Hi Everyone! New member from Ohio

[estación seca]

Welcome! Sorry about the rough spell. There is a lot of informaton on Phals in these two threads here:

The Phal abuse ends here.

Using skewers to determine when to water

[katrina]

Welcome - fellow Buckeye! I'm in Columbus too! So sorry to hear of your losses and troubles. You've sure had your share in a short period.

As for our (Central Ohio Orchid Society aka COOS) spring show...we do have one every spring but we also have monthly meetings. The third Thurs of each month - w/the exception of August and December.

You should pop into one of our meetings! This month we're having a discussion on pests and diseases and their treatments. It should be very interesting.

We meet at the Franklin Park Conservatory...downstairs classroom...7:30 start time.

BTW - gorgeous Mastiff! That is the breed my husband and I are looking at for our next furry kid. We've always had the "giants" but never a mastiff...we've had Newfoundlands and a Black Russian Terrier...I think it's time for a Mastiff. English Mastiff, to be specific.

[sapphirerose]

Originally Posted by katrina

BTW - gorgeous Mastiff! That is the breed my husband and I are looking at for our next furry kid. We've always had the "giants" but never a mastiff...we've had Newfoundlands and a Black Russian Terrier...I think it's time for a Mastiff. English Mastiff, to be specific.

Honey is our first giant. She's actually an Italian mastiff, so only 115 lbs. We got her from a friend of my husband, but I have seen that M astiffs to Mutts rescue has a 5 year old English available in Columbus right now. She has been hard to resist, but we aren't ready for 2 giants right now.


I've checked out the COOS website and printed the application. I hope to make the meeting.


Thanks to all for the warm welcome and sympathy!

[sapphirerose]

I spent the morning re-potting my newest orchids. I saw what looks suspiciously like spider mites on one of them. I spent August murdering the spider mite colony that came in with the English Ivy in one of the funeral baskets. I'm not in the mood for that again.

I used my tried and true mixture of castille soap, neem oil, and rosemary essential oil in water back then and it didn't kill my first orchid, so I'm sticking with it. I've slaughtered many a mite colony with just the rosemary essential oil in water but the neem and soap seems to carry it through the sprayer better.

My Phal. japonica is now in a dessert cup in which I burned holes using the soldering iron my husband hates. He wanted a better one. It makes a great plastic burner. :P

Repotting reminds me of working in the lab. Repot a plant. Change gloves, clean the bench, start again. I may work at a desk now, but my years in the microbiology lab seem to be an advantage from what I've read here.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by sapphirerose

...my years in the microbiology lab seem to be an advantage from what I've read here.

You'll be flasking in no time.

[Tindomul]

Welcome to the Orchid Board. So sorry to hear about your losses.
Phals can be hard at first, and they can continue to be hard. I've been growing them for years and those hybrids from the stores still die on me on occasion. I have better luck with some species.
Don't blame yourself with the blue-dyed Phals. They were treated badly at the source, starting with the addition of the blue dye.

[sapphirerose]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Welcome to the Orchid Board. So sorry to hear about your losses.
Phals can be hard at first, and they can continue to be hard. I've been growing them for years and those hybrids from the stores still die on me on occasion. I have better luck with some species.
Don't blame yourself with the blue-dyed Phals. They were treated badly at the source, starting with the addition of the blue dye.

Thanks!

I think the one from my grandmother's funeral basket might be the first to die since the blue Phal. It was in the same basket as the English Ivy, which was chocked full of spider mites, so it was attacked by the spider mites worse than any of the others. English Ivy is notorious for spider mites. The poor thing was disadvantaged from the beginning.

But, I managed to eliminate the spider mites fairly swiftly. I am an experienced spider mite murderer from my other house plants.

Then, it got little black fungus specks in all the mite bites, which started to spread but we defeated that as well.

But that left it weak, and it has only a pair of older leaves (the ones on the bottom of the plant) that were already yellowing and a baby leaf left.

It is so weak that I'm not sure it will make it through the winter, but I'm hopeful. It still has strong healthy roots, and I remember reading here that hope is not lost as long as it has some roots and a leaf.

Thanks again to everyone! This board is chocked full of advice.

But they are for the most part happy it seems. I posted a picture of the whole gang on their new table in the Windowsill Growing section. I do need to cut some skewers off shorter in some of my pots still. They look odd in the ones with no spikes.

[Tindomul]

Hope is not lost so long as the roots are good. If you have a good root mass, new leaves will grow.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Welcome to the board.