White fuz in my bark medium!

[bil]

Originally Posted by Devogenes

@bil Yeah I think I'm going to pot these phals up. I understand that they are typically kept root bound, but these particular plants seem pretty root bound to me. I'm going to try to find some slightly wider pots for them.

If someone could provide me with good reason to keep them pot bound, I'd do it. I just look at the knotted roots the dead and damaged ones where they have forced their way thru the small slits and I just feel sad. No plant is 'meant' to be like that surely?

[Devogenes]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

If you have eliminated mealy bug and scale, it probably is snow mold. Repot in fresh mix and visit the sticky at the top of the Beginner forum for "The Phal Abuse Ends Here" for useful hints on anything having to do with Phal culture.

I read that thread as soon as I brought the phals home

Originally Posted by bil

If someone could provide me with good reason to keep them pot bound, I'd do it. I just look at the knotted roots the dead and damaged ones where they have forced their way thru the small slits and I just feel sad. No plant is 'meant' to be like that surely?

I feel that way too! I just don't want to rock the boat too much as I'm learning. I'm going to see if I can find some wide, slatted clear pots.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Devogenes

I feel that way too! I just don't want to rock the boat too much as I'm learning. I'm going to see if I can find some wide, slatted clear pots.

If they aren't deep, they don't need slats. If you use 2" bark, it doesn't even matter if they are deep. I was originally using 12 diam pots, that were more than that deep. I never had any problems, except the depth made the pots intrusive and hard to house. I kept the width and cut the depth.

Here's an example.

[bil]

The shallow version was a little too shallow, and the roots started to climb out. The holes are not for ventilation. Those pots are both made from the tops of 35 diam cm pots put on the bottoms of 40 cm pots. The holes are made with a heated rod and that welds the two parts together.