Hi! Have lots of questions and just got a phal

[zxyqu]

Blasting often happens when the phal is moved around from differing environments while in bud or while the buds are forming. It can even happen when you leave a fan on in a room (my bad). the changes cause the flower bud to abort, but I dont know much on the reasons why.
Hopefully someone else will chime in with some potting mix comments, as I haven't used either of the above. It may be due for a pot up (larger size), so a cheap container from HD/Lowes/Pikes should suffice. Looks like it's ina 3/4" container now (tough to say), so maybe look at getting a 5/6" container.

[NewtoOrchids]

Oh, some of the roots at the top have a brown tip...that's what I was a little unsure about. The pictures with that in it are kind of blurry. I wasn't sure what I should do or if I should do anything right now. I'm glad that the roots are healthy though! I looked at pictures to compare healthy and unhealthy roots and did the best I could when choosing this phal.

Thank you so much for your advice!! It's a huge help! Since I'm so new at this I really want to do a good job, and I definitely don't want to accidentally kill it...

[NewtoOrchids]

Oh wow, interesting. That makes since then. Because where I bought it at, I'm pretty sure they had it outside first, then moved it inside, and then I brought it home... It's good to know for in the future.

Ok, I'll look for those. Thanks!

[Gage]

I would maybe be cautious about using softened water, as the salt may build up in the medium. Anybody else know more about this?

[NewtoOrchids]

I have read about that. I need to figure out what else I can use. I saw some posts about people using the faucet outside the house because it's not connected to the water softener (not sure if this is true for everyone.) It doesn't rain here very often, so I need to use something else until then or in between rainfalls.

[zxyqu]

Bottled water can sometimes suffice, but I've never had to result to that

[abigaillevans]

Hi!

I wouldn't use the Miracle Gro potting mix -- from what I've seen, it's way too soil-y for most orchids, especially phalaenopsis. I know Home Depot carried an orchid mix that contains only fir bark, charcoal, and pearlite... I don't remember the name of the mix, but I've used it before and it works well! It's no help that I can't recall the name, but it has a little "window" on the front of the bag so you can see the mix.

Sorry that wasn't more help!

[NewtoOrchids]

I didn't think of bottled water, I guess I'll have to use that for a little bit.

Abigaillevans, Thanks for letting me know! I'll keep an eye out for it. I looked up the Better Gro Phalaenopsis Mix and it sounds similar. I found an image that shows the back of the bag as clear. The ingredients it lists are: Canadian chunk peat, western fir bark, hardwood charcoal, and coarse perlite. Do you think this might be the same thing?

[Olivia]

I'm going to second abigaillevans and say absolutely don't use the miracle grow mix for phals. It's basically their regular soil with a few bark pieces thrown in. That's what I used when I bought my first orchid and lost a lot of roots before I realized the problem.

I currently use the better gro orchid mix. It's pretty good though I find the bark chips to be a little large for my smaller orchids and I have break it up a little.

[scy]

I would also have to agree not to use the Miracle Gro mix for Orchids. That's way too fine for a phal. I have used the Better Gro Orchid mix. That would be a great mix if it didn't go bad. It was fine for the first 3 months and then it went bad, which means it was probably sitting on those store shelves for who knows how long.