Hello from Alabama!

[maggie9931]

Hi! I just joined the Orchid Board so I could learn about how to take care of my orchids.

I currently have 2, both are Phal's. Attached are pictures. One I got as a gift for my birthday back in May. The other I bought from Lowe's a few nights ago. I don't know much about them or what they need for care, so please be patient with me as I may ask some very basic questions!


-Maggie

[Royal]

Hi Maggie,

Welcome and happy belated birthday!

One piece of advice I wish I had gotten early on is to do your best to get orchids with labels. When you are just starting out, they don't seem that important but that can change. It can be tough if Lowe's is the only option for you, but with mail-order we're not limited to local stores (thank goodness).

I'm sure you'll do great with them. Just keep water out of the crown of the leaves and keep it out of direct sun. The rest is downhill.

[trdyl]

Welcome to OB!

[CTB]

Glad you could join us. This is the place to get all your questions answered so ask away. Thanks for posting pics we love pics.

[marydaniellesantos]

Welcome to OB! I'm new too and this place is more than helpful! Care for Phals depend on your climate conditions, you shouldn't water too often, and wait for the medium to dry slightly between waterings, and make sure you water with luke warm water, and keep in indirect light. You should also feed them every 2 weeks or so. They are fairly easy, and they are very pretty! Your plants are very pretty also!!!

[RosieC]

Welcome to Orchid Board

Your Phals look great but I just want to check something. Is there an inner pot inside the decorative ones? If not do the decorative ones have holes in the bottom?

One of the easiest ways to kill Phals is to have them sitting in water, if there are no holes in the pots then you will find it difficult to stop the roots rotting. If there is an inner pot with holes then always make sure that they drain thoroughly after watering so no drips collect in the outer pots.

[maggie9931]

Rosie-

There is a smaller, green plastic pot that the white and purple Phal is in. That pot is just sitting in the white one. I plan to repot it into the bigger pot when that time comes.

The smaller Phal (a mini?) is not in another pot. I made sure to drain the extra water out that did not absorb within a few minutes of watering it.

Any tips on re-potting? I'm sure there is another thread somewhere on here, I just haven't had a ton of time to look around.


Thank you everyone for the welcoming!

-Maggie

[Oscarman]

Hi Maggie and welcome to the OB!

Thank you for joining us here, you will fined a wealth of information and resources from all our members experiences.

Personally I have enjoyed much success growing my phals in a Semi-Hydroponic method (S/H). We have a whole forum category on it.

Enjoy!

[marydaniellesantos]

Well, when you repot, you can get specially made orchid pots, they just have extra holes for the most drainage possible. The first step is to get the phals out of the original pots, and rinse any left over bark off there roots, You should pot the plants with brand new medium bark mix. And you should be good to go!

[RosieC]

One repotting tip is don't get too big a pot. You should pot them in a size which just fitst the roots and not much larger. If the pot is too big the medium tends to stay wet to long and that can be another cause of rot.