Need to vent my anger and frustration at my poor growing skills
 

I am in a really really bad mood right now:(( I killed a Burr Nelly Isler in the fall because I didn't know there was a tight wad of sphag in the root ball. So ok, no problem, I got a new one last month. This time I asked the vendor about it, and he said that he changed grower because of the sphag problem. He assured me that there was none this time. A quick poke in the bark seemed to confirm that. I didn't want to repot since it was starting to bloom. BIG MISTAKE. I unpotted it today, and what did I find? A ball of soaking wet sphag, which had been out of reach of my poking fingers. As for the roots, are only a couple small good ones left:(( I think they survived because they were right under the surface. Looks like this one is going to the compost heap. What a huge waste of money. Does anyone think that this one is salvagable?

Out of curiousity, I unpotted my Beallara since I noticed that the new growths stopped growing. The roots are still firm (ish) but no nice green tips on them. I either waited too long between waterings, or watered it too much

Looks like I'm no good at orchid growing.:( All I can grow/keep alive is phals!!

:bad: Uh-uh...no such thing as "I'm no good at orchid growing" ! Nobody ever said it was going to be easy but we've ALL said it is a constant work in progress...always a learning experience ;) You just seem to have hit a "bump" with this particular type of 'chid, that's all :)

I do lots and lots of reading and research, try to absorb a good portion of it...and still, I am such a beginner!

One of the things that I do, which goes against most of what I've read is...I repot every single plant that gets to my house the moment it arrives! I've repotted plants in spike, bud and/or bloom!

My reasoning is this: we, as consumers, have no idea what the grower has been doing to the plant while under their care. Their conditions and regimen will most likely be different from ours. When a new plant arrives, I want to see what's under the top of the growing media. I haven't lost any plants by doing this...just do it gently ;)
I have, however, saved many plants that came to me with rotted roots, snow mold and an occasional uninvited guest!

Don't be afraid to experiment...just do whatever you do in the least disruptive way possible.

You'll get past this bump in the road, I know it :goodluck:

: Smilie_happy_peac

Camille, don't give up! You'll get it. We've all killed our fair share of plants. Your recent experience is a good argument for repotting immediately even if it is in flower. Much better to sacrifice the flowers than the whole plant. If the Beallara has some good roots I think you can save it. I've discovered the Onc. alliance plants seem to need more frequent watering than phals. Try using clear plastic pots so you can see what's actually going on in the root zone. I've found that really helps me know when it's time to water. FWIW I had he hardest time keeping phals alive. In the beginning I rotted all that had the misfortune to follow me home! :roll: I finally got it figured out, and have one that is sending up a new spike; the first under my care! :biggrin:

I definitely learned my lesson this time. The thing is I have read/heard over and over that repotting a blooming plant is a no-no (that was before joining OB), so it always sort of scared me since I don't know if I'll be able to get it to rebloom or not! What's so depressing about this one is that Burr 'Nelly Isler' is supposed to be an easy to grow beginner plant.

And I think the clear plastic pots is the reason my phals are ok since I can keep an eye on the roots. The problem is that I don't know where to buy clear pots. I've already looked for them in garden centers.

I had to purchase my clear pots online. I couldn't find any locally either.

I meant to say in my last post that you should let that vendor know the sphag problem has NOT been resolved. I'd be upset too. :(

Wise words! I second them!

I third those wise words. Besides, you did not kill the plant, it died from someone else's hand. I certainly would mention this to the vendor. I would hope that he would do something as you were specific in stating how leery you were from the first purchase.
Please don't give up, just shake it off...... kiki-do

I second, third, and fourth all of the above! There is an old saying that you are not an expert orchid grower till you've killed your weight in plants. And experience, good or bad, is always the best teacher. It's happened to us all, Camille, but we still keep plugging along. When you do get it right, all the rest just fades away.

Kim

sry to hear that the poor use of moss has once again taken the life of another poor orchid. and definitely never give up, im a novice and i have yet to kill one yet and trust me, i've had my fingeres crossed for a while. things happen in life and wat matters the most is if u can stand back up and learn from the mistake.

clear pots are always good, but at the same time, it can show u the bad stuff, haha... i've seen my roots go from white to green to black when i put my phal in a new media, but hey, itz growing new roots now, and it seem to like it lots ^^ the spike's about 3" long

Camille, I also am sorry to hear about your loss. But don't give up, I can't bloom anything but the Pluero familly. Even then I've had plants that have gone from almost dead to blooming - but it takes time. One plant took 3 years to forgive me for what I did. I have a couple of plants that haven't forgiven me for 4 years.:scratchhead: I recently started a thread in the Orchids in Bloom forum, part of the title was "a lesson learned". If it helps as Tuvoc said earlier (to paraphrase) you're not an expert till you've killed your weight in orchids. I'm sure that after killing your weight you'll still be learning. Would it help it I sent you a couple of pictures of all the plants I killed just since this spring??:_( You'd think I'd have given up by now. Even nurserys lose alot of plants. You'd be amazed how very little we really do understand about them. What may work for one person may not work as good for another. Look at me, people didn't think I could bloom much less grow orchids.

