Phal Flower Wilting

[JennS]

Depending on what kind of medium your plant is in will determine what a non-broken down medium will look like. Alot of the time with Phals, I find that they just keep packing fresh spaghnum moss over the top of the pot and when you unpot it there is some really broken down stuff in the middle including rotted roots. Alot of the time they tend to look just fine from the top. If yours look pretty plump and greenish or grayish they are probably fine. If your plant is in bark then the darker it is the more likely it is to be broken down. Fresh bark ranges from reds to light/medium browns. However it will be darker after a recent watering. Basically it's a big guessing game, welcome to the wonderful world of orchids!

[Aya]

Ok.
Now even more flowers are wilting. I had 8 flowers left, and I just lost 4. I left the house for 2 days and came back to see 3 flowers wilted. Today another wilted. (The lowest flower, closest to the base, is still OK)

The potted material was moist (I watered right before I left) but before then, I hadn't watered for 8 days (the number of days it took to dry the material from the last watering)

Am I just losing all the flowers? Is it possible it's time for that to happen? Am I supposed to lose flowers in any particular order, considering the oldest is still OK?

Does anyone know what I should do next?
Thank you... so sad...

[Lavendula]

um, when I got my first phal, it was valentines day, and a very short while later the flowers started to wilt and drop off. Even the little unopened buds fell off. I just figured it was forced into bloom for the purpose of being sold and didn't worry about it too much. It was quite healthy and fine looking for a few months - it even started growing a new spike. That's when I noticed the roots pressed against the bottom of the pot and I decided to repot it then. Upon doing this, I found that the portions of the roots that I could see were the only healthy bits of the plant. The potting medium and the plant itself were rotten from the middle outwards. I had to cut off most of its roots and now I'm trying to save it.

Sooo... I guess if I were you I would poke around a good bit in your potting medium to see what's really going on in that pot. I guess you're not supposed to repot an orchid when it's in bloom, but if it needs it I would say it's best to do it while the plant is still healthy instead of being in my boat - trying to save a very very sick orchid. It'll break your heart... lol trust me.

[Aya]

Thanks Lavendula... I could see how it would break your heart... I'm already so attached to this plant, and its only been one month.

What is the danger to the plant to repot during it's bloom?
And if I repotted, do you have any suggestions for the material I put it in?

[Lavendula]

um, as I said I'm new at orchids, but it's a general rule for any type of plant that repotting while in bloom risks putting the plant into shock... and since orchids can be quite finicky I take my gardening commandments (the ones that apply to orchids of course lol) and multiply the importance of them by 10 when dealing with them lol.

um, for me, my apartment is quite humid and warm, so I use medium sized bark chips and clay pots for my phal that isn't sick, to help it get lots of air. I'm scarred for life after my first phal rotted... lol.