Help! my Phal fell on the floor AGAIN
 

:hello

I have 2 Phalaenopsis and both fell on the floor so many times and also I am tired of all the problems related to fir bark medium so I want to try Semi-hydroponic culture in Hydroton.

These are the plants:

First one, repoted first on the 16.10.10 only to see some filaments of mold forming around the crown and inside the medium so I repoted again on the 27.10.10 (10 days ago).
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...5-dsc00859.jpg
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...4-dsc00856.jpg

Today, after 10 days, there were filaments of mold forming again :duh:and some small black flies are present (you can't see them in the picture):
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...6-dsc00863.jpg
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...7-dsc00864.jpg

And since all this was not enough, few minutes after I took the pictures the pot fell and all the medium was on the floor. :poke: Now the plant is in a glass of water with few drops of Grow fertilizer and few drops of organic seaweed fertilizer:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...8-dsc00867.jpg
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...9-dsc00874.jpg

This plant had so many traumas I am surprised it is still alive.

The other one was repoted on 12.10.10, almost 1 month ago and the medium already produced some small flies:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...2-dsc00860.jpg
This is the root system one month ago when I repoted:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...6-dsc00771.jpg

I am soaking some Hydroton in plain hot water now. Should I add some fertilizer to the soaking solution after it cools down? I have no KLN, I only have a rooting hormone that contains 0.43% w/w 1-naphthylacetic acid (not sure what that means)

I am new to S/H, does anybody have any suggestions about S/H, anything I should know before I pot in it? Do you have any recommended lecture for me?

If I sprinkle some cinnamon on the roots would it help to prevent those filaments of mould reoccurring? I also have some Hydrogen peroxide in the house, if I dilute that and dip the roots in it, would it help?


Thanks
Luiza

Don't sprinkle with cinnamon. It will dry the roots out. I think the first thing you need to do is find a spot so that they don't get knocked over. Otherwise you are going to have water everywhere with s/h.

That is an excellent point, Jonada!

Maybe a hanging basket would be better

hanging basket would be good, but you would be watering every day at the least.

Hanging basket would not work for me as I have nowhere to hang from and I will not be able to water everyday anyway.

how about putting the phal & plastic pot into a terracotta pot, so it does not fall over?
sort of like this.?
This phal also 'fell' before I put her in this pot. She hasn't fallen since.. Hope this helps.

Nenella looks like she has your answer to orchids that fall over. And as far as learning about S/H, go to Ray Barkalow's web site: [url=http://www.firstrays.com. One of the first recommendations is that the orchids be repotted when they have new root growth and your pictures look like your plant is a perfect candidate! So go for it!!;)

I have a suicidal cattlaya. It keeps jumping off the rack. The 3rd time it jumped I was even right there, nothing bumped it or anything. That time it even broke the ceramic pot that I had placed it in!!

Hi

OK, so I will not use cinnamon when repoting.

My hydroton is soaked now ready for repoting. In the mean time I saw there is another green tip emerging from one of the old roots. Is that considered a new root?

The heavy container pot is an excellent idea, Thanks Nenela! I have not found one to fit my pot yet but my kitchen utensil holder looks like a good candidate :))

Also I have went to Ray's website and read.. and read.. and read..