S/H or not? Need advice for my indoor microclimate
I made a bit of an impulse purchase at a local show last week and ended up with 4 paphs and a 5 ft vanilla planifolia. Up until recently I'd been so afraid of overwatering that I kept all of my catts and phals MUCH too dry. To make a long story short, I now have a nice little set of 'chids that are just starting to re-grow the majority of their roots (or all their roots in some cases). To add a bit of urgency to the situation, I sent my mum a pic of Phal Princess Kaiulani 'Carribean Sunset' with the comment that although I am nowhere near ready for something that fancy, I'd love to have one like that someday. An hour later she messaged me back that I need to be home on the 12th 'for a delivery.' So I have a (somewhat terrified) feeling that it might be showing up on my doorstep in the very near future.
My microclimate: I grow exclusively indoors under lights since I live in Phoenix (which is roughly the same as living on the actual sun). Temps are a/c controlled 10-11 months out of the year (sometimes the a/c gets turned off in Jan) daytime is 76-78, night time is 72, although I do have a room that is kept closer to 80-84. Ambient humidity is typically ~10%. All watering is done with either R/O or distilled with either MSU or kelpmax added.
I'm thinking that because of the super dry air and the fact a good number of my plants are in a minimally-rooted-but-starting-to-regrow state anyway that s/h is probably a good idea and there's no better time than the present. I do have a plant heat mat I can use on the phals as well to combat evaporative cooling.
Concern #1: the paphs are all currently either in bloom or bud, do I go ahead and disturb them? Or do I wait (possibly a long while) and run the risk of getting them even more stressed from chronic dehydration than they would have been from the move to s/h? They're all in coarse bark and seem to dry out VERY quickly.
Paph. valwin x moquetteanum (in bloom, one spike)
Paph. bellatulum x [Pacific Shamrock x (Yeba Buena-Golden Days)] (single bud with an inch of the spike out)
Paph. Wardii x sib ('wide wings' HCC/AQ/AOS x 'dark hinges' AM/AQ/AOS) (3 buds on 3 spikes, all just about to open)
Paph. sorcerors stone x Incharm Topaz (also 3 buds on 3 spikes not far off opening)
Concern #2: the vanilla has just ok roots, not bad not spectacular. Would it theoretically do well s/h? I currently mist it 2x daily.
Concern #3: the catts, everyone seems to advise letting them dry out between waterings, how do they adapt to s/h life? The two main candidates are Slc. Alyssa Nahemie 'Compton' and Lc. Betty Ford 'York' (both unsolicited girfts from mum that arrived at my door, both basically now in a rootless state but just starting new ones). Also how about B. Cucullata? Mine seems to be doing 'ok' but not really thriving like I'd like it to. I didn't see anything from brassavola on the sticky list.
Concern #4: assuming that the super fancy phal does arrive on my doorstep in the near future, go ahead and switch it immediately?
Sorry for the very long post, I just wanted to paint the most complete picture possible about my conditions and issues coming in to this. Thanks!
|