They're not squooshy, I already clipped a few clearly dead roots. Pretty sure this never happens when roots are squooshy dead - maybe that should have been a hint for me.
They are in my mix which is about 6:2:1:1 Orchiata:Perlite:Charcoal:Leca, with maybe a cork chip or three thrown in. I water when the pot feels light, which is usually in between weekly feedings with 1/2 tspn MSU, usually in rainwater but just recently switching to 120 PPM tapwater. (It can't be that switch, this must have been going on for a while).
It was in a clear plastic 3" pot with all the holes at the bottom (not the kind with slits or holes on the side).
For humidity, it's sitting on a tray of red lava gravel that I try to keep wet, with four other phals, plus I mist 2-4 times per day. We did have a wicked heat spell over labor day and although they were misted, I was away and so all the plants were exposed to temps in 90s probably if not more (that's in the house! glad I wasn't here for that). I also have low temps that are not ideally suited to Phals, which is why I only have a handful of them left.
There is some brown leaf spotting that has been growing so slowly that I'm trying not to overreact by dumping this plant, since it otherwise looks healthy. I think I posted photos here before of it.
That's the info, but I'm only amenable to simple changes, since my freaking whole life revolves around orchid care (of my other 120 plants) and I don't have the bandwidth to do any major changes. When I started collecting I said to myself, the plants are going to have to live with the conditions I can provide them, and since then they've managed to subsume my whole life so that I am trying my best to provide them the conditions they need. Which is why I only have four Phals left, and they are the only plants that live inside from April - October when the rest are in a plastic greenhouse under a big oak tree.
Long answer, ay?
---------- Post added at 08:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 AM ----------
Not going to grow in sphagnum. That's a whole different art. I'm sticking to bark, and mounting.
---------- Post added at 08:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 AM ----------
(I'm planning to mount this now. I figure I have nothing to lose, and they say Phal gigantea likes to be mounted.)
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