I suppose I overwatered her, since some leaves started to yellow and when I took her out of the pot, all of the roots but one were rotten. I've put her in pure sphagnum and check very often if it's not too damp or too dry. She's lost two leaves, but she's growing a new one. She's also got five keikis on the spike (on one of the nodes, there are three spikes growing), but no roots. How can I get her and the keikis to grow roots? I water her with fertilizer and superthrive. I have also soaked the entire plant in water with rooting hormones (one of my vandas started to put out new roots two weeks after being soaked in this solution). I don't know what would be best. Shall I mount her to monitor the roots better, or change her into fine bark? Any suggestions are more than welcome. It's my first species phal and I want to get me more, but I don't want to buy them to kill them short afterwards.
I wouldn't pot equestris in sphagnum moss. I have noticed with mine that it likes being on the dry side and I have it in bark.
You have to be very careful when using moss as it is easy to "over-water" - especially since you appear to have the pot in another pot and air-flow is thus limited.
If you prefer sphag, then always use a pot with slits up the sides as this helps dry the moss out. I wouldn't put the orchid pot into another pot either...
A general rule with phals is to keep them on the dry side or in a mix that can dry out fairly quickly.
I would repot in med to lg grade bark. I would also cut off the new spike and remove at least 1 of the Keikis to reduce the stress on the mother plant. GL!
I've repotted into medium to small bark. I'll be watching her carefully. I wonder if there's anything I can do to make the keikis grow roots. On the other hand, I'd love to leave them on the motherplant and see them grow spikes and blooms. Must be a beautiful sight, but I guess this is "science fiction".
The pot in the pictures looks too big for a plant that size in bark or moss. If it's only got one root then even more so. A much smaller pot would help it dry quicker.
I don't have any smaller pots. I'll try to find one in my garden centre.
Any tips on how to make the keikis (or the motherplant) grow roots? I've tried with Superthrive and with rooting hormones, but nothing yet.
Last edited by Orquiadicto; 09-27-2012 at 02:24 PM..