Did I just kill my phal?
 

I just purchased a sin yuan golden beauty (roots were growing up and around the plant by about an inch or so) 3 days ago and the buds have started to yellow and die. Everything else looks super healthy. I thought it was dying, so I investigated and found roots growing out of the bottom of the planter that had been broken and the potter was jam packed with roots. Before coming here, I decided to re-pot my poor orchid. Now I have found on multiple sites that you re-pot AFTER the blooming has stopped.

I thought I was doing the right thing, thinking that the crowded roots would surely kill the plant, now I fear repotting it may be it's end... :(

Does repotting during blooming kill the plant??

Wow, I've just hit the very same problem (posted about 1h ago)... it's Phal killing time. :-)

Hmm, now that you mention it, I do recall faintly advice not to repot during bloom... but at the same time I recall even stronger the advice to repot when you bring an orchid from the store, and those are almost always in bloom. So... conflicting advice, it seems.

Conflicting advice, indeed. It seems I should have done more research BEFORE buying the plant. I just love them though... so I decided to buy it on the spot. Sigh... I hope it lives

It is a false belief that the Phal will die if you repot during its blooming cycle.

Truth: Repotting an orchid during its blooming cycle will only affect the possibility of whether the plant will hold onto the flowers or not.

If you repotted a Phal during its blooming cycle, it may drop flowers due to stress, but the likelihood of that happening is rather low in Phals. Particularly if you've not done any significant root damage while you repotted the Phal.

If you repotted the Phal and you did a significant amount of damage to the roots while doing so, then it will affect the blooms and it will most likely drop them prematurely.

Notice I did not mention anything about "killing a Phal" while repotting during the plant's blooming cycle, because it simply is not true if you haven't done a large amount of damage to the roots to prompt the Phal to start declining in health while repotting.

In fact, you did the right thing! You did what most people starting off in the hobby with Phals do not do. You have in reality ensured the Phal's survival by repotting into an appropriate or fresh potting medium, and checking the roots for any kind of damage from the get go.

:goodjob

*** Btw, when the orchid's flowers are spent, the plant can continue to live on for many, many years, and continue to bloom seasonally, (or in some cases, randomly throughout the course of the year, multiple times). ***

There is only conflicting advice, because you're only getting part of the picture...

If you get the whole picture in context of the situation, there is no conflicting advice.

The problem with Phals purchased from home improvement centers, big franchise furniture stores, or supermarkets, is that they are more often than not, (not always), packaged in ways that are detrimental to their overall health.

For example:

- Tightly packed moss.

- Put in pots or various other containers without any kind of drainage.

- Wrapped in those plastic gift wraps, again, without affording drainage of the water to occur when they are watered.

Then there's the treatment they received prior to getting to your house!

- Over watered.

- Under watered.

- Potting media is sometimes partially missing.

- Sunburnt.

- Not enough light.

- Too cool or cold.

- Placed in an area with very poor air circulation.

Are you seeing the point I'm making?

Thanks for the always-thoughtful reply, King! It makes sense now.

Alas, I suspect I was not as lucky as kat.costamusic, and have incurred substantial root damage in my "caretaking"... wish I found Orchid Board much earlier, when I got the plant originally... :-)

If may not be too late for the Phal. Phals are incredibly resilient and there are tons upon heaps of evidence for this, not just from myself, but from various other members here on the OB, all over the world, who have at one point in time owned Phals before. This evidence comes complete with photos too in some cases!

Oh, I believe it, I've seen the photos of someone growing a Phal (at least I think it was a Phal) back from just the root, with no leaves to start with. Amazing. However, there is my track record to consider. I give my Phal 50/50 chances... ;)

i have repotted every new phal from the store immediately, in bloom and/or bud, and never had an issue. in fact, i feel they do better in fresh media.

So this is my new phal orchid. Other than the buds, I think everything else is fine. I hope....

Thank you so much King and Cutie. :) I'm very glad I found this forum!!

Do not put potting media on the stem of your Phal. When I use the word "stem", I'm actually referring to the Phal's true stem, which are where all the leaves are.

I'm not talking about the Phal's "flower spike".

---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 PM ----------

Phals grow on trees. The stems are not covered by anything.

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