Phal. Linda Cheok

[shakkai]

Dorothy, that makes sense to me. With just a fluffy layer on top, it won't compact, it will let air through, but keep things from drying out too much.

Its probably too 'dangerous' for me, though... Even with mounted plants that only have a pad of moss, they stay wet all day and only dry out sometime through the night. By the next morning they are dried, but not crunchy dry. The lowest I've seen my humidity so far is 60% - so I probably have a much higher chance of rot.

[Dorothy]

I agree With the humidity as high as yours ..and if you are hesitant, you might be better off without it ..
You could always use a few strands of moss, soak them and squeeze out any excess and stragetically place them near the roots if you wanted to try something and still be on the safe side ..

[shakkai]

I've got other things in moss, its just the Phals that I worry about as I know I'm already stressing them by now having really warm temps... But I guess, since I'm not seeing my aerial roots get too dry, I don't need to risk it. As an experiment, I have one Phal in a tall glass vase with some very loose sphag around the roots - plenty of air gets in - and those roots are doing great. Water gets left in the bottom of the vase when I water it, but because the vase is so tall, the roots aren't anywhere near the standing water at the bottom.... but the moss wicks the water up and keeps the humidity high around the roots. I'm not against sphag, just really nervous with it when it comes to Phals.

[Dorothy]

I hear you on that one ... I have a few plants in sphag also but I keep a keen eye on them. That is some idea you have with a semi/hyponic state for the moss to provide humidity .. ingenious .. how long have you grown that phal in that manner?

[shakkai]

I guess its been since July... I'll try to get some pics of it tomorrow if I can get it light enough that I won't have to use the flash.

[cupcake]

Oooooooohh but that's gorgeous! So delicate and what wonderful colours

[Dorothy]

I look forward to those photos .. Shak


Me likey too, Judi

[Buds!]

Hey Dorothy,
That is one 'fine' phal! So pretty!
I must say, you have excellent taste!

[Dorothy]

aw Thank you Buds

[shakkai]

Not the best photo, but given the rainy, overcast day its the best I could get.... Here are the roots of the Phal in the tall vase:



In retrospect, I would clean the roots better to remove all of the bits of bark. The one root that you can see that isn't green was one of the 'pot roots' that was completely white when I took it out of the pot. It is slowly greening up, but I did lose some of the other ones that were white. Most of the lighter green roots you see have grown in the past 5 months.