Need tips for orchid care? #OrchidLovers
Wish me luck! 😂
#OrchidLovers #Orchid
Anyone got some tips for these things?
#OrchidLovers #Orchid
Anyone got some tips for these things?
9
Best Answer
Hi there 👋. Your orchid is very pretty! Phals are really hardy and are usually forgiving of mistakes! The main thing to know about phals is that they are epiphytes - they grow on trees in the wild! This means that their roots are used to drying out between waterings and are used to being able to breathe. Because of this, phals need a wet/dry for watering and you only need to water when the media is dry and the roots have gone a silvery colour. If the media doesn’t dry out between watering, the roots can’t breathe and tend to get root rot (they can recover from this - it just sets them back). I’m really bad at telling when my media is dry, so I tend to use bamboo skewers that I keep in the pot to guide me. If I pull the skewer out and it’s dry or 98% dry and cool to the touch, it’s time to water. When watering, avoid getting water on the leaves, stem or crown of the plant - they are incredibly prone to rot if water gets in and, unlike root rot, crown rot and stem rot are almost always fatal. It’s hard to tell from the picture what media yours is planted in. If it’s potted in orchid bark, a good way to water is to soak the roots by putting the pot in an outer pot and filling a cm or two below the stem of the plant - you’ll need to pull away some of the media to uncover the stem (this will also help ensure that the stem doesn’t get wet as they are prone to rot). This ensures that only the parts of the plant that cope with water are being watered! If it’s potted in coir or moss, soaking will be too much and it’s best to water it though with a can, being careful not to get water on the stem. Phals need lots of bright light, but it will often need to be filtered, particularly if on a south facing window as they are prone to sunburn (they grow in the jungle in their natural environment so are protected by the canopy).
When yours has finished blooming, it’ll go into a vegetative growth phase and this is really important for the future of the plant - it’ll concentrate on making new leaves and roots. This is a good time for a repot. It’s always best to repot a new phal after blooming - often when we get a new orchid, the media is old and has never been changed (broken down media doesn’t give the roots the air they need to breathe so it can affect their health) and they will often still be planted in a sponge plug and/or plastic cage. This helps the plants when they are babies, but they are not necessary and often cause a lot of problems in the home environment and can even lead to rot, so it’s always best to get rid of them. For beginners, it’s best to repot in a similar media to what it came in as the roots will already be adapted to that media. A repot is stressful for the plant but is necessary, but don’t worry if it looks a little sad and doesn’t do anything for a few weeks. It will recover! It’s best to repot an orchid every 18 months to 2 years after your initial repot. After a few months of the vegetative growth, you can try for blooms! Phals usually need a 10 Celsius temperature drop between day and night for a number of weeks to convince them to bloom again! Miss Orchid Girl on YouTube has a lot of brilliant videos on phals for beginners and a repotting tutorial. Just bear in mind that the advice she gives is for plants in her environment - she lives in Cyprus so all of her advice is about retaining moisture and keeping humidity because of the hot weather. This isn’t suitable for all environments - But she really is the orchid queen and her videos are amazing. You’ll find that one day, the wet/dry cycle, their environment and care will just click and you’ll get it! The great thing about phals is that they are hardy and will soon tell you if you are making a mistake or doing something they don’t like and they tend to bounce back!
When yours has finished blooming, it’ll go into a vegetative growth phase and this is really important for the future of the plant - it’ll concentrate on making new leaves and roots. This is a good time for a repot. It’s always best to repot a new phal after blooming - often when we get a new orchid, the media is old and has never been changed (broken down media doesn’t give the roots the air they need to breathe so it can affect their health) and they will often still be planted in a sponge plug and/or plastic cage. This helps the plants when they are babies, but they are not necessary and often cause a lot of problems in the home environment and can even lead to rot, so it’s always best to get rid of them. For beginners, it’s best to repot in a similar media to what it came in as the roots will already be adapted to that media. A repot is stressful for the plant but is necessary, but don’t worry if it looks a little sad and doesn’t do anything for a few weeks. It will recover! It’s best to repot an orchid every 18 months to 2 years after your initial repot. After a few months of the vegetative growth, you can try for blooms! Phals usually need a 10 Celsius temperature drop between day and night for a number of weeks to convince them to bloom again! Miss Orchid Girl on YouTube has a lot of brilliant videos on phals for beginners and a repotting tutorial. Just bear in mind that the advice she gives is for plants in her environment - she lives in Cyprus so all of her advice is about retaining moisture and keeping humidity because of the hot weather. This isn’t suitable for all environments - But she really is the orchid queen and her videos are amazing. You’ll find that one day, the wet/dry cycle, their environment and care will just click and you’ll get it! The great thing about phals is that they are hardy and will soon tell you if you are making a mistake or doing something they don’t like and they tend to bounce back!
