new to board- vanda / phal concerns

[grlhiggins]

Hi fellow Orchid freaks. -and I mean that in the most endearing way!
I inherited my love affair with orchids from my mother and have grown and loved orchids for over 11 years.

I spent 3 years in canada and had zilch luck in keeping orchids alive indoors. I myself barely survived the cold! But upon returning to warm Florida I immediately began my inventory of my beautiful orchids. I am a bit of a vanda freak but have 2 cattleyas, phals and dendobriums.

I am more than delighted to be a part of a board that has the same fascination, wonder and anxiety that comes from growing these amazing and finnicky fellas!

ok- 'nuff about me! i have 2 chids that I am a bit concerned about. vanda and Phal. -both with spikes and going to bloom shortly.

vanda - I noticed some spotting recently on leaves and not sure if this is normal marking or fungus.

phal-has completely overgrown basket and had roots growing all over that were once not too long ago, completely healthy. I plan on repotting after bloom but have no idea what to do about getting it out of basket. btw, the mix is spag moss which seems to have broken down. - is this root rot?

Thanks guys! and sorry about the lengthy bio!

: )

p.s. I plan on using coco fiber in place of spag in all future mixes. thoughts??


ALSO hwo the heck does one post pics?? my jpegs are failing : (

[Tindomul]

If the roots are dieing, then yes. Root rot. Possibly they are not getting enough opportunity to dry/get some air. Sphag moss is reluctant to dry once it breaks down. So it could have led to your rot. But all is not lost. I would urge you to repot now, or risk never seeing another bloom from this one. Perhaps a picture would help. How is the rest of the plant. Condition of leaves, etc...
As far as the Vanda, I'll leave that to our Vanda gurus here.

[cb977]

Hi and welcome to Orchidboard

I'm just north of you in Spring Hill! Great place to grow 'chids Yay for us
We go down to Palm Harbor once in a while for Sweet Tomatos! Yummy

To make it easier to release the roots from the pot it's in, soak the pot in some clear water for about 20 minutes first, that should make the job go more smoothly.

For the vanda, if you're talking about black spots or freckles, they're usually nothing to be concerned about on a vanda. You won't get rid of the ones you have but to prevent it on future growth, spray the whole plant with some Thiomyl.

For pictures:

Resizing Images...originally posted 6/13/06 by Marty

Thumbnail pics in posts

Gallery Photos

The resizing is the most important part...if the pics are not resized prior to uploading, you'll have problems.

[grlhiggins]

there are 3 spikes so will repot after bloom.
question is:
after soaking, if most roots are no good, will it survive? I have never done a repot where roots (both dead and alive) are stuck to basket.

[kiki-do]

I too am interested in this answer from someone. Most of the time we are told to just put it in a bigger container, that container and all. This time there is sphagnum moss and possible root rot involved. Now what is the proper way to handle an orchid so attached?
Welcome to OB grlhiggins!!!!! So glad you came on and asked this question. We all want to know.....calling all orchid guru's!!!! Thanks for sharing! kiki

[Ross]

Those roots look very good to me. Soak the plant till roots turn very green, then gently remove them from the slats. Repot, and you are good to go. Oh, try adding some Superthrive or K-L-N to watering mix to get plant to turn on the root growing thing.

[kavanaru]

hhhmmm... not an experxt here, 'cause I always try to avoid mounted or basquets when I can use pots... however, these roots look fine for me (agree with Ross here!), a bit on the dry side but good... furthermore, trying to remove those roots from that basquet looks like a big challenge and probably would damage more roots than necessary... what I would do in this case (and please the experts should raise their hand and hit my head if am totally wrong! ) I would try to remove the sphag as much as possible, wash those root, cut the dead ones and try to keep the plant the way it is... probably trying to "insert" some new growing medium between the roots (sort of LECA? some new sphag? some EpiWeb? some I-don't-know-what? ) to provide some support to the plant and help keeping moisture after watering...

...and use KLN or superthrive when watering to induce more rooting

[Becca]

I would leave it in it's basket and try and get the moss out (as others suggested) and then put something else in between the roots. Epiweb would be interesting if you could get the chunks small enough. I do have to disagree with Ross, I have found that even after soaking, roots aren't always so willing to "let go", but perhaps I didn't let mine soak long enough the time I had problems.

[cb977]

I've removed many plants from their baskets after soaking them well and have had no problems. Of course, as in anything else in the world of orchids, there's no one "right" way to do something.

It would be fine for you to soak the basket well and try to get as much of the old sphag out of there and then as Becca said, put it in a larger basket with something in between to stabilize it...which is something Epiweb works wonders for!

[shakkai]

I agree with the others, the roots shown in the photo looks like they are supposed to look. Phals seem to love having their roots exposed to the air. I would leave it in the existing basket, and like the others have said, remove the sphag (might need tweezers or other such implement to be able to reach?) and tuck some new medium into the basket. Remember, they grow in nature on trees with nothing covering their roots - so I wouldn't even put it into a larger basket. Just my