I moved and I am back

[Coloradcatt]

Hi, I moved from Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA in July so I haven’t been here for awhile. I am back. It was challenging to move my horses, my cat and my orchids, but all is well.

The orchids survived. All that were in bloom lost their flowers due to stress except for one phal. Now they are spiking and blooming again.

I am concerned about the one phall that never stopped blooming. It was purchased in bad shape, wilted leaves, nearly a year and a half ago at a supermarket in Nov. 2018. It has never been out of bloom. It repotted it last summer. It grows new leaves but they wilt, too. It is a branching type with graceful curved branches and always has a dozen flowers and a dozen buds. I really love it, and I love the graceful curving branches that remind me cherry blossoms. It is prettier to my eye than the straight spikes. BUT it is always dehydrated. Advice?

[early]

Welcome to NM! I am 70 miles south of you. I was in Pagosa Springs last summer and had difficulty with growing any plant outside...sigh. Inside was fine and my orchids were at home in NM with others taking care not a good Idea.

I am a fairly new orchid grower in dry NM. I am doing ok and learning a lot. I am wondering about your plans for keeping your orchids in good health, can you post your culture, light, humidity, and temp goals. Near window with curtain or not, grow lights, and any other help you might give me. I have well water and that is my biggest challenge keeping the pH down from 8+

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Coloradcatt

Hi, I moved from Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA in July so I haven’t been here for awhile. I am back. It was challenging to move my horses, my cat and my orchids, but all is well.

The orchids survived. All that were in bloom lost their flowers due to stress except for one phal. Now they are spiking and blooming again.

I am concerned about the one phall that never stopped blooming. It was purchased in bad shape, wilted leaves, nearly a year and a half ago at a supermarket in Nov. 2018. It has never been out of bloom. It repotted it last summer. It grows new leaves but they wilt, too. It is a branching type with graceful curved branches and always has a dozen flowers and a dozen buds. I really love it, and I love the graceful curving branches that remind me cherry blossoms. It is prettier to my eye than the straight spikes. BUT it is always dehydrated. Advice?

Welcome back!

What is your potting medium? How often are you watering it? With fresh medium, it needs water more often than when it was in the icky compacted stuff. Especially in your dry climate.

[early]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Welcome back!

Especially in your dry climate.

My answer to Dry NM is to use clear inner pots with semi hydra clay beads and water more often with 20-20-20 and use Ray's method of Flush dump and rehydrated, let drain to the holes in the side the inner pot. There don't seem to be a lot here on OB using semi hydro..one in Kansas likes it. There is a member in AZ, but not sure of his medium.

big change from SW Colorado that is dry in a very different way

[Coloradcatt]

Originally Posted by early

Welcome to NM! I am 70 miles south of you. I was in Pagosa Springs last summer and had difficulty with growing any plant outside...sigh. Inside was fine and my orchids were at home in NM with others taking care not a good Idea.

I am a fairly new orchid grower in dry NM. I am doing ok and learning a lot. I am wondering about your plans for keeping your orchids in good health, can you post your culture, light, humidity, and temp goals. Near window with curtain or not, grow lights, and any other help you might give me. I have well water and that is my biggest challenge keeping the pH down from 8+

Hi Early! I was in Pagosa for two years. That’s where I got the orchid bug. I am quite new. I got the bug when I moved up there from Santa Fe (now I am back). A friend brought me a phal as a housewarming present. After I had it for a year, I realized that with the repeated blooming, I was good with orchids. I never was good with plants before. So, I am very new. I now have 22 orchids.

I have 9 Phalaenopsis, some oncidiums, catts, a zygopetalum, a Paphiopedilum, and a few others. I am still figuring out what I am good with other than the Phalaenopsis, which are all spiking, budding on old branches or making keikis right now. I can’t believe they are happy but they really are. My definition of happy might be different than yours - mine is simply alive, growing and flowering.

