Help! my Phal fell on the floor AGAIN

[LuizaG]

I have 2 Phalaenopsis and both fell on the floor so many times and also I am tired of all the problems related to fir bark medium so I want to try Semi-hydroponic culture in Hydroton.

These are the plants:

First one, repoted first on the 16.10.10 only to see some filaments of mold forming around the crown and inside the medium so I repoted again on the 27.10.10 (10 days ago).



Today, after 10 days, there were filaments of mold forming again and some small black flies are present (you can't see them in the picture):



And since all this was not enough, few minutes after I took the pictures the pot fell and all the medium was on the floor. Now the plant is in a glass of water with few drops of Grow fertilizer and few drops of organic seaweed fertilizer:



This plant had so many traumas I am surprised it is still alive.

The other one was repoted on 12.10.10, almost 1 month ago and the medium already produced some small flies:

This is the root system one month ago when I repoted:


I am soaking some Hydroton in plain hot water now. Should I add some fertilizer to the soaking solution after it cools down? I have no KLN, I only have a rooting hormone that contains 0.43% w/w 1-naphthylacetic acid (not sure what that means)

I am new to S/H, does anybody have any suggestions about S/H, anything I should know before I pot in it? Do you have any recommended lecture for me?

If I sprinkle some cinnamon on the roots would it help to prevent those filaments of mould reoccurring? I also have some Hydrogen peroxide in the house, if I dilute that and dip the roots in it, would it help?


Thanks
Luiza

[Daethen]

Don't sprinkle with cinnamon. It will dry the roots out. I think the first thing you need to do is find a spot so that they don't get knocked over. Otherwise you are going to have water everywhere with s/h.

[LuizaG]

That is an excellent point, Jonada!

[CTB]

Maybe a hanging basket would be better

[Call_Me_Bob]

hanging basket would be good, but you would be watering every day at the least.

[LuizaG]

Hanging basket would not work for me as I have nowhere to hang from and I will not be able to water everyday anyway.

[nenella]

how about putting the phal & plastic pot into a terracotta pot, so it does not fall over?
sort of like this.?
This phal also 'fell' before I put her in this pot. She hasn't fallen since.. Hope this helps.

[mspatt]

Nenella looks like she has your answer to orchids that fall over. And as far as learning about S/H, go to Ray Barkalow's web site: [url=http://www.firstrays.com. One of the first recommendations is that the orchids be repotted when they have new root growth and your pictures look like your plant is a perfect candidate! So go for it!!

[ardera]

I have a suicidal cattlaya. It keeps jumping off the rack. The 3rd time it jumped I was even right there, nothing bumped it or anything. That time it even broke the ceramic pot that I had placed it in!!

[LuizaG]

Hi

OK, so I will not use cinnamon when repoting.

My hydroton is soaked now ready for repoting. In the mean time I saw there is another green tip emerging from one of the old roots. Is that considered a new root?

The heavy container pot is an excellent idea, Thanks Nenela! I have not found one to fit my pot yet but my kitchen utensil holder looks like a good candidate )

Also I have went to Ray's website and read.. and read.. and read..