I impulse bought an orchid. What do I do?
Do I need to repot? I’m nervous to do it since it’s in bloom. What are some things I should know that most people do wrong or don’t do at all? Should I move it to Leca/water?
#OrchidLovers #help #TipsandTricks #PlantAddict
#OrchidLovers #help #TipsandTricks #PlantAddict
8ft to light, indirect
4” pot with drainage
Last watered 2 years ago
11
Best Answer
First I would have a look at the roots, if it's in a clear plastic pot. Take a photo. If the roots are bright green, that usually means they are alive and have been recently watered. If they are silvery green it might need some water. If they are brown or kind of slime green, then those are rotten roots. If it looks like they are ok, I personally wouldn't repot right now. Overwatering is the main killer. And misting is not worth doing. They love high relative humidity but misting doesn't achieve that, just adds droplets of water onto the leaves which increases risk of fungal and bacterial infections. @MotherOfOrchids knows all about phaleonopsis orchids, maybe she can add some advice 😊💕🌿
@LuxuryMint the roots looked pretty good when I bought it but knew I needed to ask those more knowledgeable for a crash course haha.
Hi 👋. You’ve been given great advice. The roots look good for now. Phals grow on trees in the wild and spend their whole lives rooted to the same spot. Because of that, even the healthiest phal can get really stressed from a repot - they don’t know how to cope with it - and when an orchid is stressed, they usually shed their blooms and buds, so it’s best to just let her settle in for a little while and enjoy the blooms. When the blooms start falling, or if the roots start looking a bit sickly, that’s the time for a repot. Yours has a sponge plug - it’s the circular thing you can see in the middle of the pot that some of the roots are growing from. They aren’t necessary - it allows nurseries to mass produce them but aren’t good for the plant in the long run. Plugs cause no end of problems as the orchid matures - sponge holds on to moisture and roots hate too much moisture over a period of time, so the plugs can lead to root rot. When you repot, you just need to gently peel away the plug and repot it in good quality orchid bark. You have a good root system and may want to consider a pot that’s the next size up. Phal roots like to be tight in the pot but because they only need repotting once every 1-2 years, they need to have room to grow too. It is possible to move the plant to leca if you have experience with leca already. With orchids, they can take a while to learn and get the balance of their needs right, so bark tends to be the best media for orchid beginners. Repotting in leca, you’ll need to be able to read the orchid and see how she is responding and how the roots are responding. Changing media drastically can cause the orchid to shed its roots - when roots are made, they are made specifically for the media it’s in and aren’t very good at adapting at all (it’s to do with being rooted to the same spot all their lives in the wild). What an orchid will often do is kill off its existing roots and concentrate on making new roots that specifically fit with leca. This can be a long process and affects the health of the plant until the new root system has come through and is mature enough to support the plant. Some plants will respond better than others and adapt with no problem and some people find that a plant won’t adapt to it at all and move it back to bark. As for water, phals need a wet/dry cycle and it’s important not to water until the media is dry or very nearly dry and the roots have gone a silver colour. Phals need good lighting, but filtered lighting in the spring/summer as they are prone to sunburn. They also need a ten degree Celsius temperature drop overnight to encourage them to bloom, but I’d give your plant a good few months to adapt, adjust to the repot and rest from this blooming cycle. Once the blooms have dropped, your plant will focus on vegetative growth, making new roots and leaves and it’s helpful to let them do this for a few months before encouraging them to bloom again. Using a good quality fertiliser also helps a plant stay healthy. Most importantly, enjoy her! Phals are amazing!
@MotherOfOrchids this is incredibly informative! I will definitely wait on the repot. Right now it’s got it’s own dedicated shelf with its own grow light. Thank you for all of your advice.
@GiftedRainbow you are very welcome! The grow light should really help too! Mine seem to love their grow light. I’ve used it all winter and I’ve had more flower spikes and blooms than ever before! Good luck and keep us posted! Orchids are wonderful plants and so rewarding! Phals are great for first orchids because they are so hardy and robust - they let us know when we’re making mistakes with them (because we all make mistakes with them) and they soon bounce back. They can even survive without roots for many months!
@MotherOfOrchids I have an orchid roots question: if there's a root on which the green padding has gone brown and mushy in the middle section but is still green at the far end, is that root still alive? I wish I had a photo but I don't have an example at the moment.. 💕🌿
@LuxuryMint Hi 👋. The root technically is still alive but it will die in my experience. Once one portion of a root starts to die, the whole root will start to die out. It sounds like it would be helpful to figure out why a portion of the root has gone brown and mushy…brown and mushy often means a problem with rot, though it’s hard to tell without a picture. If it is rot, the unaffected portion that’s attached to the plant can still be saved and you’d want to act anyway to stop the rot from spreading and to protect the orchid’s health. If it’s brown without the mush, it’s less likely to be rot. The root could be dying because of age, an injury to the root (I accidentally pierced one of mine with a flower stake and the root went brown and thin and started to die), a problem with the media if it hasn’t been repotted in a long time…
@MotherOfOrchids Thanks a lot. That all makes sense. 👍🌿💕