Hi nice people!!
Sorry took so long to answer back... I keep trying learn, to read as much threads as I can and I forgot to check my own!
I have 2 Phal and I'm currently having some difficulties to make them thrive. I live in Bakersfield, CA. Here in the summer, the temperatures reaches triple digits very often and, for example, the humidity today is 32%.
My first Phal was a gift. I made the most common mistake and over water it. After searching on board, I repoted on bark and cut rot roots. I lost all the blooms and cut the spike close to roots to focus on roots recovery.
My second Phal I bought from Costco. It was beautiful! 6 leaves (not very big but very green, shine, no signs of damage or infection), 3 green spikes with a lots of unopened buds. The roots as far as I could see, was green, plump, and even had a very beautiful aerial root coming down. When I got home, I checked the roots. They were in moss, super wet. I repoted in bark. No even one root rot or mushy. Great!
Yesterday they looked dry so I soaked both for 10 mins in water, let drip as much as possible and put them back on the east side near a window. Today I noticed the aerial roots aren't doing so well like before. They look wrinkly, not soft pump green like couple of days ago.
It's hard to see this happen... I even thought about to replant them in moss and bark, instead just bark. I don't know if the humidity isn't ideal here, if I under water... I hope I don't kill them.
To help with humidity, I place then under gravel in a tray with water on bottom. What else can I do!?!?
I would like to post pics but I believe I need to post 5x before I'm allowed to. I will as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading though..
Feeling overwhelmed...
Dri