Hi fatplant, you're very welcome.

With orchids, you're always having to make judgment calls on what conditions to provide. Decisions, decisions.

Smart of you to depot the new orchid. Piled-on new medium to make the pot look good is common. Sometimes there's brand new bark on top of old, rotten, decomposed bark. Not too good. People differ on this, lot's of people say leave them alone, but I always repot anything new.

The "bag" in "sphag n bag" is to create a humid micro-climate for the orchid to recover in while it doesn't have roots.

You don't say whether your new orchid is a phal or not. Supposing it is, if it has aerial roots and the leaves are turgid, it's in pretty good shape. In that case, sphag n bag isn't necessarily required, tho I don't think it will hurt if you decide to go that way. It's a good idea to get the aerial root (tips at least) growing into the moss, tho.

To accomplish this, start with a warm (ie tepid, not hot) water soak for a half hour or so, being sure the aerial roots are in the water. That gives the plant a good hydration, also softens the roots.

I call this a "float", and you can put fertilizer into the soak water at 1/4 recommended strength. A float helps a plant rehydrate. Wilty leaves often recover somewhat.

Then you can go either of two ways. It's your own judgment which to do. If the leaves that were under the moss are crumby and wilty, and if the plant has more leaves, you can cut the wilty leaves off to lower the whole plant and get the aerial roots into the moss. Don't cut off any good leaves, tho.

Or, gently, gently bend the aerial roots just enough to get the tips near or at some moss.

A good book for beginners is Ortho's *All About Orchids* which costs under $15. It's often at Lowe's, or you can get it thru Amazon or the American Orchid Society website. If you love phals, try Noble "Yes, you can grow phalaenopsis" as a starter book. This is a tiny book.

Be sure not to overpot-- put into a pot that is the smallest size that will hold the roots.

I was surprised to find the libraries don't have good orchid books, too.

Hopefully someone else will have some advice for you as well.

My feeling on the sphag and bag is that if you need to use it then its not likely to work. Works like this, plants decline to the state that needs rescue because their environment is deficient in some key way. Sphag and bag is very dependent upon environmental conditions for its success. Thing is, when and if the environmental conditions are beefed up to the point at which the sphag n' bag has a chance then quite likely one can recover a sick plant without it! Especially one with good aerial root development like the new phal from the clearance rack.

H

You're right, it is a phal. I know I can easily maintain it's temp. requirements, not so much the others. And I bought it so I would have something to tide me over until the first is up and running again...or until the keikei is independent. Howard, I've read the threads and seen you "say" sphag & bag is not the only option...so do you mist the leaves of a rootless phal to keep it quenched until it grows new roots? or put it in a greenhouse (large version of a bag)? What about those humidity trays? I won't be able to keep them outside in the shade much longer because temps have been in the upper 60's at night. I've not put either (and won't for sure the one w/ the aerial roots, seeing as how the leaves look healthy, there's a new one coming up, and the "under" leaves are healthy, though small). do you think I could get it to bloom?

while I was repotting the first I told myself it would be okay if I lost it. Trying to prepare myself. It does have a keikei. Its root is growing. As for bagging it, I told my daughter I was going to build a mini greenhouse to keep it moist until it was better. We'll see how it goes. At the moment it is loosely in sphag, has a generous sprinkling of rooting hormone (forgot the cinnamon!), in a small pot, on the porch. Is it adviseable to unwrap it again and sprinkle cinnamon?

Will get Ortho's ASAP. I love their complete guide to vegetables.

WARNING: In an attempt to enlighten, the following post may/will quote and/or copy verbatim portions of text that are copyrighted by individuals and business concerns that in at least one instance are not native to the United States of America. The miscreant begs the forbearance of concerns local and abroad displeased or injured by his well meant actions.

"Light is the only plant food. All the other things we give a plant are just to help it digest and use the light. The more light a plant gets the bigger and fatter it will become, provided all other needs are being met. If there is not enough light, nothing else will make the plant bigger or produce more." That quote comes from a British hydroponic gardening website which link was furnished by RP1, a regular contributor. I grabbed it because it says in one succinct paragraph everything I try to say in six. I couldn't help but notice this line from fatplants last post "I won't be able to keep them outside in the shade much longer because temps..." With the opening quote in mind, shade is an absence of light. It can be the total absence of light or it can be partial but usually it leans more to total than not, regardless of what it seems to our eyes. Porches are not good places to grow orchids unless carefully studied for light supply. That opaque 100% shade roof makes only the low angle early morning/late afternoon sun available and because of other structures nearby those light sources may be absent to some degree. FP also says that "it is a phal. I know I can easily maintain it's temp. requirements, not so much the others." Which others? Phals don't have particulary 'easy' temp requirements for Zone 7. Yes during the height of summer but not at any other time of year. Most any other orchid you can name will be more willing to poke along for months at typical household temps (~70F) than phalaenopsis. Mehitabel says, "With orchids, you're always having to make judgment calls on what conditions to provide. Decisions, decisions..." 'Aint that the truth. But allow me to offer some simplification: for much less money than a mini-GH one can buy and operate a small light fixture with a 42W CFL light in it and this will prove of much more utility in regrowing roots and keeping life in indoor plants of all kinds. Every few months another orchid grower goes out of business. If orchid growers would recognize and promote the value of indoor lighting the way they promote their wares the future of the hobby and by extension, their livelihoods would be much more robust.

