what to do with store-bought orchids?

[tokidoki]

HI orchid lovers.. i have a question.. i recently bought a phalaenopsis hybrid orchid about 1.5 to 2 weeks ago from the store.. i havent watered it eversince then because the roots are heavily wrapped in damp spaghmum moss and im afraid that if i water it, the water wouldnt evaporate quick enough which will created root rot.. the orchid is blooming right now but has alot of buds that havent opened it... what should i do? im afraid that the orchid is thirsty right now but everytime i dig my finger to touch the moss, it feels wet. but its almost been 2 weeks since i got it and i know it hasnt been watered in the store recently.. can orchids survive long weeks without water but being wrapped up in lots of damp moss??? should i just leave the orchid alone because its trying to bloom its flowers or should i repot and take off the old wet moss and put in bark mixture? please help.. and also when can i safely water the plant and how much water? a thorough drainage or no? your advices would really help...

[Bill_NeOh]

I bought 4 blooming orchids on clearance at one of the big box stores recently and they were also overwatered. I chose to not repot now and did not water until they completly dried out. I did not water them for 3 1/2 weeks, thats how wet they were. So far they are doing fine but I did watch them very close to make sure the roots were plump and green. If your roots look damaged in any way from the overwatering I would repot now but if they look healthy just watch them close and do not water until they dry out. I also picked through them to make sure I had healthy plants with healthy roots and passed by the ones that were gonners.

[tokidoki]

ok thanks for the reply... so its good to know i dont have to water it yet. il check again later after i get home from work to see if the moss is still wet.. i try to reach deep but i dont want to hurt the roots.. some roots are sticking out but it kinda looks a little wet? i dont know.. but it doesnt look like a rot... also the buds are taking so slow to open up.. i boughta phal on dec and the buds opened up quick unlike this one... could there be something wrong to this new orchid i bought? it took about 4 days for the biggest bud to open 25%..

[Ross]

My best advice is take the plant out of the pot, shake the moss off the roots and inspect them. Are they white or whitish? Are they brown and mushy? If they are not brown and mushy (meaning rotten) then repot with a coarse bark mix or a coarse mix of prime agra or something like that. In the end you will see better response because most folks tend to overwater, not underwater. The moss hold too much water and when you water the plant it just adds too much to the roots. There is a culture sheet at http://www.orchidboard.com/Phalaenop...ure-Care-Sheet Enjoy.

[tokidoki]

thanks ross for the help... yeah it seems like the roots are heavily wrapped in wet moss but so far no problem to the orchid... if i repot it do u think it will hurt the plant ? its blooming right now but the buds are slow to bloom

[Dorothy]

The buds may be slow to bloom because the roots aren't getting sufficient air circulation (lighting and temperature ei - a cool draft - can be other factors) .. you can repot into a bark or coconut husk mix medium - check the roots, do possible surgery to black and mushy and rotten roots, find a container .. preferably one that is slotted and/or that has good drain holes on the bottom and clear so you can monitor the root growth and make sure it's not oversized as phal like their roots tightly contained - if roots are growing out of the medium .. that's ok .. they do develop some aerials .. when you are repotting .. don't bring the medium directly under the leaves but leave a little bit of space below the leaf growth open to the air .. Once finished - if your air moisture is very low .. you can top the medium with a bit of sphag moss to retain a bit of moisture to the aerials and add a little humidity to the plant. Depending on your growing conditions and time of the year, you may not have to water your Phal anywhere from 4 to 7 days .. it's ok to dry out your phal a little bit between watering .. you might want to place a skewer midway into the medium as a moisture indicator (if the skewer is damp or cool to the touch - wait another day before watering) ... Phals like bright light but not direct light .. never put a phal in shining daylight .. if it's in front of a window .. a sheer curtain helps to sheild away any incoming rays.
There is always a possibility of the buds blasting but I have repotted fully bloomed phals and not lost a flower but it's your call.
(Even if the buds blast, so long as the spike is green and new growth appears at the tip .. more buds will develop)
If anyone cares to add to this .. pro or con .. be my guest

[Ray]

The important aspect to consider is what effect the water retention of the medium chokes off air flow to the roots. If it's fresh, fluffy, high-quality sphagnum, it is hard to overwater it to that point. Older, poorer quality stuff compresses really well, as does old, decomposing non-sphagnum medium.

Consider that water exists in the medium in two forms (or places)- that absorbed by the medium (and not contributing to root suffocation), and that held by surface tension between the particles. That is known as "bridging water" as it bridges and closes the airflow pathways through the medium, leading to suffocation, death, and rot.

When you let a medium dry between waterings, you're not - as we have all been brainwashed into thinking - doing that because the plant wants to be dry, you're doing it to let that bridging water evaporate or get absorbed, so you stop suffocating the plants' roots! (Hence the reason for a good, open medium .)

[tokidoki]

thanks for all ur replies... yesterday morning i decided to finally make the decision to carefully repot the orchid. btw the orchid im talkin about has a tag stating the name of it= Dtps. Brother Spotter (A) large white with spots.

thats what the tag said.. but anyway, i took out the orchid from the plastic pot and i disvocered that the roots themselves were bundled with moss which is also then placed in another small see-through plastic pot.. (pic 1).. as u can see in the pic 1.. then i cut the plastic pot in the sides with scissors because i didnt want to hurt the roots.. to my surprise alot of spaghmum moss came out.. it took me a while to fully take them out because it was so compacted in such a small space that the moss molded into the shape of the pot like a jello. sadly, all of the roots that were lower had all rotted and died, but some of the roots that were higher stayed healthy.. so i cut the dead roots away and hope for the best for the saved roots.. i also discovered a small lower leaf that i have never seen before which was buried by moss all this time.. it may fall off soon because of what happen.. it doesnt look healthy.. but overall the plant looks healthy.. as u can see in pic 2, this was how much moss was packed into that tiny little clear plastic. tell me what u guys think about this? finally i finish repotting the orchid and i watered it in the sink, and as u can see in pic 3 the orchid looks better this way after watering it i took it outside to catch some morning sun for about 1 hour and also to get some good air circulation ..

pic 1


pic 2


pic 3

[tokidoki]

by the way, i used a number of mixture for repotting the orchid. i used an already mixture of bark, perlite, and charcoal. and i also mixed in some coconut husks. i didnt put in any moss...

[tuvoc]

Good job! You're right, it just looks better in the new medium. It's going to be a lot happier too!

Kim