Phal repotted to tight?

[Prairie Girl]

I re potted a Phal I have had for a couple years into a ceramic pot from a plastic pot. When I saw how long the roots were I knew I would have trouble fitting them in. But i started with a bit of bark on the bottom and then coiled the roots around adding abit of bark as I went. I do not think this Phal has as much bark media in this pot as it did in the last pot. Should I get a bigger pot. Will there be enough bark to supply moisture etc to the leaves? I have read somewhere that the roots should not be coiled around when you repot.
Thanks

[Bill U.]

First off, congrats on keeping your phal alive!

I first have to caution you about using ceramic pots as your primary pot for your phals- often times the roots can grow against the sides of the pots and start to stick there: creating damage when you have to pull it out to repot. Many growers suggest potting in a clear plastic pot so that you can monitor the roots without disturbing them.

If you had to coil your roots to fit them into the pot, then I recommend to either cut some of the healthy rooting off to fit the pot without coiling or to find a pot that is big enough so that you are able to snugly fit the roots in and then fill somewhat snugly (but not compacted) with your growing medium.

In terms of getting enough water- that can vary with your climate and conditions, etc. However, with less bark there will be a greater chance of drying out faster, which would just mean that you have to water a little more often. It isn't really a good vs. bad type of thing, just an adjustment. When you water, give it a thorough soaking (2 minutes under low pressure via faucet) and note the weight of the pot/plant. When the plant starts to feel significantly lighter in weight than after you just watered it- it's time to water. Also take care to monitor the top layer of bark because that can become dry in certain growing conditions- it may need light misting every now and again between waterings.

Happy Growing and welcome to the Forum!

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[tucker85]

I always pot my phals in the smallest pots I can fit them into. I find that they do much better when the roots are a little cramped. I think the pot you have it in is the perfect size.

[Prairie Girl]

Thanks for your replies. I think I will go with your advice Tucker. I hate to cut off good roots. After looking closer at it today I notice what I think to be a spike forming. Can I fertilize this Phal right away? I have only ever used 20/20/20 diluted but from reading on your boards the last couple days it suggests a high K and P for fall.
Thanks again
This is such a great community

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by Prairie Girl

Thanks for your replies. I think I will go with your advice Tucker. I hate to cut off good roots. After looking closer at it today I notice what I think to be a spike forming. Can I fertilize this Phal right away? I have only ever used 20/20/20 diluted but from reading on your boards the last couple days it suggests a high K and P for fall.
Thanks again
This is such a great community

You don't need high K or high P. Your 20/20/20 is fine, just use a light dose. You can fertilize your orchid now, you don't need to wait. Phals often start growing faster after repotting.

[RJSquirrel]

Im not a big fan of planting phals in bark mix right off. Sphagnum works much better and already your phal is weak looking and dry as bone in that bark mix.

[RosieC]

I agree with comments above, if you fitted the plant in the pot then with some bark then it will do better that way than in a bigger pot. I sometimes look at them after re-potting and see big gaps through the clear pot, but actually they do better that way.

Originally Posted by Prairie Girl

Can I fertilize this Phal right away? I have only ever used 20/20/20 diluted but from reading on your boards the last couple days it suggests a high K and P for fall.

20-20-20 is good year round as long as it's not too strong.

There used to be an idea that high K or P was required to help blooming, but it's since been proved wrong. What actually happens is that if you have high nitrogen in the fertiliser it actually inhibits blooming. Raising the K or P was seen to promote blooming but it's now been shown that it's actually the fact that doing so reduces the N (assuming the same mixing ratio) and the reduction in N removes the inhibitor to blooming.

If you use 20-20-20 year-round at a good concentration it won't inhibit blooming at all. I follow Ray's advice on concentration and use this link to calculate a good year-round concentration. For 20-20-20 that works out as roughly 0.6 teaspoons per gallon if watering weekly and flushing every 4th week.

I use a 20-20-20 at quarter teaspoon in 1.5 litre which works out about the same and is the easiest measure for me as I have a 1.5 litre watering can. A little rounding up or down won't make too much difference for amateurs like us

[Prairie Girl]

Thanks Everyone
I have only been fertilizing once every three weeks. I am using a concentration that works out very close to what you suggest Rosie. So that's good But, do I understand correctly that you fertilize every watering and then flush on the 4th week? (meaning no fertilizer).

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Prairie Girl

Thanks Everyone
I have only been fertilizing once every three weeks. I am using a concentration that works out very close to what you suggest Rosie. So that's good But, do I understand correctly that you fertilize every watering and then flush on the 4th week? (meaning no fertilizer).

Old advice was that you fertilised once a month with very concentrated fertiliser. That goes along with problems of root burn (so water first then fertilise) and with the inhibition of blooming due to high Nitrogen.

Modern advice is to water weakly weekly, then flush every fourth week. The concentration I suggested is based on that. With this method you don't water first, then fertilise, you just include fertiliser in the water.

The flush is pouring plain water through the pot, to wash out built up fertiliser salts. I like to use rain water for this so it's really free of dissolved salts, however before I had easy access to that I just used tap water. It's good to use a reasonable amount of water when flushing, then let it drain out fully.

Note that the pattern of 3 times fertilising and 1 time flushing does not have to be weakly. If you have a plant that needs watering more or less often then still follow the pattern. When I have ones that take longer to dry I don't water them early to fertilise, I just wait till they are ready for water, then follow the fertilise 3 times out of 4 pattern.

I've checked on the link I gave earlier and concentration does not alter based on how often you water, it's more based on how often you flush compared to how often you fertilise.

[Bill U.]

Yes, you are correct in your 3 out of 4 waterings being fertilizer and then the 4th watering being only water adn really flushing out the potting media.
Some growers suggest that you space fertilizing out a little bit more during the winter/cooler months (versus warm, summer months) to give the plants a little bit of a break, but it has been my experience and the experience of other growers here, that if you keep to Ray's suggested concentrations, you can maintain your fertilizing schedule year round with an every now and then 2 out of 4 waterings being fertilizer (following this system is great for busy people because if you happen to "oops" on fertilizing, it's okay ).