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A word to the wise

Wesley

God must have an interesting sense of humor
If you by an orchid that doesn't have holes in the side of the pot or is in a plastic pot be VERY VERY careful about watering. If you aren't careful.... POOF it'll turn yellow and die. I know from a recent experience, and I am not gonna repeat that experience.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
-Bill Cosby

LOL. I guess I'm stupid cuz I'm not really all that careful about watering mine... but hey, it's doing great so I guess there's no need to be alarmed :p
 
IF you have it in a glazed, plastic, or large clay pot fill the pot most of the way up with those packing peanuts. Then you do not have to worry about over watering.
 
Some nurseries grow Phals in potting soil in plastic pots. But they provide strictly controlled conditions. For the best results with orchids, err towards too little water, too small of a pot, too coarse of a medium, too little fertilizer, too little light and so on.
 
lol. mine is on a small plastic pot with sphagnum :p and I water it when it's dry. I also have it in bright light... on a windowsill
 
Bruce is right, most of the hybrids for sale these days are remarkibly hardy. i have an Oncidium that flowers every 4 months under Bruce's "to lil" idea. i dont think i have fertilized the thing more than once in the last 2 years and its growing beautifully as one of my most neglected plants.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Wesley @ Feb. 13 2005,1:36)]If you by an orchid that doesn't have holes in the side of the pot or is in a plastic pot be VERY VERY careful about watering.  If you aren't careful.... POOF it'll turn yellow and die.  I know from a recent experience, and I am not gonna repeat that experience.
.......It will?
 
I'm holding out hope because the stalks are still green, and I have saved worse looking plants that were supposed to be unsavable. But this is what happens:
Dead%20or%20dying%20orchid.JPG


It came in the pot it is in but it was also in a plastic pot inside the clay pot.

Edit: My Phalenopsis(sp) is practcally unkillable. It has gone up to to weeks bone dry and has sat in water for up to a week, it has been flowering off of the same stock since November.... and is still going.
 
  • #10
That's very savable.  I would take it out of the pot, cut off the flower stem, and snap off all those dying leaves.  If it has any good roots, I'd repot it in new mix (whatever you like best).  If there are no good roots, I'd put it in a ziploc with moist sphagnum and keep it in modest light until it starts rooting.  Then I'd pot it.

I have a Paph niveum blooming now from inside a ziploc.  It came with questionable roots in a trade last fall and I did the sphag & bag thang.  A bud started after a couple months and, rather than disturb the happy plant, I let it bloom in there, with the flower sticking out of the bag.  It's the first mottled leaf Paph I've ever bloomed and this tells me I really should consider a terrarium.
 
  • #11
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]If it has any good roots, I'd repot it in new mix (whatever you like best). If there are no good roots, I'd put it in a ziploc with moist sphagnum and keep it in modest light until it starts rooting. Then I'd pot it.

Is a new soil nesesary? I can definately check the roots but I don't really see why I need to shock it by getting rid of the Sphagnum moss already there. I will be more than glad to get rid of the flower... it's not very pretty(it was a sale plant).
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Wesley @ Feb. 14 2005,9:16)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]If it has any good roots, I'd repot it in new mix (whatever you like best).  If there are no good roots, I'd put it in a ziploc with moist sphagnum and keep it in modest light until it starts rooting.  Then I'd pot it.

Is a new soil nesesary?  I can definately check the roots but I don't really see why I need to shock it by getting rid of the Sphagnum moss already there.  I will be more than glad to get rid of the flower... it's not very pretty(it was a sale plant).
its best to put it in a new soil because when you buy an orchid the soil is usually decomposed or old
 
  • #13
It looks fairly fresh, like the moss is bright "white".
 
  • #14
about the only orchids i put in LFS are cuttings. i sometimes throw some LFS in with the bark i normally use if its one that is notorious for not getting watered enough cause the lil bit of moss hold some water in longer. you will probably get in less trouble if your fairly new to orchids if you stick to regular orchid bark.
 
  • #16
me? yes i use LFS for Neps. but orchids and Neps are two different groups of plants. what works for one doesnt nessesarily work for another. i would rather use bark for orchids as it drys out faster. most orchid's pseudobulbs store water there for they can go without water for a bit if they dry out. yes i realize not all orchids have pseudobulbs but my Phal does just fine being kept fairly dry. my Vandas are kept on the dry side but in high humidity with my lowland neps. most common orchids like Catts, Phals, Dendrobiums and Oncidiums grow in fairly hostile habitats. sure they generally come from the rainforest but high up in those trees they do dry out on occation. im 100% with Bruce with most species err on the side of to lil water, bark really helps with this.
 
  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Wesley @ Feb. 15 2005,6:34)]It looks fairly fresh, like the moss is bright "white".
Looks can be deciving, my friend
 
  • #18
Well, I was examining it earlier this morning and I notice that a couple of the "stalks" have new leaves emerging. I think everything is going to be ok. LOL
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Wesley @ Feb. 16 2005,4:01)]Well, I was examining it earlier this morning and I notice that a couple of the "stalks" have new leaves emerging.  I think everything is going to be ok.  LOL
I would still repot it into fresh soil.
 
  • #20
The big commercial growers that supply chain stores ship plants when it's time to repot them.  Repotting is a labor intensive process and plants typically decline a little afterwards.  So, for maximum profits, things are timed so plants spike as the potting mix approaches the end of its useful life.

And remember that the mix in the middle of the pot is always more broken down than the mix at the top.  You'll sometimes find roots concentrated around the sides of the pot, with the interior being a sour dead zone.  That's a risky situation.  And even broken down sphagnum doesn't look very bad.  Sarrs and Neps might be happy in it, but it's dangerous stuff for an orchid.
 
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