If there are some live roots on your adoptees, then water them less than normal and be sure to let them dry out well.

If there are no live roots, then don't water them at all until they put out new roots. Again, let them dry between watering.

Expanding on richardol's advice, as he says, be sure the medium is dry. Your charcoal can fool you. It may be dry on the surface and wet in the middle. Stick your finger way down to check, or keep a trimmed-down shishkabob skewer in the pot and when you think the plant needs water, take it out and test it against the back of your hand. If it's wet, don't water. If it's dry or barely dry, water.

"...and I only use charcoal as my potting media. Nothing else."

Why is that? Straight charcoal is an unusual choice. It complicates feeding somewhat as it doesn't have much of a trace mineral profile.

"My orchids are also outside my flat facing south but shaded."

Shaded with what? If not shadecloth or lath then you probably have too much shade. I am sure that without too much trouble you can find a neighbor or some other societ something where you can get ideas from people who have more experience. Maybe someone will even come and look at your setup.

H

Thanks for the advice. Will try it and see what happens.

Howard, all growers here in Singapore use only charcoal as potting media. Even the commercial growers.

Maybe its our weather? We're sunshine all year around and the temperature never falls below 23C (73.4F). Med to high humidity all year round too. We're a typical tropical country on the equator.

I've asked one of our local growers this question and his reply was that, the charcoal is only to stabilize the plant in the pot and nothing else. With regular watering and fertilizing, orchids, especially Dens bloom every few months in our climate. It almost never goes dormant.

As for shading, if they have anymore sun than they do now, they'll burn for sure. In the mornings, direct sun is about one and a half feet away from my orchids and in the afternoons, about half a foot. When its cloudy, I put a high wattage reading lamp over them. It also gets very breezy where they are so I should think they're getting adequate circulation.

But I've never nursed a sick orchid before so am concerned about whether what I'm doing with my healthy orchids is advisable for the sick ones?

As for societies, I just joined one. But THE society seems to be dormant... lack of members?

Some basic problems with growing orchids at the balcony of flats, especially HDB ones:

- light 24/7! Orchids, like other plants, need a period of darkness to metabolize the food they made during the daytime.
- strong anti-fungal paint used on the walls, I believe, contribute to some stunting or slowing of growth.
- unavailability of rainwater. S'pore pipe water is tolerable but there's still too much chlorine and fluoride for an orchid's liking.
- difficulty in flushing the orchids without creating a mess.

Hi Moneyface,

I didn't know about the period of darkness thingy. My dad's grown his orchids on the balcony for years without incident. His orchids grow big and are always blooming.

He's never had a sick orchid so I couldn't ask him what to do about nursing one.

As for the paint, I didn't know about that one either. I would assume that once the paint dried (which it had 4 years ago) it would not emit any fumes.

I know about the water. I try to let the water stand a day before I water my orchids.

Don't really care about the mess cause its just water and it dries up pretty quick.

Thank you for the tip. I'll bring in my sick ones in the evenings and hope that helps them recuperate.

"As for shading, if they have anymore sun than they do now, they'll burn for sure"

I'm not so sure about that...

"In the mornings, direct sun is about one and a half feet away from my orchids"

In the mornings direct sun should be directly on your orchids. Do you know how many orchids die in sun porches every year all over America mere inches away from the light that would have saved them? Light does not turn corners, not even slightly. Unless the overhang creating the shade is itself somewhat translucent it will act as a 100% shadecloth and although plants in the shade can 'see' the light beyond the shadow line they cannot utilize it.

H