Andrew From Texas!

[Roberta]

One thing to remember about Phals... they are low-light plants. They don't want direct sun ever. They basically like the same temperature range that we do, which is a reason why they grow so well in the house.

[Andrew-L]

Do you think my 150 watt led is too bright for them?

---------- Post added at 03:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:33 PM ----------

Wow roberta you have quite the collection! Beautiful!

[Roberta]

No idea how bright the light is... not scientifically precise, but a functional test is to see what kind of shadow your hand casts on a piece of paper in the plane of the plant(s) ... if you get a soft fuzzy shadow, it's probably about right. If the shadow has sharp edges, likely too bright for a Phal. In another post you mentioned putting the Phals out on the porch, that's what triggered my comment. Outdoors, you also have to note what the sun is doing as it moves through the day... it can be perfect for most of the day but produce a direct hit for a short time... and toast leaves. Another little insight that I picked up when I was using the spare bedroom of my condo as a "greenhouse" ... http://orchidcentral.org/GrowingAreas/indoor.jpg, light duration is also important. This was some years ago, I was using fluorescent lights to supplement the 4-5 hours of good east light that came in the window... 12 hours of gentle light from those fluoresecents got me to about 80% reblooming, without them I just grew leaves.

Glad you like my collection! It started with one... and obviously sort of took over. I think owning one orchid is like eating one potato chip or one peanut...

[Andrew-L]

i can totally beleive that. i just want more and more. but i have to be steadfast in my resisting. i want to make sure i dont kill the first ones i have first, before i start adding to the collection.

on the light, i have more scientific specs

@ 24" PAR 247
@ 18" PAR 412
@ 16" PAR 502

---------- Post added at 04:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:31 PM ----------

and porch time would be no direct sun time.

covered porch faces north, and never receives direct sunlight

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Andrew-L

i can totally beleive that. i just want more and more. but i have to be steadfast in my resisting. i want to make sure i dont kill the first ones i have first, before i start adding to the collection.

on the light, i have more scientific specs

@ 24" PAR 247
@ 18" PAR 412
@ 16" PAR 502

---------- Post added at 04:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:31 PM ----------

and porch time would be no direct sun time.

covered porch faces north, and never receives direct sunlight

Wise... as you get tempted by different types of orchids, do your homework first, to select the ones for which you have the right conditions. As you get into it, you'll figure out how to stretch the boundaries - knowing what you want to achieve helps to make that successful.

I don't know what the measurements mean functionally... you'll determine that with experience. That porch sounds like it has very nice light. To keep in mind... orchids typically don't like change, but they are fairly adaptable - so make your changes (such as light and temperature) gradually if you can. And they teach patience... their lifecycle is measured in months, or even years, so if you make a change, give sufficient time to get feedback. That may be the biggest challenge for you, if you're used to the lifecycle of cannabis, which grows so fast that you can almost watch it, orchids are slooowwww... That is a big part of the need for the approach to fertilizer. A plant that grows rapidly needs lots of it, those minerals are needed to grow new tissue. A Phal may give you one or two new leaves a year... it's not adding new tissue very fast, so it needs very, very little. For Phals, and other strongly epiphytic orchids, think about how they grow in nature - on trunks and branches of trees, roots in the air. They are likely to get rain nearly daily, and when the rain falls, it washes detritus from up in the canopy down over the orchid. So that's really dilute fertilizer but frequent, great drainage and air movement. The closer you can get to that environment, the more successful you'll be as an orchid grower.

[Andrew-L]

thanks for taking to time to share this information with me! im soaking it up like a sponge

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 PM ----------

im uploading more pictures now. close ups of the bud blast i gave them.

also some leaf injuries that were on the plant when i got it. they stuck a spike stick straight through the leaf!

also some little bug i saw on the underside of a leaf. know what that guy is?

[Roberta]

Don't see the pix...

[SADE2020]

Welcome!!!!

Share your plants pictures when you can

[Andrew-L]

Two2two2two2 (two2two2two2) — ImgBB

sorry! i had posted this link in another thread i thought it was this one!

---------- Post added at 06:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:16 PM ----------

@SADE2020 beautiful plants!

yall are good at taking pictures. i suck at it lol. im going to let my wife start taking them

[Roberta]

No idea what the bug is. The mechanical damage to the leaf is annoying but won't harm the plant - it looks like the edges have dried up nicely, so there's not a concern for fungal or bacterial damage. You only lost a few buds, the flowers look great. The leaf with a bit of browning at the tip... could be various things. The first thing I think of is maybe it got too close to a heat source... The rest of the leaf that is visible looks fine. Do take a look at the underside of the leaf... the other thing I'd think of is spider mites... if there is stippling on the underside of the leaf, wipe it with a tissue, if you see red streaks that would be it... they're almost microscopic but damaging. If not, just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't progress. One trick when you're watching to see if a bad spot is progressing... put a line with a sharpie just outside the area of concern. Then you can tell if it's expanding or not.