H

Here's what I'm going to try, unless someone stops me and tells me I'm doomed:

I got the 42W CFL. I have a large clear plastic tote box in the attic. How about I put the phal, keikei & all, in the box w/ the lamp and keep it humid? Can I cover a lamp like that? Did you say 12 hours of light a day? My book will be here in about a week.

As for the keikei, it's on a ~20" spike, how about I un-stake it, let gravity pull it down (or will it snap?) and lay it on damp sphag?

You are in zone 7. Isn't it warm and humid. I have never had luck with S&B. I don't believe it works on a plant which is on its last leg. All you get is mold. I wouldn't even bother. I would keep the plant warm, stop overwatering, put in a bright spot (not direct sun) and keep your fingers crossed. If the keiki looks healthy, I'd remove it and pot that on its own.

It will take a while to know if the plant makes anymore roots.
Meanwhile, buy yourself a nice, healthy plant. I wouldn't waste my time with S&B.

JMO

Jane

My wife found a $10 rescue several weeks ago in a florist shop. Leaves look good, but no new roots. All i've done is to put it with the other Phals and give it normal culture and hope it will pick up.

I wonder about all these rescue posts re. what sort of success newbies have in reviving these sick orchids.

My experience with the ones that suffered when agisted out a year or so ago is that a few that suffered most from being cold and wet just pined away and died, others lost a few leaves or suffered cold burn marks and have picked up.

But, i'm a pretty slapdash grower, i haven't even repotted the Phal i saved from the bridal table at my son's wedding several years ago. So it was good to see some advice to a newbie in another series of posts to do nothing with a Cattleya..

we had a discussion on this not too long ago. I would be very careful of temps this time of year with plastic or an enclose container with a 42w cfl. It can do more harm than good. S& B is great in winter. In summer even wrapping saran around a pot can cause the plant to overheat on warm days.
That is why I prefer clay pots and saran. You can control the heat and dry time. I use Bark as the medium usually

I have at least 15 "hospital rehabs" at the moment. I also use s/h and pumice. That works equally as well in moderately damaged plants as bark and a clay pot. Bellina types that need to run dryer love pumice and s/h. I have 1 spiking but will cut it. It has 2, 1/2 leaves and 1 whole leaf. Too soon for him.

I just received OHG's newsletter. Liese writes about keeping newly potted plants dry. That holds true for recovering plants. You want to make them work for water and get them established fast.

During this discussion of rehabbing plants coco chips were mentioned. In experimenting with coco chips they seem to be a good medium for rehabbing, a compromise between spag and bark depending on your conditions. but bear in mind that they retain a lot of water over time. A short period of time at that. I have a couple potted up and a couple in s/h again depending on the severity of the injury, type of plant. The s/h and coco chips will work great in winter but for now they just remain too wet. If it was a paph or phrag that would be a good alternative as S& B does not work on paphs.

I have most of my rehabs outside. As H says, light is the best cure. The ones that have been found on my doorstep have started off in shady conditions as they have been underlight for a long time. I slowly move them to brighter conditions.

For me s&b only works well in winter with severely damaged plants but consider my zone.

Clara
9 Orchid Orphan and counting

Yes, it's warm & humid. Nights are in the mid 60's, highs in the low 90's. I have both phals. outside 20 feet from the oak tree w/ afternoon sun blocked by the house (they back up to an east wall). As soon (within 2 hours) of being back there, they both stood up leaves. The rootless one is so disturbing to me because it is beautiful up top, new leaves, healthy leaves, the keikei is blooming. What kind of creature can do that? I understand that it is collecting food with it's leaves and the more leaves it has, the more food it will have. But is it possible to discourage leaf growth and encourage root growth? Won't roots sustain it through hard times (winter) when the leaves can't? I know it's not a chrysanthymum that I can just cut back, and time is running out, I need to quit being so hard on myself for messing up a plant. Duh! Rooting hormone, and I already did that. Now just provide pristine conditions, right? Don't mess it up anymore...and just quit worrying so much.

I find my plants do better when I forget about them for a while. I would cut that keiki off and pot it. It will drain what's left of the mama plant.

I am no expert and stay away from plants which require too much from me. If they don't survive in my conditions, they die. But your growing habits can be changed once you understand the basic cultural needs of the plant.

Plants in bad condition are 'hanging on by a thread.'Whatever their thread is, it's keeping it alive. I find if you fool around too much and change the conditions too suddenly, you will probably push the plant past it's limit. It needs roots to survive. It takes time to grow roots and the best thing you can do now is leave it alone, don't disturb it more than necessary. Keep it warm, give it good light and wait.