I found out that I can do oncidiums as the Sharry Baby has spiked twice since I moved here. I thought I was bad with it, but it is spiking with four spikes a couple of weeks ago. The zygopetalum and others have good new growth. I am happy — my previous life was as a plant killer, so this is good.

In Pagosa, I ran cool humidifiers and I was hovering, probably too much. Here, believe it or not, it’s a bit more humid, by that I mean 25, and lately with spring rainy days, and one pebble-water bowl to 55. Colorado was more like 15 humidity which I could only get up to 25 or 30 with humidifiers and pebble bowls. So this is better. The saving grace is the temperature drop at night to 60. Day to 67F or 70F these days.

I am a potter and I am making more pebble trays now, especially as winter ends and I need to up the humidity due to warmer days. I didn’t get my humidifier out last August, but I will for this summer. I am in an adobe house which is a bit cooler. But it still got too hot (no A/C) in the day, and I still need to figure it out. I can’t close the blinds in the day because it’s too dark for the orchids. I open the house at night in the summer because the nights are cool.

In winter, I water about once a week. A few times I let it go too long and the ones that would grew some accordion leaf marks. That’s how I figured out once a week.

Sometimes I let the Phalaenopsis go longer depending on how the air is, the radiant floor heat, the dryness of the medium and what that particular plant is doing. With the spiking, rooting, growing new leaves, etc. I am watering more often than every two weeks now. I tend to get them to get used to drier conditions by watering less. Then up the watering as the weather warms. But I am a newbie. Still learning. I have some in medium Orchiata bark, some in besgrow premium Spagmoss. Others that I acquired more recently I have not yet repotted so it’s bark or that junk spag whatever it is. I discovered that the plants going from one environment (nursery or store) to home they had to adjust to being drier. And over time they get used to it. Sometimes there’s a bit of a shock which happens about four months after being at my home. Then they stop flowering, some roots dry up and then I see them then adjust to the drier environment for a bit and after awhile they start growing roots and leaves. Then they flower again. It sounds normal, and I am probably not identifying the adjustment period but well, but I have noticed it. I see them find some new routine. That’s the pattern of the phals. I only keep them indoors. As I said I am very much a beginner.

My problem phal was wilted when I bought it. So were all the orchids at City Market in Pagosa on that day. I bought it because I felt sorry for it, and I liked the graceful branching habit off it. I hope it’s not a virus. But my other phals haven’t caught it. I think it’s severe dehydration and probably I need to cut the spikes. I hate to, though, even though the plant looks terrible except for the roots and two baby leaves growing slowly.

This house has very little of the right light. I have most of them on tables next to a window that is southeast. Not on the windowsill. Most of them get some direct sun for part of the day. Some plants shade others. I have several baby catts. I have them set at varying heights to account for the sun. I watch carefully to see how they handle the full sun. As the sun pattern moves with the season and it warms, I will move the table back a bit.

I guess that’s about all I can say as a beginner. It’s fun to write about them. Oh, and I have well water. I water by flushing. I didn’t fertilize in the winter except about once a month or 6 weeks. Now I am fertilizing again.

What do you have? You sound way more technical in your knowledge than I. What is your care and your humidity, watering schedule, light, etc?

[Coloradcatt]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Welcome back!

What is your potting medium? How often are you watering it? With fresh medium, it needs water more often than when it was in the icky compacted stuff. Especially in your dry climate.

Thank you, Roberta. It’s been a mystery with this purple phal. All the plants in the market that day were wilted. There weren’t too many of them, so I knew they were clearing a bunch out. They had all new orchids when I went back the next week. I felt sorry for this plant. It seemed like either their regular plant lady was gone or on vacation. Something was wrong. But I went ahead and bought this one. I since found this board, and realized it might have a virus. I kept it separate for a long time.

As I said, it has stayed in bloom. I noticed it would wilt upon watering. But it grew three new leaves, yet after they grew out they wilted. I tried watering often, with holding water. Confused. After I moved in July, I repotted it in Spagmoss in September. It’s good long moss that I got from an orchid nursery run by Ron Midget in Santa Fe. (Nice man. Gorgeous catts at his place.) The old medium was as you described. Ugly. Roots looked bad. In the clear pot, I now see lots of new roots. The old leaves, five are horribly wrinkled and soft, still. Two new leaves are small but firm. I am worried they will grow out and get soft like the others.

