New plant enthusiast

[BassandBonsai]

Yay!
Hopefully mine will do as well as my mom's is. (Mine is the miniature in the second photo, and my mom's is the one with the spike and keiki.) I'm a total newbie to the plant realm, but my mom's an old pro.

[Carpe Diem]

Hi Hannah and welcome to the OB! I am new to orchids too, have learned alot already from the nice people here, but barely scratched the surface. I've looked at your Phals and know you'll get good advise from the experienced people here. I have a feeling your Phal won't be a "only child" for long.

[RosieC]

Welcome to Orchid Board

Yes that's a keiki and I agree with Josh about 3" of roots before you remove them from the mother.

You can get great experience from trying to save discount ones, as long as you don't mind loosing some.

Rotted roots can be a problem with phals if there is not enough air flow around the roots. Usually I wouldn't use a sphag topping because it can reduce air flow. That can be good if it dries too quickly or if you are in a very very dry environment, but can be a problem if it reduces air flow and drying too much.

I find it's good to aim for them to be drying completely in 7 days, if it's too much more than that it tends to mean there is not enough airflow for the roots and they may rot. If it's less you have to water more often (but they actually seem to like that, which is why mounted ones can do well).

[BassandBonsai]

Carpe Diem-
Thanks! My phal hasn't been an "only child" for awhile, though- I have that miniature one, a big one, and a dendrobium, not to mention all of my bonsai. (And some of my weirder indoor plants like potatoes and pineapple.) I'm glad I found this forum, though- there's only so much information you can get off of those little plastic card thingies they stick in the soil.

RosieC- Boy, am I glad you said something!


I didn't realize it needed more airflow than that- when I got it it was in pure sphagnum moss, so I assumed that's what it preferred. I had filled most of the pot with fir bark when I repotted it the first time, but I'd put sphagnum moss around the roots to hold it in place. Looks like that was a bad idea. Oh well, crisis averted! Now it's in pure fir bark, with plenty of space for the air to get around.

Mounted? What does that mean?

[bballr4567]

You might want to research on KLN or Superthrive here. It'll help with the roots.

[BassandBonsai]

You think so? I don't know, everything I've read says to be really careful about fertilizers, especially with damaged roots. If it's healthy enough to produce a keiki, I don't want to mess with it more than I already have. I do use a Schultz liquid fertilizer about once every 2 weeks at 1/4 strength, just to be sure I'm not starving the poor fellows, but I also don't want to burn them.

[bballr4567]

A keiki could also be a plants last attempt to spread its genes. I'd wait and see what the veterans say about it.

[RosieC]

KLN and Superthrive are not fertilisers but root stimulators.

Orchids need weak rooting hormones and powder ones don't really work with them. However KLN has has weak rooting hormones and other ingredients that help stimulate root growth in orchids. It's a liquid that you add a few drop into the watering water. I've not used superthrive but it's similar.

Orchids can be mounted on large pieces of bark or cork or even rock rather than potting them. Their roots grip to the bark and they are watered by spraying or by dunking the whole orchid and mount in water. In the wild Phalaenopsis grow clinging to trees as do many other types of orchids, others grow clinging to rocks. There are some that are better potted but the ones that grow on trees or rocks do well mounted. It's a great way to grow orchids, but is somewhat difficult indoors as you need somewhere they can drip after watering. I keep my mounted ones on the bathroom (tiled) windowledge in the winter and outside or in my greenhouse in the summer.

Anyway, the fact that these grow on trees explains why they like plenty of air around the roots. In the wild phalaenopsis grow in the rain forest and have water running down the tree trunks and over the roots, they get plenty of water but also have their roots in the air and get plenty of air. Phal roots also photosynthasis as do the roots of other orchids in the same group, which is another reason they do well mounted or in clear pots.

Another way to grow in a technique known as Semi Hydroponic. This uses Lecca, an inorganic medium and keeps them wetter than you would usually do. If you keep them too wet in bark it breaks down quickly and the holes between the pieces fills up... so no air flow. Also toxins can be released by the decomposing bark. Using Lecca which does not break down they can be kept wetter and without loosing air flow which once they adapt to it they can really like. There can be problems with orchids like Phals in this in cooler climates though as the evaporation can cause cooling in the Lecca and the roots which they don't like. I use a heat mat to combat that though.

Here are a couple of links to places on our forum for mounts and Semi Hydroponic.
Growing on Mounts
Semi-Hydroponic Culture

[BassandBonsai]

Thanks! This explains a lot! *gets busy reading*

[Ysa]