Viewing post #2523189 by BigBill

You are viewing a single post made by BigBill in the thread called 🗣 Starting out with Phals/Supermarket Orchids 🛎 ✍️.
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Jun 6, 2021 3:23 AM CST
Name: Big Bill
Livonia Michigan (Zone 6a)
If you need to relax, grow plants!!
Bee Lover Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Orchids Region: Michigan Hostas Growing under artificial light
Echinacea Critters Allowed Cat Lover Butterflies Birds Region: United States of America
You are welcome!
Your image says a lot. Your lower leaves are wrinkled due to insufficient water. The white/gray roots are the ones that are alive. The cinnamon ones just below are wrinkled themselves and likely not performing as they should. The only water that the plant gets is from its roots. Suffering roots means suffering plants!
It will respond fairly quickly to repotting by sending out new roots in 4-6 weeks. The most wrinkled plants can recover.
Step one is to remove the plant and snip off all hollow or dead roots. Keep the ones that seem firm and round or gray, they are fine. In order to get the plant back down towards the pot you might need to cut the "trunk". Phalaenopsis grow from a central stem or trunk. It shout be about 3/4" thick. Cut it shorter, just below last live roots, with pruning shears. Dust cut with cinnamon.
Set aside.
Get the new pot in place and hold the plant inside using your thumb and forefinger. Fill with the new media.
Now what you used is okay but the individual pieces are a bit large. Larger pieces mean you just may need to water more in the beginning, every three days not four or five. You want to plant it deep enough where most of those live roots are in the mix. When you water, the longer those roots are in contact with the moist bark, the more water they can absorb.
In your current situation with the live roots exposed to the air, they go dry quickly and don't absorb water like they should. So the plant continues to lose moisture!
Aerial/exposed roots would need to be watered at least everyday for the orchid to do better.
In all of my orchid growing classes over 40 years of growing, I always emphasize that healthy roots means a healthy plant.
Orchid lecturer, teacher and judge. Retired Wildlife Biologist. Supervisor of a nature preserve up until I retired.
Last edited by BigBill Jun 6, 2021 4:12 AM Icon for preview

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