@MotherOfOrchids i have mine placed in indirect light by a north facing window; shes in a mix of dirt orchid bark and perlite! Do i need to change the mix and add more orchid bark???
@Some_rando depending on where in the world you are, what your lighting is like, and if you’re in the northern hemisphere, north facing windows don’t often give phals enough light. Southern hemisphere, north facing is great with a shade! A good way to tell whether phals are getting enough light is by new leaf growth. Each new leaf should be bigger than the one that came before it in healthy, happy phals. If it’s not getting enough light, often what will happen is that the plant will stop growing that leaf and start producing a new one and so on, so you end up with lots of small leaves. This isn’t going to put the plant at risk, it just tells you that it ideally needs a new spot. Phals also need a phenomenal amount of energy to bloom and if they aren’t getting enough light they will often skip blooming. If you aren’t able to get enough light naturally, phals do great under grow bulbs (I use a Sansi 15w bulb).
Orchid bark and perlite are great, but dirt is likely to be problematic - if it came in dirt, it’s probably broken down bark or coir as nurseries are using coir more and more these days. Because phals grow on trees, their roots are used to being able to breathe and have air flow around them - their roots aren’t buried in the trunk, they literally grip the tree and anchor the plant, so all of their roots are aerial roots in the wild. Bark naturally adds little air pockets to the pot so it gives them air flow and they can breathe, particularly if the pot has good drainage (good drainage is also a must for phals - they hate sitting in water). Dirt is compact, broken down and doesn’t have air pockets or air flow and this can suffocate phal roots. That’s also why we repot them every 18 months to two years or so - bark breaks down naturally over time and becomes soil like and starts affecting root health! A pure bark or bark and perlite mic would be best suited! Dirt also retains water so it’s harder to get the wet/dry cycle between waterings. If you repot now, you may lose the blooms as a repot stresses orchids. If the plant is doing okay and is able to dry out before the next watering, it should be safe to wait until the blooms start to fall naturally. If you do notice a problem, then it’s always best to put the overall health above the blooms and take action.
Orchid bark and perlite are great, but dirt is likely to be problematic - if it came in dirt, it’s probably broken down bark or coir as nurseries are using coir more and more these days. Because phals grow on trees, their roots are used to being able to breathe and have air flow around them - their roots aren’t buried in the trunk, they literally grip the tree and anchor the plant, so all of their roots are aerial roots in the wild. Bark naturally adds little air pockets to the pot so it gives them air flow and they can breathe, particularly if the pot has good drainage (good drainage is also a must for phals - they hate sitting in water). Dirt is compact, broken down and doesn’t have air pockets or air flow and this can suffocate phal roots. That’s also why we repot them every 18 months to two years or so - bark breaks down naturally over time and becomes soil like and starts affecting root health! A pure bark or bark and perlite mic would be best suited! Dirt also retains water so it’s harder to get the wet/dry cycle between waterings. If you repot now, you may lose the blooms as a repot stresses orchids. If the plant is doing okay and is able to dry out before the next watering, it should be safe to wait until the blooms start to fall naturally. If you do notice a problem, then it’s always best to put the overall health above the blooms and take action.
@MotherOfOrchids ill have to repot her then! Because shes mostly in dirt. Also im in Idaho (not comfortable saying where exactly). Also what is this? My friend thats done orchids before said its normal but never really told me what it is.
@Some_rando the first picture, it’s an aerial root and it’s very normal! Your plant will put out loads of them! In the wild, the roots will grip the tree, but it’ll also have roots growing out in the air - they soak up humidity and even nutrients. Orchid roots aren’t particularly neat and you’ll find that they grow pretty much where they want to grow! When you repot, make sure to leave the aerial roots outside of the pot as they often will die if they are potted, simply because they won’t cope with going from being adapted to the air to being covered in a pot. Just seen that you’ve already repotted - if you’ve pitted these roots, you can gently pull tease them out of the pot. It’s really hard to judge the lighting from a picture, though it does look bright. There are apps you can get that will measure how many foot candles there are in the spot and that might be more helpful - phals need about 1000-1500 foot candles I believe.
@Some_rando she’ll be happier for sure! Do!’t worry if she looks a little droopy or doesn’t put out any new growth for a few weeks. Repots are stressful for orchids, but a necessary stress, and phals often cope with stress by shutting down. They do bounce back and this is normal phal behaviour.
@MotherOfOrchids i made sure not to put the aerial root in the dirt!