Any hope for my Phal with no leaves?

[aliceinwl]

I second the advice from WaterWitchen and Mountaineer: a clear pot and high quality media are good investments. For clear pots, if you’re buying one, I’d get two: measure the current pot and get one that size and then a size larger. You want a pot that just fits the roots: if root health is poor or there aren’t a lot of them use the smaller pot. If root health is really good, there may be no fitting it back into the original size pot in which case you’ll want to upsize.

P.S. If you see yourself catching the orchid bug, a big bag of media and lots of pots are a good investment: saves on shipping rePotme Orchid Supplies has a really good selection of premade mixes and I really like their clear slotted pots.

[sarah_alia]

Thank you all for the tips!

I'll get some good quality potting mix.

It sounds like a lot of growers like clear pots to allow some sunlight in and to monitor the health of the roots.

I'd prefer a glass pot over plastic (trying to reduce my overall plastic consumption after learning that <10% of all plastic has ever been recycled).

From the "Clear Container?" thread, it seems glass might not allow for the same circulation as plastic.

Would it help if I put some rocks at the bottom of the glass container to improve circulation?

Another more existential question: what is the purpose of an orchid pot and medium if they are actually epiphytes? Simply to support the orchid so it can sit on a surface without toppling? Or does close contact between the roots and medium help the orchid absorb nutrients and retain moisture?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by sarah_alia

Another more existential question: what is the purpose of an orchid pot and medium if they are actually epiphytes? Simply to support the orchid so it can sit on a surface without toppling? Or does close contact between the roots and medium help the orchid absorb nutrients and retain moisture?

Great question.
In a perfect world (for orchids) epiphytes would have the opportunity to live on mounts (or trees) The challenge is to manage their needs when we grow them in our living spaces, or otherwise need to "house" them to provide sufficient moisture, temperature control, etc. Orchids growing in the wild typically get high humidity and frequent rain. A mounted orchid typically needs to be watered every day (at least) even with reasonable humidity. That being a challenge, we try to give them as much as possible of what they would get growing naturally, under our conditions. So we put them in pots, but then need to make sure that they get plenty of air around the roots while we're providing them the moisture that they need. So that's the basis of the advice to water them well - so that water runs through the pot. Air is pulled into the root zone. And then they need to dry out somewhat. (how much is different with different types, some need to stay damp like Oncidiums, some need to nearly dry out like Cattleyas, Phals are somewhere in between) When water evaporates, air replaces it - back to fresh air.

[SADE2020]

RIP your 1° pic.
Good luck with the second, you getting very good advices

[aliceinwl]

Unless you can cut holes in the glass you won’t be able to get sufficient air exchange. Clay or ceramic orchid pots would be the next best bet. You may want to look at the sticky about using wood skewers to monitor moisture until you can gauge moisture by weight if using something opaque. If buying new plastic is the primary objection, you can use a soldering iron to melt ventilation/ drainage holes in any appropriately sized used clear plastic container and repurpose it.

All Phalaenopsis would probably prefer to grow mounted, but unless you’re growing in a greenhouse or outside somewhere like south Florida, the requisite moisture and humidity are going to be a huge challenge. Ventilated pots are the compromise solution ;-) They want regular wetting and continuous moist air in the root zone. Unlike most plants orchid roots need air so open coarse media and ventilated pots facilitate that while retaining enough moisture so that you don’t have to be watering constantly.

[WaterWitchin]

Sara... start small, with your plant. Grow it for awhile. Put it in a deli container or something for now. If you decide you need more, more, more, there's plenty of ways to do so. For now, just tend to it.

[sarah_alia]

Thank you all so much!

Yes, buying new plastic is the primary objection - great idea on repurposing another clear plastic container.

I went to the nursery today and all they had was E.B. Stone Orchid Bark (fir bark). It does have a lot of fines but I'm soaking it now and will try to strain the fines out tomorrow.

I'll repot sometime this week and will post an update with photos once I do thanks again everyone, this has been so helpful!

[sarah_alia]

I delayed repotting because my friend offered to drill holes into a glass pot for me which was *eventually* a success.

Now that I'm ready to repot my phal, it has a Keiki!!!! I am beyond excited about it.

I'm planning to re-pot with bark as discussed, unless otherwise advised

Will post photos after repotting soon!