New Chid Addict
 

:hello I just got my very first orchid about 2 weeks ago, and am already up to seven! All but one are rescues from big box store. I inherited a green thumb from my mother, and am ready to try it out on these beautiful babies of mine!

Hello and welcome!!!!

Hello and welcome, what kind of orchid do you have?
Joann

Five Phals, and two mini phals. Currently weighing the pros and cons of replanting one that is currently blooming... Bought all of them from Lowe's, and they are suffocating in sphagnum (sp?)!
Repotting? Not sure of correct terminology...

Yes, repotting is correct. Phals are more forgiving of when you repot them. It's just human mechanical error (aka, breaking the flower stalks accidentally) that you need to watch out for. However, if you repot you need to be aware that if you repot in bark or something less water retentive the. You may need to water a bit more frequently until they are accustomed to the new medium.

Thank you! I have some Better-Gro Special Orchid mix. Should I soak it before re-potting the phal?

:hello and welcome!

YES it needs to be soaked otherwise it will not hold water and will dry too quickly.
Joann

I've seen some talk about mixing some sphag in with the bark medium to help with water retention. Is this a good idea? I can see how it could be helpful, but am so leery after seeing how tight it was packed in these...

:welcomeflowers: Glad you found us!

Welcome to Orchid Board :welcomeflowers:

Welcome and congratulations on your Phals. Did you save the tags or are they NoID's?

Some people do add sphag, it just depends on your climate and growing conditions honestly. The sphag would help somewhat with the transition from all sphag to a bark based medium, just remember when watering that sphag retains a lot more water and will dry slower than a bark mix alone.

I have the tags on all but two. At $1 a piece, I couldn't resist even the NOIDs! The minis are Phal. Sogo Vivien (mericlone), and Phal. Doud Violet (mericlone). And my big baby is Dtps. Sinica Cherry 'MP0670'. The other four are what I would call regular sized? The ones you usually see in the big box stores. Two of them are NOIDs; the other two are P. Lulu (has a bunch of numbers that I don't know the relevance of), and Dtps. Chain Xen Pearl 'Ming Ho' AM/AOS.

AOS I know stands for American Orchid Society, but no clue as to the other initials! Lol!

I can't believe you paid $1 each. Yikes, that is a great deal.

AM, stands for Award of Merit. You made out like a bandit, good for you!

Oh! My! GOSH!!! I just squealed! Rofl! Now I am super proud of myself! Now if I can just keep them alive, I will be doing wonderfully! Wish I wasn't so broke, or I would go back for more. Is it always like this? I can't seem to get enough of them!

You are absolutely in the right place. Not only do we get excited about our chids, but we totally applaud the hard work and extensive knowledge of others. Welcome to a wonderful forum! Every day you will learn something new.

I try to learn something new every day anyway, so that is perfect! ;-)

I would like to put my orchids outside. I have a porch, with roof, that faces south. Well, sort of southwest actually. There is a house across the street diagonally, and a few trees that shade the porch in the afternoon. Do you think it would be wise to put them out there?

If it were me I would put them in more shade initially and gradually give them more sun. You don't know how long they have been in artificial light and you don't want to give them sunburns. But they will be much happier outside with fresh air and breezes.

The other thing I do is repot new orchids. That way I can check out the roots and get them started off on the right foot. Also, what I have discovered is, a lot of the growers will take a hunk of sphagnum moss and place it in the middle of the roots. You want to get that out of there.

Hopefully this will help. I still can't believe you paid $1 each. I am really happy for you.

My back porch (north side of house) is completely closed in, but all windows. All of the windows have thick (5 mil?) plastic on them because this house is older than Mathusela! So although it is bright, the light is quite filtered. Perhaps try them there first?

All but one are packed in nothing but sphag :( I am repotting all of them one at a time. Using Better-Grow Special Orchid Mix, and soaking it before. Adding just a touch of sphag to help with moisture, and help the chids adjust. Would appreciate your :twocents: on how I am doing so far!

Thank you! That honestly means a lot to me :blushing: I hate to see plants suffer when all they needed was someone to care... Bonus for me; I get to revive absolute beauties that I couldn't have afforded otherwise! Also, I get a whole new community of really great people that are willing to help me care for these wonderful plants!

Let me ask you, is there any ventilation at all on back porch? I know it is hot right now in Kentucky and you don't want to bake them. If there isn't any ventilation then go for it on the front porch.

Otherwise I think you are spot on. You go girl!

One more thing, be careful not to plant your new babies too deep (crown rot), or in too big a pot (over potting).

I by no means have the experience that many others have. I can only share what I would do, given my experience.

Belated welcome! You make me want to go to my Lowe's so I can see if they have any Mother's day left over chids deals.

Remember we love pictures so feel free to share.

It is ventilated. It has been turned into the laundry room, and is also the door we come in and out of constantly. The door from the back porch/laundry room stays open, so it doesn't get terribly hot because of spill-over air conditioning. I have a thermometer/humidity guage that records the highest and lowest temps and humidity. I think I will set it back there today and see what the temps are like...

Ok, so the high temperature in the back room was 84 today. The humidity, surprisingly enough, was the issue at around 40%. I'm thinking that this might be a good place to adjust my chids to more light! I have quite a few with very dark leaves from being in the stores so long...

Guidelines can be offered and yet at the end of the day we have to figure out what works best for us given our local, temp etc etc. Try the back and the worst that can happen is you switch to the other porch. That is the beauty of learning. I am surprised though that the humidity isn't higher.

By contrast we are having temps in the 60's, but humidity is 90%. Part of it is because we are on an island. My Masdies and Pleuro's are happy, the rest want warmer temps.

Is the gang repotted ?

I moved two of my icu cases to the back. One had very dark green leaves, the other had dark, floppy leaves and had been dehydrated. I gave it a good soak, then repotted it in orchid mix with a touch of sphag mixed in. The first ones leaves are already brightening, and the floppy one has filled in most of the wrinkles in her leaves and is holding them up by herself! Been working pretty hard because of the holiday, but going to repot the two minis tonight.

Still fighting to get the humidity right back there, but making up for it by misting until a better fix comes up.

Happy Memorial Day!

Since you are working so much, set chids on a tray with pebbles to deal with humidity issue. That may help.

So happy to hear the two perked up right away!

Good Job!!!!

Thank you! I was successful with the transplanting of the minis.:biggrin: One has a new growth that may be a root, or might be another inflorescence? It still has its original stalk, and it is still healthy. Not sure why it would put up another at this point.:dunno: Not going to complain if it does though! I've seen a lot of talk about the humidity trays. Figured I would fix one up soon. Until payday I have a pie plate full of water in between the two larger chids. The minis are in front. Hoping that will help by morning!:pray: