a Phal & Rhynchostylis questions
 

Hello everyone! I have some questions involving fertilizing/watering and some spotting on leaves. I've been doing research but for some reason never thought to see if there was forums for orchids :roll:

My husband got me a Phal from Lowes back in early spring, 6 pretty blooms on it. He then had to go back and get a proper pot cause the poor thing was drowning. We've had this one for atleast 6 months and it's been doing rather well- even spotted a new leaf on it this morning during watering.
Our new one is a Rhynchostylis (either gigantea or retusa- it had two tags and of course they say two different things) that when we got home we noticed had black spots on leaves. I wish I took pictures so we would know if more appeared, but sadly I didn't think of doing so. It's temporarily in a pot with holes in the sides until we can grab an hour or two to start building it a hanging basket.
They both live in a bathroom that has a E/SE facing window

So, the questions- these guys get watered 3 times a week. 1 time fert and 2 times plain water. Do ya'll think thats often enough? I'm nervous about over watering (did that with previous orchids before I learned more about them) but I'm worried that they may need more ferts a week. I've read water with ferts every time & flush with plain water once a month to water with ferts once a week to water with ferts once a month and water in general once a week, so slightly confused.

Second question- how would ya'll handle the Rhy. black spots? It doesn't have a spike, just leaves. The orginal spots haven't seem to be getting bigger but there may be more tiny scattered black dots

thanks for any help!

Until you are sure you have light, humidity, potting, media, watering all worked out don't worry about fertilizer. Once a week with weak fertilizer is more than enough unless plants are very actively growing and more fertilizer will not make up for anything else being less than optimal.

The Rhynchostylis needs significantly more light than the Phal. You may be able to manage them in the same space, but keep in mind if they are getting the same light it isn't optimal for both.

I'm concerned you are watering too much, especially for the Rhyncho. It really needs perfect drainage and never soggy, should get a bit drier than the Phal before watering again. It depends so much on pot, media, temperature, humidity it is hard to say. You can't just water on a schedule. Water only when they need it.

If you aren't fertilizing heavily don't worry about flushing per se. Water to soak the media with a little running through, every time. Do you know anything about your water quality - pH and hardness?

The tiny black spots are common on Rhynchostylis. They aren't serious unless they spread or get very heavy. Good air movement and bright light help keep them limited.

You will probably get what seems like conflicting advice, as you have already found with watering and fertilizing. Take this to mean there are many ways to succeed, and everything depends on your conditions, that no one else can know as well as you do.

Yeah, I figured it might be a bit much on watering but their media is always dry dry when I check them. They only get a small amount of water until it starts draining from bottom & side holes in the pots.

We have a spot for the Rhyncho to get more light, just gotta finish cleaning the table off. We're watching an area outside where it would be in tree shade and better than the table for light if weather cooperates.

Since we have a freshwater tank I know the pH is 7.4 as I had to check the tap water the other day. Our tap water hardness has always read 0-50ppm range when tested. I have a feeling we recently got a water report from our water operator with more details but I have no idea which stack of "filing" the husband put it in haha