Good morning from East Tennessee!

[Zoomie]

Hello everyone ! Thought I should introduce myself as I get to know everyone.

I am brand spankin' new to Orchids. I currently grow exclusively indoors on a light rack, as we are stuck in an apartment while looking for a backyard and oh yeah, a house.

I grow Lithops (mature and from seed), Cacti, Stapeliias/Huernias, a few Bonsai starters, and anything else that I cant live without.

Like a fool, I was at the nursery and they talked me in to perusing the Near Death Fire Sale table. I saw some nice Phals and Dendros. The prices were less than the cost of the pots they were in. Before I knew it, I made a call to my PW (That's my Plant Wife, as opposed to my real wife). I told her I needed some help. She ripped the Orchids apart, trimmed off the dead stuff, let them dry out a bit overnight, then repotted in a coarse, airy medium. And I am happy to say that thanks to her, two larger Dendros seemed to have made the turn and are well on their way to a full comeback.

I have now managed to gather 4 Phals, 2 Dendros, and a Catt. All common, big box commercial orchids that likely bore senior members here to tears. That said, I love them!

I came here to try and identify a decent commercial grade potting medium after my shopping fiasco yesterday. I explained that I have some smaller Phals. I have a bag of Better Gro Special but am concerned that the particle/chunk size is far too large. I was promptly sold a bag of Black Gold Orchid mix.

Well, I opened the bag this morning and was horrified to discover that is essentially a bag of dirt! I may be new to orchids but I've at least read enough to clearly understand that most orchids DO NOT GO IN DIRT! They should change the name on the mix to Black Orchid Death Potting Mix.

I so wish I could just read to identify great soil components and then mix my own. But we simply don't have the room. So for now, other than the Better Gro and some Spag, we just don't have the room to do custom mixes.

As for my light rack, its pretty danged bright. I'm running 4 shelves. Each shelf has 4 x 4ft t5ho bulbs. I do not intend to use the rack for orchids, but the room is bright enough that they appear to enjoy the ancillary light.

Excited about learning the basics so that my orchids thrive versus thrive.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Large chunk bark works fine. You just need to water more often. Most beginners tend to overwater Catts and Phals, so they learn better on coarse bark. You grow Lithops, so you must be disciplined enough not to water every day. Succulentists learning to grow orchids frequently don't water enough.

Which Dendrobiums? That Black Gold stuff in a small pot can work for Dens.

I'm surprised an apartment would have electric circuits that could handle so many light fixtures without tripping the circuit breaker.

[Zoomie]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Large chunk bark works fine. You just need to water more often. Most beginners tend to overwater Catts and Phals, so they learn better on coarse bark. You grow Lithops, so you must be disciplined enough not to water every day. Succulentists learning to grow orchids frequently don't water enough.

Which Dendrobiums? That Black Gold stuff in a small pot can work for Dens.

I'm surprised an apartment would have electric circuits that could handle so many light fixtures without tripping the circuit breaker.

Thank you !

I can try the big chunk stuff but these Phals are in the 2 inch containers. I'm repotting to a larger pot but did not want to over pot. And two of them are in moss which I prefer to avoid at this point.

Sadly, the tags on both Dendrobiums just says Assorted Dendros. Both are about 15 inches high. Ive included pictures, although I'm not sure if orchid species can be ID'd by leaf alone. I certainly don't have the experience to do so.

If anything, I'm underwatering them. One of them was drooping fiercely this morning so I soaked for about 15 minutes. Its in a coarse mix so drainage is stellar. I'll have to increase frequency.

T5HO lighting is not like running MH. Reasonable electricity requirements. Perusing the light bills tells me that it is sucking up about an additional 15-20.00 per month running them on a 13 on, 11 off cycle. No problems at all with breakers.

[Zoomie]

I have no idea why my pictures were both flipped 90 degrees to the left. Attempting to correct.

[Zoomie]

Here's a pic of the size of the Phal compared to the size of the potting medium. Might as well take one chunk and call it an air mount!

[rbarata]

Welcome, Zoomie

A great thing about bark is that it's easy to break in smaller pieces. For a pot that size you won't need to break so much.

[Zoomie]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Welcome, Zoomie

A great thing about bark is that it's easy to break in smaller pieces. For a pot that size you won't need to break so much.

I’m clearly a bit thick. It never even dawned on me to just break it up a little.

Thank you!

[estación seca]

It's probably a Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrid, perhaps with some Latouria or Antennatum species mixed in. You can read about them here on Orchid Board. There's a Search function in the top menu. It likes to be warm, bright and moist all year. Many arrive in large bark; if so they need almost daily watering.

You could use that bark unbroken for that Phal in a slightly larger pot. It would also be fine in the moss if you let it get almost crisp dry between waterings.

[Zoomie]

Originally Posted by estación seca

It's probably a Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrid, perhaps with some Latouria or Antennatum species mixed in. You can read about them here on Orchid Board. There's a Search function in the top menu. It likes to be warm, bright and moist all year. Many arrive in large bark; if so they need almost daily watering.

You could use that bark unbroken for that Phal in a slightly larger pot. It would also be fine in the moss if you let it get almost crisp dry between waterings.

Thank you. Can you tell me which picture you were referring to? Two different species.

I’ll go over to the Dendro group and do a search on your suggestions.

[estación seca]

The Dendrobiums in your photos are similar. Almost all Dens sold in mass markets are hybrids. You will learn to tell them apart by plant and flower shape, like cactus. Den phals usually have shorter and stiffer leaves than yours, which is why I think they're mixed with one or more from the other groups.