Go back to bark if leaves wilting?

[Tutmos]

Thanks Ray and others. The bagging thing sounds like a good idea. The temp is always about 74 in the office. During the winter I'll crank it up a bit. The plants were all doing pretty well prior to this switch. Some had grown 2 complete 8"+ leaves in the last few months and essentially all others were in the process of growning leaves. I made the switch mainly because it was getting to be a real pain trying to determine how much to let the phals soil dry and remembering to water while I was at the office, plus I'm always a little paranoid so I'm always wondering if I was getting root rot...

I did the mass switch over with all of these because most at least 5 or 6 had new root buds poking out and it seemed like a good solution to my issue. I'm thinking what might be going on is the low humidity environment and good air circulation might be forcing more evaporative loss that normal.

I like Ray's suggestion about bagging them up. I'll have to go out and find some clear garbage bags.

Kevin

[Tutmos]

Okay a little update. I've bagged for a few days at a time off and on, some mold growth started and I didn't want things rotting so I gave them a week with it off etc. then rebagged because wilt started again. Out of the 8 starting plants 2 have died so far. I've been spraying the top layer of media and new root growths with a room temp water periodically just to add a little moisture.

Today I removed all of the plants from the media and cut off all the old roots, anything from before SH was dead at this point. As someone mentioned in another thread above, I put them back in the media with the old roots cut off and seat lower in the pot so the new roots, between 1-3 inches long, were under the primeagra and in constant contact with it instead of struggling to reach it still. Let's hope this helps them out. None are doing very well yet.

If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have tried SH. All of the plants were growing and doing well in bark mix, if it isn't broke don't fix it. I was just paranoid about root rot and not knowing if they got too much or too little water so I thought this would be a good solution. The grass is always greener.

[FinnBar]

I'm sorry to hear that Tutmos. I've had my share of fixing unbroken things and some of the times i've paid the price. i wouldn't blame myself though if i were you. often s/h works really well and it's easy to understand why you wanted to give it a try.

But sounds like all isn't lost yet. Let's hope for the best with the remaining 8. Good luck!

[Ray]

Tusmos, it IS a good solution to the watering problem, but as I said before, timing is absolutely critical.

As to "not fixing what ain't broke", I can go either way with that. Sometimes leaving well enough alone is OK, but it may not afford you other benefits or improvements. In this case, I think it's simply a matter of not applying the fix correctly.

[goodgollymissmolly]

I don't know, Tutmos. My grower switched about 50 plants to SH with no problem at all. They included Phals, Paphs, Phrags, Catts, and Catt hybrids. All together we consumed two of the 44 L bags of Ray's clay stuff. We got a large Iwanagara Apple Blossom that needed repotting badly at a club meeting and just jerked it out of bark and into SH and it bloomed two months later and is growing great guns.

My grower is good. She was extremely expensive so I married her to save money. Well that didn't work...the marriage is fine but I didn't save any money..it costs me twice as much now.

So to me SH is simple, but don't marry your grower expecting to save money. I can't make that part work. If you need some advice I'll send my grower to help you, but it won't be cheap. Maybe I can recup some of my investment.

All kidding aside, my grower's switch to SH was extremely successful and without a hitch. I can't imagine what kind of problem you are having. Wish I could help you, but have a Merry Xmas anyhow! Maybe my grower is a bargain after all.

[Grandma M]

[QUOTE=goodgollymissmolly;71517]

My grower is good. She was extremely expensive so I married her to save money. Well that didn't work...the marriage is fine but I didn't save any money..it costs me twice as much now.


I love your humor and your story.

[goodgollymissmolly]

It's not that humorous, GrannyM. Heck I used to fill my 21 ft bass boat with 57 gallons of gas that I used at the rate 1 gallon per mile and thought that was expensive. I just had my greenhouse propane tank 1/2 filled for the grand sum of $760. It was filled four weeks earlier just after Thanksgiving. According to my math that is $190 per week. Now add to that all these orchids, all my own (free) work maintaining and upgrading the greenhouse, and feeding, clothing, and housing my grower and I should just have continued to pay her a salary.

No wonder my SH switch went well it cost a fortune. Oh well, it's Christmas. Ya'll have a good one ya hear. We got propane for Christmas.