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It has begun...

Well, this weekend I officiallly bought my first orchid (Brassia)to go with the Phal that was given to us awhile back.

My Phal, by the way, is turning brown at the point where I cut the spike and a second leaf is dying which brings it to a total of 3 leaves left. Is this normal behaviour for a Phal that has just exhausted itself after blooming? I also recently repotted...

Thanks
 
Many Phals do fine with four leaves. Three's on the low side, but one of my former Phals typically only had three at a time.

Here's the interrogation section of this post. How were the roots when you repotted, how was the old mix, and how long ago did you repot? What mix is the plant in now and what kind of environment is it in?

Phals, like many orchids, don't show signs of stress until well after the stress began. So, if the old medium had broken down and roots were suffering, you might only see the suffering now, after the roots are actually able to get healthy again. Many of my (windowsill) orchids show the accumulated stress of winter as winter leaves and they perk right up when they go outside for the summer.
 
phal = phalaenopsis

The roots actually looked short, as if they were trimmed already but at the same time, a few were ragged. This was about 2 weeks ago when I took the phal out of it's original bark/perlite mix and dropped it into a larger pot including the original mix plus some LFS to fill in the gaps.
 
Many people grow wonderful Phals in LFS, but it requires great care to avoid over-watering.  Since most new orchid growers water too much, LFS can make for a tough introduction to orchids.  I still overwater, by the way, and, even though I'm still ignorant, I'm no longer a beginner.  I am wary of LFS and use it only for a few terrestrials.

I now grow my Phals in a mix of medium coconut husk chips (CHC) and coarse colcanic rock (or is it lava rock - the white, not the red stuff).  This stuff holds a lot of water in the chips, but leaves lots of open airy space, which is what Phals seem to prefer.
 
I can attest to the fact that LSF is a danger to phals. I have quite a few phals rescued from an office mate. She would buy orchids for her office all the time. They came potted TIGHTLY in pure LSF. The moss gets soaked, takes a long time to dry out (plastic pot) and then the root rot sets in. Once they were out of bloom and dying, she'd give them to me. lol So I have a lot of sad, dessicated rescue phals at home.

I always keep my phals in well draining media. You can water more often, allowing the mix to dry out....and not worry so much about the roots sitting wet for days on end. Orchid bark, lava rock, coco chips, etc. are all good media allowing for air circulation and drying out.


I just can't imagine why the people SELLING these orchids are packing them moss like that...
rock.gif
 
Commercial growers who tightly control every aspect of growth like LFS. It doesn't go all over the place during shipping and looks reasonably attractive. But they aren't trying to sell healthy plants. They're selling blooms. Whether or not the plant survives after leaving the store just doesn't rank very highly (if at all) in their list of concerns. But many growers ship their orchids in terrible stuff. At least LFS is a legitimate choice; just not for those of us without greenhouses.
 
I figured the reason was convenience plus not caring if the plant lives or dies after its sold. Very unfair to the buyer though who trusts that the grower knows how to pot the plants and so keeps it as it was bought. Then they wonder why they always die.

Its such a shame.
sad.gif
 
I only water my phal once a week... does that make a difference?
 
  • #10
Once a week is a good starting point for a Phal in LFS in a decent sized unglazed clay pot. That might be a little too frequent if the plant is in a plastic pot, but a lot depends on humidity, how loosely the LFS is packed (a critical factor), and other variables. People experienced with growing orchids in sphagnum develop a feel for it and actually water based on how light a pot feels.
 
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