Phalaenopsis gigantea - long term growing project

[jje10001]

Originally Posted by jje10001

So I got this gigantea for a pretty decent price, and am looking for some tips on its care.

[...]

So one month later and this plant is on its deathbed!

After a few weeks, a leaf yellowed and dropped off, while the root system largely died off. Over the course of the following weeks in a humidity chamber (with regular airing + a heatmat), after a promising first few weeks of leaf growth, the plant then was struck by a secondary localized fungal infection (spots + wrinkling), and then the final mature leaf yellowed and also dropped off despite treatment.

This leaf yellowing is much faster than I have experienced with some of my other phals (some of whom hold onto their leaves even if they're severely dehydrated/stressed), and it seems like gigantea quickly spirals if the root system is lost.

At this point, there is only the small newest leaf + the stem remaining + the root wires, I'm not sure how this one can be recovered. Perhaps this one will end up in the bin, unfortunately.



Lesson learnt- Phal gigantea has a low stress tolerance, and I should not pick one up that's 1.) Barerooted, and 2.) Neglected! A shame too, since this one seemed like an interesting variety.

[Ray]

Phals hate cold, wet roots. Phal gigantea is a seriously “hot” grower among phals.

You have kept it entirely too cold. The evaporative cooling from the moist LECA in your dry, air conditioned environment chilled the roots even more.

[jje10001]

Originally Posted by Ray

Phals hate cold, wet roots. Phal gigantea is a seriously “hot” grower among phals.

You have kept it entirely too cold. The evaporative cooling from the moist LECA in your dry, air conditioned environment chilled the roots even more.

It was on a heat mat, but point taken.

I will try again next time with another approach (and a healthier plant), if the opportunity presents itself once more.

[Ray]

The heat mat likely helped a bit, but the entire plant prefers warmth, and apparently more light than other phals.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by isurus79

High temps?

Originally Posted by estación seca

Agree. These plants in habitat think 70F is frigid.

I was going to post an update on my plant, and wanted to circle back to this. Your responses about temperature were in response to why the spike on my gigantea stalled. After now nearly 2 months where the temp in my apartment has rarely gone below 26°C (79F), and with many days at or above 30°C (86F), I think it is safe to say that temperature is not the main problem. The spike has only grown a tiny little bit.


A more general update on my plant (photos this evening/tomorrow). Until this year, my plant never hung on to more than 3 leaves. As soon as leaf 4 would start growing, the oldest would start yellowing. After much reading, as I wrote in earlier posts my hypothesis was that the root mass was still insufficient to support more leaves. The plant has grown a ton of roots since I switched it to leca, and it now carries 4 leaves, with #5 now on the way. Which makes it all the more upsetting that I killed all the root tips with a stupid mistake in July, where I accidently double dosed the fertilizer.

I also noticed a second spike starting, so I'm hoping this one will develop better!!! I intended to get a heat mat for the winter, but seeing how our energy costs are exploding due to the situation with Russia, a heat mat is not something I can afford to run for the time being and I may have to reduce the supplemental lighting this winter.

[tmoney]

yeah, we hear ya camille. energy costs are spiraling for us too, so i am giving real thought to small changes we could make to reduce our watering and electricity use. thank god the terrarium is now gone!! our giga starship is in a giant cache pot, only so that we can have room for the leaves to get lots of air circulation. the first step is to reduce its watering pot so we only need half the volume. i have wasted a ton of water on that thing just to keep it in that pot, but i am worried that if it is a permanent change then the roots won't have the same circulation and we may seem some damping issues

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by tmoney

yeah, we hear ya camille. energy costs are spiraling for us too, so i am giving real thought to small changes we could make to reduce our watering and electricity use. thank god the terrarium is now gone!! our giga starship is in a giant cache pot, only so that we can have room for the leaves to get lots of air circulation. the first step is to reduce its watering pot so we only need half the volume. i have wasted a ton of water on that thing just to keep it in that pot, but i am worried that if it is a permanent change then the roots won't have the same circulation and we may seem some damping issues

I have the same issue with my gigantea. What I do now is reuse the water for a couple waterings. After soaking the giga I pour the water into a large bottle and then reuse it (for the giga only) next time. After a couple uses I water other house plants with it. I also use 'wasted' water for the orchids. When we shower the hot water takes a while to kick in, and we collect the cold/lukewarm water in a bucket. That's about 3-4L per day!

The orchids are going to have a rough winter. No/less supplemental light and we're going to turn down the heating....

[tmoney]

interesting approach with reusing the water. i guess i hadn't considered that, but if it's only going to the same plant then, what's the harm? btw, have you guys started mass producing those net pots???!!! that could be helpful for some of us indoor winter growers!

thankfully we have never relied on lights and our flat is perfect for phals....god help us if we are forced to move in a short time table. the heat is gonna be our issue, and trust me when i say that the brain fluid is pumping overtime trying to brainstorm solutions to heat retention. this is probly a good thing for europe, it's never good to rest on your laurels and necesity is the mother of invention yadi yadi yada. maybe bad for us trying to keep giganteas happ inside tho

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by tmoney

interesting approach with reusing the water. i guess i hadn't considered that, but if it's only going to the same plant then, what's the harm? btw, have you guys started mass producing those net pots???!!! that could be helpful for some of us indoor winter growers!

The net pot has been cracking along the top, I think the layer of plastic either too thin, or maybe type of filament used (PLA) doesn't hold up well to light and water....

thankfully we have never relied on lights and our flat is perfect for phals....god help us if we are forced to move in a short time table. the heat is gonna be our issue, and trust me when i say that the brain fluid is pumping overtime trying to brainstorm solutions to heat retention. this is probly a good thing for europe, it's never good to rest on your laurels and necesity is the mother of invention yadi yadi yada. maybe bad for us trying to keep giganteas happ inside tho[/QUOTE]

We're extremely lucky to live in a building less than 10 years old and already fairly energy efficient but we've been brainstorming a lot too. Anything to bring the costs down because our new gas contract costs over twice as much as the old one...

[Mr.Fakename]

Long time no update, so here's one.

My small gigantea alba was damaged by heat when I moved last year, and didn't make it.
It's a shame, but thankfully it seems nowadays these plants are easier to get a hold of than 10 years ago.

The big one keeps getting bigger, and has finally decided to bloom.
Here is it as of last weekend.

(pics won't work, uploading it as attachment)