[early]

[QUOTE=Coloradcatt;913726]Hi Early! I was in Pagosa for two years. That’s where I got the orchid bug. I am quite new.
I can’t believe they are happy but they really are. My definition of happy might be different than yours - mine is simply alive, growing and flowering.

I found out that I can do oncidiums as the Sharry Baby has spiked twice since I moved here. I am happy — my previous life was as a plant killer, so this is good.

In Pagosa, I ran cool humidifiers and I was hovering, probably too much. Here, believe it or not, it’s a bit more humid, by that I mean 25, and lately with spring rainy days, and one pebble-water bowl to 55. Colorado was more like 15 humidity which I could only get up to 25 or 30 with humidifiers and pebble bowls. So this is better. The saving grace is the temperature drop at night to 60. Day to 67F or 70F these days.

I am a potter and I am making more pebble trays now, especially as winter ends and I need to up the humidity due to warmer days. I didn’t get my humidifier out last August, but I will for this summer. I am in an adobe house which is a bit cooler. But it still got too hot (no A/C) in the day, and I still need to figure it out. I can’t close the blinds in the day because it’s too dark for the orchids. I open the house at night in the summer because the nights are cool.

In winter, I water about once a week. A few times I let it go too long and the ones that would grew some accordion leaf marks. That’s how I figured out once a week.

Sometimes I let the Phalaenopsis go longer depending on how the air is, the radiant floor heat, the dryness of the medium and what that particular plant is doing. With the spiking, rooting, growing new leaves, etc. I am watering more often than every two weeks now. I tend to get them to get used to drier conditions by watering less. Then up the watering as the weather warms.

But I am a newbie. Still learning. I have some in medium Orchiata bark, some in besgrow premium Spagmoss. Others that I acquired more recently I have not yet repotted so it’s bark or that junk spag whatever it is.

I discovered that the plants going from one environment (nursery or store) to home they had to adjust to being drier. And over time they get used to it. Sometimes there’s a bit of a shock which happens about four months after being at my home.

I see them find some new routine. That’s the pattern of the phals. I only keep them indoors. As I said I am very much a beginner.

My problem phal was wilted when I bought it. So were all the orchids at City Market in Pagosa on that day. I bought it because I felt sorry for it, and I liked the graceful branching habit off it.

. I think it’s severe dehydration and probably I need to cut the spikes. I hate to, though, even though the plant looks terrible except for the roots and two baby leaves growing slowly.

This house has very little of the right light. I have most of them on tables next to a window that is southeast.


Not on the windowsill. Most of them get some direct sun for part of the day. Some plants shade others. I have several baby catts. I have them set at varying heights to account for the sun. I watch carefully to see how they handle the full sun. As the sun pattern moves with the season and it warms, I will move the table back a bit.

It’s fun to write about them.

Oh, and I have well water. I water by flushing. I didn’t fertilize in the winter except about once a month or 6 weeks. Now I am fertilizing again.

What do you have?

You sound way more technical in your knowledge than I.

What is your care and your humidity, watering schedule, light, etc?[/QUOTE/}


Everything I have learned, I have learned here. I started with one Phal, it lived for 4 of years I only watered it and it eventually became dead. I thought and tossed it. then 2 yrs ago, I had to more blooming phals and last summer I spent in Pagosa and resisted the orchids at City Market, but always admired them. I found in Aug, my neighbor had watered all my plants, also in a 40 yr adobe, except my two living phals, and I put them in a plant room with lots of windows, but since he forgot to water then, I thought they were dead. I went to everything on line to learn about phals, including videos, discarded most posters, until I found Orchid Board. Every technical point I might seem to know I learned here. Posted a lot starting in Dec last. and I revived one of the two rescues, it is still happy but not growing or putting out stems. Just existing.