& yes you should definitely get in touch with the vendor & let know what's going on. He might not know & would like to know.

Oh, Camille, I'm so sorry to hear about your Nelly... I agree with Sue 100% - don't give up! And repot your orchids, no matter what, when you get them. If I didn't do this, I wouldn't have known that beneath the surface layer of small bark chips, my new Phrags were potted in a mixture of bark and rockwool! Imagine what that would have done to them if I had followed the advice to let them stand in a dish of water?!

Clear pots are another great suggestion here. I can find them at my local garden centre, but I have also seen them available at most every on-line orchid nursery - under 'Supplies' or similar.

Whatever you do - don't give up! I think everyone needs to go through these experiences in order to realise what 'right' is for them (and the 'right' potting medium, watering regime, fertiliser, etc... are all different for each person and circumstances). Go get another one and try again - or go and try something else new!

camille, you can get your clear pots over the internet
 

I have to order them for our Orchid Society, so I order them from Calwest Tropical. It may be that you have to order too many from them to make it worth your while, but the 4" pots average to be about 40 cents apiece for us. It is okay unless you are ordering the bigger pots, like the 8" pots-they are pretty near $1.00 eaqch by the time I include p&h. Having said that, I like to see what is going on with my plants, and this is the best way. :goodluck:

Thanks everyone for your kind words.:banana: I was a bit over reacting yesterday since I was really upset about it! I love my orchids too much to give them up, no matter how many go to the compost heap. Unfortunately my wallet does not seem to agree with me on this point! :angry: Next time I'm in Amsterdam, I'll speak to the vendor. He's seemed really knowledgable, so it's possible he just doesn't know what's going on with his suppliers.

But what I'm going to do with Nelly is see if I can drop it off at a grower near Paris when I go there soon and see if he can somehow nurse it back to health. They have an orchid sitting service, and he's one of the most reputable frenh growers.

So I guess the only way to make myself feel better is to......buy more orchids!! :biggrin: This time some phals since they seem to like me. And they will be repotted ASAP. By the way, are species phals harder to grow than hybrids??

Don't really know the answer to that one, but
 

if you go to orchidspecies.com, they can tell you what conditions your species plants will like. Other than that, I have a program called OrchidWiz that has that info on most hybrids and species.:biggrin:

With a little TLC your plant will survive. I have grown plants of the oncidium intergeneric variety from a single leafless backbulb.

I guess that if you can do that (wow, resistant little plant:shock: ), I can manage coax a little growth out of the remaining roots. If Nelly doesn't hate me too much!

Like I said the remaining roots are the ones half out of the bark at the top. They are starting to dry a bit though. What if I top dress the pot with a little bit of barely damp sphag to keep a bit of humidity?? (my mortal enemy:angry: )

Or put the plant in a ziploc with the roots in the moss
 

just make sure you keep the top of the bag cracked a little bit. Keep it moist, but not wringing wet.:goodluck:

May I join in? Sphagnum is pretty hard to deal with for most folks. It holds moisture, yes. But it holds it for too long for lots of plants. Those folks who use it regularly, swear by it, but they tend to be the advanced growers who can judge how to handle it. I think for the orchids you have mentioned, you'd be better off with coarse bark (or coco fiber) mix. I think wetness may be your biggest nemesis.

Now for the backbulb. I have grown a substantial Miltonidium from a rootless backbulb http://www.orchidboard.com/community...bs/DSC1939.jpg where the label said (sort of) "Don't bother trying to grow this orchid. We will grow more". I simply potted it in new mix, watered faithfully and after two years this is what I got. Back bulbs are fine for new plants with enough care.

If you do as above, the roots should grow
 

But if as Ross says, you are a fairly new grower, you might want to try as he has suggested.

The biggest problem is that I am going back to France at the end of the week for the holidays. My plants will be in the care of my landlord (I live in a house in her backyard) who knows nothing about orchids. I need to give her a crash course in watering. 2 weeks is going to be a long time!

As for sphag n bag, it would mean cutting off all 8 spikes (as I should probably do anyway). Since I'm not sure I'll ever see flowers on this one again, I'm hesitating...

I feel like the two bald headed guys who put their
 

heads together. :lol:

I didn't see Ross's post since I was busy writing my previous one.
None of my plants are in sphag. Sorry if I seemed a bit unclear before. The sphag was down in the middle of the bark on this one. And what I want to do is put a layer of sphag on the surface to give the remaining roots some moisture. The top cm of bark dries out too quickly to keep those alive. They are already fairly dried out as it is

Actually, I have 3 phal seedlings in sphag, and they are doing great.