Thank you.

I love Phalaenopsis orchids too, though I am not a fan of sphagnum moss at all, makes it too hard to determine if it is dry already especially during cold weather. It is a matter of preference which media you like to use, just make sure you monitor if it is still too wet or not.

Try not to mist or wet the leaves, or if it is unavoidable, dry it off with paper towel so it does not invite fungal rot. Phals grown outdoors easily gets their wet foliage and roots dry by continuous air circulation, but indoors in our homes, it takes much longer to dry out. Hope you have a chance to check the roots just to see how it is. Phal roots like to go near dry before being watered again. Run your ceiling fans after watering, just to simulate some air movement around. Water your Phals early in the day, not at night, so it has time to drain and dry better.

you are absolutely right. They were doing perfectly fine outside during the summer time. I just had them back to the house before I took off to China, and left them in my hubby's hands. I was gone for five weeks, when I came back I found two off them had some rotten roots and were sitting at very soggy moss. I had the rotten roots trimmed off, repotted them next to the windows and they have already immerged some new roots.

Yey! Just be patient with it..it will continue to bounce back!

It still amazes me how differently we grow our Phalaenopsis plants. I have dozens of them and has sold dozens more, and I never, ever worry about moisture on the leaves. What do you think the commercial growers do when it comes to watering, those that grow Phal. by the thousands? Perhaps I get the results I do because of good air circulation. One thing I don't do is use sphagnum moss as their media.

Me too, Ken. I spray my Phals with water and once or twice a week with fert/water too. When they grow in nature, they certainly get wet from the rain, right?

I do make sure that the water never pools in the crowns though. That's an invitation to crown rot. All mine are either mounted or potted with the crown at an angle so they drain well. They like to stick their roots up in the air so having the crown angled sideways lets them do that . .

Elaine, when you think about it, considering the "rules" we place ourselves under when growing orchids, it is quite amazing orchids survive in the wild.

So right, Ken, but you know orchids growing in the wild probably aren't nearly as big and healthy and robust as our coddled darlings.. They do indeed "survive".

Meant to say I'm also with you on the sphagnum moss. I do have a couple of orchids - a Paph and a couple of Miltassias - that seem to do ok with a little moss in the mix, but not Phals. It just stays much too wet, and compacts too much to let their roots get air.

Yeah, our areas are all so different..just the handling and location where we place our plants indoors is different. As you said Ken...air circulation..that is key. After all they are epiphytes they love that interaction. Yes, in nature they get their rain..but they also get their breeze all around them a lot, so Mother Nature cares for them quite well Pretty much at home they get killed first by overwatering, not being allowed to dry out. It is nice if everyone can mount them, but that is just way too much work, so most like me, will go by planting them in containers and being watchful with the way and frequency they get watered.

My Phals always finds away to lean to the side and I am so thankful for it. I have been using other alternatives for media..using hygrolon baggies, using lava rock, using clay rocks..and it is working too..really showed me they like their air circulation in their root zone.

They looked very healthy and perfectly fine still at the back of my patio in the beginning of Oct. It is not a matter of growing media or water we are concerned here, is the weather and indoor air environment. Some -10 to -20 degree outside or constant dry hot air to maintain the inside temp at 23 certainly would not help!!

Growing plants at their suitable environment was not challenging!!

Do I see some sun burning here?

I thought that one in the bottom of the photo had a big patch of sun burn, too Ken. But maybe it's just a reflection? If it is a burn, just make sure the plants don't get direct sun, unless it's early morning or gentle evening sun.

You're right, the indoor environment is the biggest challenge for Phals. If you can set them on a tray of pebbles or something like that and fill the tray with water every day to raise the humidity around them, that usually helps. My orchids have been indoors for the last two days, as we had a cold front get all the way down here c/w dry air. I have old wet towels hanging all around the orchids at night to keep the humidity up.

But really, they are potted in plastic pots with sphagnum moss in there. It's not a great situation, most likely the roots are staying too wet. I'll bet your DH watered them too much while you were away.

If they were mine, I'd for sure pull one out, remove all the moss and inspect the roots down in the pot. Then re-pot in a vented pot with phal mix from the nursery - it is small chunks of wood, perlite, charcoal and other goodies that hold a little moisture, but not too much and allow air flow around the roots. This is critical for growing Phals.

No it is sun burn I forgot to move them from the hottest summer sun one day and this happened!

Yep, all it takes is a few minutes of intense infra-red and it/they will be sunburned.

DEBRA I love your plates!!

They are gorgeous!