I now have 20+ phals, and three Oncs. I learned here they have similar needs as Phals. they are the size of Sherry Baby, one of them a deep wine color, is less than a foot high with the stem.

I will stop here and go back to try to answer more of your questions in another post, re my medium and care of the ones I have .

[early]

Originally Posted by early

"I have been a potter for many years but can only hand build, due to upper arms/ too weak for the wheel."

I am a potter and I am making more pebble trays now, especially as winter ends and I need to up the humidity due to warmer days.

With the spiking, rooting, growing new leaves, etc. I am watering more often "good"

"As I said before, I have all my phals and 3 onc. in semi-hydro in clear pots, one cup and one quart thick plastic measuring cups from Dollar Tree. a buck a cup. I burn two holes in the inner cup. an inch from the bottom. I water and flush and fertilize every time the water goes down in the cups and leave the overflow in the outer pot. I have three humidifiers, one small, I use in a room that is small, with overhead lights and a sky light. I have my rescue, non bloomers and I am happy to have 5 growers, with new health leaves just this past month or so. Growing well and happy. I just moved them there a week ago."

Others that I acquired more recently I have not yet repotted so it’s bark or that junk spag whatever it is.

"most of the experts here say repot soon, even with blooms and that is what I do, have asthma with spag moss so all in S/H"
I only keep them indoors. "Much too hot here in Valencia Co to attempt putting them on screened porch"

. I think it’s severe dehydration and probably I need to cut the spikes. I hate to, though, even though the plant looks terrible except for the roots and two baby leaves growing slowly.
"all the growers here with 20 to 40 yrs experience, I believe all, say cut the spike soon after blooms drop, put cinnamon on the remaining stem, very close to crown of phalls, with a q tip. It will encourage new root ,leaf growth and new stems. I am sure Roberta and others can advice you with that."

This house has very little of the right light. I have most of them on tables next to a window that is southeast.

" I have wonderful lights even from the roof, a row of windows that gets some sun every day. In the summer I will move all of them to my plant atrium south, many windows that I will curtain, and/or a curtained east windows on a table and or some maybe on the large windowsill being careful of the direct sun."
Most of them get some direct sun for part of the day.
I watch carefully to see how they handle the full sun. As the sun pattern moves with the season and it warms, I will move the table back a bit.

It’s fun to write about them. "Yes it is, Can you share some photos, even with phone camera and attach to computer, I just learned how and now have my large camera ready to post some more, when I am not so lazy or busy with other things."

Oh, and I have well water. I water by flushing. I didn’t fertilize in the winter except about once a month or 6 weeks. Now I am fertilizing again.

If you have well water, do you test for pH? Mine is greater than 8 on the alk side. I get it down to 5.5/6.5 as several recommend here. Roberta recommended using vinegar to get the pH down to acceptable levels of acitic. I was using powered Citric acid, but it is difficult to know how much. I think Roberta said one TBS to a gallon, but if you don't have one, buy one from Amazon, they are cheap and work for me."

What do you have?
You sound way more technical in your knowledge than I."NO WAY, anything I have learned in the past months,
I have tried to and ofter ask over and over if I don't remember, how to care for phals and my new Onc/s
This board is wonderful, with many different views, and I pick and choose the one that I like. I respect so many of the moderators and lonf time members and don't know what I would do or learn without them."

What is your care and your humidity, watering schedule, light, etc?

[/QUOTE]

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Coloradcatt

Two new leaves are small but firm. I am worried they will grow out and get soft like the others.

Old leaves will probably not firm up, but if the plant is growing new roots (which it probably will, now that it has a nice new medium) the new leaves will very likely stay firm. It's all about roots... good roots can take up water for the plant, bad ones can't. You're on your way to GOOD roots!

[Coloradcatt]

Thank you, Roberta. That makes sense.

---------- Post added at 11:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 AM ----------

Very good, Early. That’s a lot of phals you have! They’re so beautiful. Isn’t it fun!