My Phal repotting problems!
Login
User Name
Password   


Registration is FREE. Click to become a member of OrchidBoard community
(You're NOT logged in)

menu menu

Sponsor
Donate Now
and become
Forum Supporter.

My Phal repotting problems!
Many perks!
<...more...>


Sponsor
 

Google


Fauna Top Sites
Register My Phal repotting problems! Members My Phal repotting problems! My Phal repotting problems! Today's PostsMy Phal repotting problems! My Phal repotting problems! My Phal repotting problems!
LOG IN/REGISTER TO CLOSE THIS ADVERTISEMENT
Go Back   Orchid Board - Most Complete Orchid Forum on the web ! > >
Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 08-18-2010, 12:33 PM
glitchathon glitchathon is offline
Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 71
My Phal repotting problems!
Default My Phal repotting problems!

So i have 2 phals that I repotted 2 weeks ago. I used Better Gro Phal mix which contains fir bark, charcoal, perlite, and peat moss pieces. I throw out most of the peat chunks and select the best pieces of the bark.
I also added a small 20% or so amount of sphagnum moss (NZ AAA stuff) to one of the orchid #1 which was previously in bark. And I used 60% sphag and 40% phal mix for orchid #2 which was previously in sphag.

Details of Orchid 1:
- Bought at Trader Joe's 4+ years ago. Bloomed every year. Potted in bark mix.
- Never repotted so media was pretty decomposed
- During repotting, 50% of roots were rotted, majority of good roots were aerial.
- I cut the rotted roots.
- Many roots were broken or had rotted areas, but had healthy extensions, so I kept those.
- Used sterilized scissors and cinnamon to protect from fungus.

Details of Orchid 2:
- Bought at Costco 6 months ago.
- Potted in 100% sphagnum moss, packed tight and very difficult to dry even after a week or two.
- about 30% of the roots were rotted. I cut those.
- Also had some fairly unhealthy roots but had healthy extensions or growth on the ends, so I kept those.
- Used sterilized scissors and cinnamon to protect from fungus.

Two weeks later...

Orchid 1:
- has some little white egg-like fungi or mold growing on the tips of the rotting roots.
- I decided to unpot it and inspect and clean them up.
- I find half the roots were now rotted! There is still healthy roots and good signs of root growth. But many of the old roots rotted real quickly during the 2 weeks after the repot.
- I cut off all bad roots and went even further and cut off those that had significant rotted areas even if other portions were healthy. Removed all fungus areas.
- Used all new media and repotted it in a smaller pot (since now there are fewer roots).

Orchid 2:
- No fungus but also had a large portion of previously healthy roots rot. So I unpotted and did same as above, going into fresh media into a smaller pot.

Is it normal to have a lot of rotted roots so shortly after a repot? Did i do the right thing going in and cleaning it up?

Is it possible the Better Gro mix is bad? The bark quality was kind of dark and wettish. How dry/fresh is it supposed to be? The stuff dried pretty quickly and I found the mix to get nearly bone dry within 4 days in the hot summer (it is on a windowsill with partial shade but we have no A/C so temps were 83 deg or so).

Thanks for any advice you can offer! I hope these Phals will recover!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 08-18-2010, 01:24 PM
Izzie Izzie is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Mar 2010
Zone: 5b
Member of:DOS
Location: Lakewood, CO
Age: 35
Posts: 2,289
My Phal repotting problems! Female
Default

I use the Better Gro mix with no problems- it's the best I have available locally.

Did you sterilize the plants somehow before repotting? Like soaking in physan, or spraying with brown listerine? THat's a good practice for the future.

Did you presoak the media? It's also a good idea to soak your media in physan, both to clean it, and to get it nice and moist. I soak in boiling water the first couple times to really open the pores and help the new media hold more water.


For the fungus- you can spray the roots in hydrogen peroxide for a few minutes, and/or pour some through the media in the pot. I've had success with that when I get mold and other gucky stuff coming in after repotting.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 08-18-2010, 01:35 PM
glitchathon glitchathon is offline
Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 71
My Phal repotting problems!
Default

Unfortunately I did not think of sterilizing the plant nor the media prior to repotting. I have some Physan solution on the way so will get into better habits in the future!

I presoaked for only an hour or so. Possibly could have gone longer.

Is root rot over a short period of time indicative of a fungal problem? Since 2 weeks seems awfully short for bad watering practices to rot so many roots! (and my watering practices should be OK),.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 08-18-2010, 01:41 PM
Izzie Izzie is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Mar 2010
Zone: 5b
Member of:DOS
Location: Lakewood, CO
Age: 35
Posts: 2,289
My Phal repotting problems! Female
Default

Take a look at my Eradicating CHC mold thread in pests and diseases- I had something similar happen.

Do you have access to brown listerine? You can pour that through the pot, or soak for a minute or so. Many people have as good success with that as physan as an antibacterial/fungal. Just as a pot soak/spray/pour, not something to presoak media in.


