New to plants - Orchid Board

Barbie.Dragon · #1 03-24-2013, 12:58 AM

Good evening from California! I went to half moon bay and they had a place that sold flowers and for an early birthday present my aunt bought me an orchid. So I found this board and decided I should start learning right away. I am in the process of learning about orchids. I'm sure my orchid is a phalaenopsis (moss orchid?)

I just took some pictures because I dont know anything about raising plants or knowing it is healthy. Although I might repot it into some other thing because I read that they need room to breathe and it doenst look like it can! I was looking at sun bulb better gro phal mix?

Any suggestions will help! The flower is in a plastic container with only one drainage hole at the bottom. The mix is not wet just slightly damp.

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Leafmite · #2 03-24-2013, 01:16 AM

What a perfect gift! Hello and welcome!

gjanick · #3 03-24-2013, 04:52 PM

I too am new the forum and relatively new to orchids. The plant is a phal. for sure and looks very healthy. It looks like it may need a repotting (pot 1 inch bigger in diameter) and i would carefully loosen up the medium material to carefully free the compacted roots and repot it. There are wonderful video's on UTube to see exactly what to do. The new pot should have aeration holes in the walls/sides. Greg.

Barbie.Dragon · #4 03-24-2013, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gjanick

I too am new the forum and relatively new to orchids. The plant is a phal. for sure and looks very healthy. It looks like it may need a repotting (pot 1 inch bigger in diameter) and i would carefully loosen up the medium material to carefully free the compacted roots and repot it. There are wonderful video's on UTube to see exactly what to do. The new pot should have aeration holes in the walls/sides. Greg.

Whew im glad the plant looks healthy! I'm on the lookout for a new pot. Thank you for the advice!

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WhiteRabbit · #5 03-24-2013, 10:38 PM

Lots of good Phal info here: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

RosieC · #6 03-26-2013, 11:04 AM

Welcome to Orchid Board

What a pretty Phalaenopsis, great gift. I think it needs repotting in fresh medium, but I'm not sure if you need a bigger pot, you might need a smaller one.

With phals it does not always follow that repotting means a bigger pot. The new pot should be the right size to just fit the existing roots. You don't want too much excess medium or the roots will not be able to breath and that will suffocat them causing rot.

The choice of medium to use is wide and varies from person to person. I like bark, CHC or Hydroton/Lecca but some people like moss as you have at the moment. Moss is sometimes tricky unless you live in a dry environmental or are inclined to underwater.

The thread Sonya gave a link for is well worth a read if you are new to phals.

Barbie.Dragon · #7 03-26-2013, 01:18 PM

Yeah I've been cruising through that thread and it's a lot of info to take in. Yeah I'll gently pull all the moss off and see if the plant needs a smaller pot. I'm super nervous about keeping this orchid alive.... I've never raised a plant before!

But there's a lot of info on this board so I'm more confifant.

Thank you!
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