be over watered this time! ;-)

[WhiteRabbit]

Lovely!

[Jenn4a]

I'm curious, what were they grown in prior to the LECA?

[mtorchid]

Originally Posted by Jenn4a

I'm curious, what were they grown in prior to the LECA?

Jenn4a, originally they arrived in bark (from the grocery store, I believe), then I repotted them in S/H LECA, but winter temps were tough on them and some of the inner roots rotted, so that's when I put them into 100% LECA+baskets. I used coconut coir fiber to line the basket sides and bottom just to keep the LECA from falling out. Nice thing about LECA is I won't have to repot (disturb the roots) and eventually I will just place the existing basket into a larger one.

[LovePhals]

Beautiful, do you have a name for the one on the right?

[Jenn4a]

Awesome! How often do you water them?

[mtorchid]

Originally Posted by LovePhals

Beautiful, do you have a name for the one on the right?

I don't have any info on them at all, LovePhals. As I recall, these were "Just Add Ice" orchids from the grocery store. I refer to the color of the one on the right as "champagne" but that's a bit poetic

---------- Post added at 06:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:56 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Jenn4a

Awesome! How often do you water them?

Jenn4a, the great thing about having them grow in LECA and open baskets is that it's impossible to over-water. The roots and clay pellets only absorb so much moisture and rest flows out the bottom (along with any fertilizer salts/solids). Probably more pertinent to your question though, a really good torrent of water once per week followed by misting the top daily seems to do the trick in winter. When they go into active growth cycle later this spring/summer, I will flood them thoroughly twice per week or so.

(After I transplanted them about a year ago, I would occasionally remove some of the clay pellets with tweezers to look at the interior roots to make sure they were healthy. That's not easy to do with bark in a closed container).

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Aerial]

Interesting! I have one mini NOID that I planted in a tall, thin glass vase in expanded clay (not sure the brand), and one regular sized NOID in a plastic pot with the same medium

The mini immediately started growing new roots and went crazy and rebloomed. The regular sized orchid didn't have as good a root system, but hasn't rebloomed in 2+ years and the roots are slooooow growing. I'm going to leave it in there for another year to see if it adjusts, but if it doesn't I'm going to put it back in bark. I want blooms!

Lovely orchid, btw!