With my media, I soak for 24 hours, with rounds of boiling water the first few times to leach out some of the tannins that can stain the roots, and really get the media to absorb water more readily.
Some people will boil the media for 30 min- does the same thing faster, and kills some of the icky stuff (though not all, which is why you should also use physan.)
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 08-18-2010, 01:44 PM
RosieC RosieC is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2008
Zone: 8a
Location: West Midlands, UK
Age: 49
Posts: 25,462
Default

The first 3 times I repotted phals I had the same thing happen... I'm certain now that the medium was to blame.

While the Better Grow brand my be fine if it is damp when you take it out the bag the that is NOT a good thing. Medium should be bone dry and should be stored in a way that keeps it bone dry until you decide to use it (you should soak it first though).

If medium is stored damp then it will be decaying and going sour in the bag. That's what had happened with mine and unfortunately I didn't realise it, used it and almost killed three phals.

I always advise using medium from an orchid specialist even if that means ordering online because a. they know how to store it, b. they know what is good/bad quality, c. they have higher turn-over as non-specialists might not sell much of the stuff.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 08-18-2010, 01:53 PM
glitchathon glitchathon is offline
Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 71
My Phal repotting problems!
Default

I can easily get some brown listerine. I assume I should mix with water?

RosieC, the media was not exactly damp, but definitely the bark had a little bit of moisture in it. But after leaving the bag open for a few weeks, the stuff is quite dry. There was no bad smell coming from it though. Do you think I should toss the bag and get new media? I do have S/H primeagra coming in the mail but not sure I want to shock the plants into a new media again.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 08-18-2010, 01:59 PM
RosieC RosieC is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2008
Zone: 8a
Location: West Midlands, UK
Age: 49
Posts: 25,462
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by glitchathon View Post
RosieC, the media was not exactly damp, but definitely the bark had a little bit of moisture in it. But after leaving the bag open for a few weeks, the stuff is quite dry. There was no bad smell coming from it though. Do you think I should toss the bag and get new media? I do have S/H primeagra coming in the mail but not sure I want to shock the plants into a new media again.
Personally I would not use medium which was damp when I bought it. If you have no idea how long it was damp you don't know how broken down it is. As the medium breaks down the PH changes and that can affect the orchids even if you then dry it out again afterwards.

But that's just from my experience and others might not have had problems. I didn't have any smell when I used it on my frist orchid, it was only a month or two later when I tried to repot another two that I noticed the smell. All three are still in recovery a couple of years later but the first one was the worst and really almost died because I hadn't realised what was going wrong for several months.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 08-18-2010, 02:04 PM
glitchathon glitchathon is offline
Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 71
My Phal repotting problems!
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by RosieC View Post
Personally I would not use medium which was damp when I bought it. If you have no idea how long it was damp you don't know how broken down it is. As the medium breaks down the PH changes and that can affect the orchids even if you then dry it out again afterwards.

But that's just from my experience and others might not have had problems. I didn't have any smell when I used it on my frist orchid, it was only a month or two later when I tried to repot another two that I noticed the smell. All three are still in recovery a couple of years later but the first one was the worst and really almost died because I hadn't realised what was going wrong for several months.
I repotted 3 orchids with this. The 3rd one has not had any problems yet but it has only been a week. Now I am getting worried!!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 08-18-2010, 02:06 PM
RosieC RosieC is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2008
Zone: 8a
Location: West Midlands, UK
Age: 49
Posts: 25,462
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by glitchathon View Post
I repotted 3 orchids with this. The 3rd one has not had any problems yet but it has only been a week. Now I am getting worried!!
I would keep a close eye on it. Personally I don't think it hurts a healthy Phal to slide it out the pot to look at the roots, and if they are bad then it's better to have found out, if they are good you can just slide it back in.

My one that almost died did so because I didn't realise the problem for months. The other two did better because I realised what was happening sooner.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 08-18-2010, 02:10 PM
Izzie Izzie is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Mar 2010
Zone: 5b
Member of:DOS
Location: Lakewood, CO
Age: 35
Posts: 2,289
My Phal repotting problems! Female
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by glitchathon View Post
I repotted 3 orchids with this. The 3rd one has not had any problems yet but it has only been a week. Now I am getting worried!!
Just chill out, it'll be fine. For now, watch carefully, and use listerine/hydrogen peroxide if anything comes up.

When the physan comes in, you can either soak the plant in the pot for several minutes, or you can unpot again, and soak the media in physan for an hour or so.
I've soaked media in physan over night, which I hear some other people do.

leaving the plants bare root for a day or two and letting them really dry might help with mold/fungus- again, something I've seen recommended for such things.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
bark, healthy, orchid, phal, repotting, roots, rotted


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
OMG! What a JOB!! Finally made my Chid list! Jkelee Orchid Lounge 28 02-05-2011 07:49 PM
Phal Roots Dying after repotting RosieC Beginner Discussion 19 01-22-2010 02:24 PM
Repotting Phal when it has an emerging flower stalk? sunbirdx Beginner Discussion 9 06-08-2009 06:34 PM
Phal Repotting Problems RosieC Beginner Discussion 8 06-05-2009 03:29 PM
Phal. Blooming problems Massica Beginner Discussion 10 09-01-2008 09:37 PM

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:41 PM.

© 2007 OrchidBoard.com
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.37 (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Feedback Buttons provided by Advanced Post Thanks / Like (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.

Clubs vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.