Help! My mother repotted my phal orchid in regular soil. What to do?
garnet16
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Hello,
Newbie here. I have one orchid that I received last year for Mother's Day. I believe it is a phalanopsis (sp?) as my daughter picked it out from the grocery store. It has been doing fine, it bloomed once, I feed it ice cubes once a week.
Recently it has begun to produce rather large bulbs and so I'm guessing it will bloom soon. The roots have been coming out of the rather small pot that it came in.
I was planning on doing some research into what type of soil/mix to use. My mother was babysitting and while I was away she decided to re pot it into another larger pot (she said because the roots were coming out). She used regular MIracle Grow potting mix (NOT a specific orchid soil mix).
Now I"m worried about this orchid. I've read you shouldn't re pot it when it is in bloom (it looks almost ready to bloom) and apparently regular potting soil is bad for orchids.
What do I do? Repot now in orchid mix? Leave it be until after it's done blooming? Thank you!!
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shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
8 years agobossyvossy
8 years agoRelated Discussions
should i repot or wait - my first orchid!
Comments (6)Congrats on your first orchid. I was 12 years old when I got my first plant (a cattleya). 40 plus year later, I'm still growing cattleyas. Orchids are infective. Phalies like most epiphytes grow in trees and extend aerial roots out. The green tips of the roots possess chlorophyll so they are photo-sensitive and sometimes grow toward a light source. However, it doesn't sound good if the roots outside the pot are dry and shriveled. Wait till the plant finishes blooming and repot in a fresh medium. When you buy these plants from the store, there's no telling how long the plant was sitting in the pot. A lot of phalies are potted in sphagnum. Nothing wrong with that, but in a plastic pot, it has the problem staying too wet for too long and the main roots might have become rotten from over-watering. While Phalies don't possess a water storage system like the pseudobulbs of cattleyas and the like, they don't like to be in standing water or soaking wet medium. They need to dry out between watering. Phalies in the wild grow in the humid jungles of Indonesia. There is regular rain, but there is also a good amount of breeze and airflow that allows the plant to dry out before the next shower. Also, the higher humidity helps the plant from being desiccated. The "little green horns" on the inflorescence maybe either another secondary flower spike or a "keiki" or the formation of a baby plant. Sometimes if the plant starts to break keikis over flower, the plant might be in distress. When a plant senses it is dying, it will do anything to preserve itself, either by flowering or making keikis. But you will not know that for a while. A good sign is that the plant is putting out a new leaf. Make sure that when you water, never leave standing water in the crown (the axil of the leaves). Standing water can lead to crown rot and this usually is fatal to the plant. Also, never have the plant sitting in a plant saucer filled with water. Again, this will keep the medium too wet and cause rot. Phalies (though they say tolerate shady conditions) do like a good amount of indirect light. The key to flowering most orchids is the quality of light. A north facing window won't do. A south facing window is the best. The leaves should always be a medium green. Very dark green leaves means the plant isn't getting enough light, and they become long, thin and flaccid. Too much light and the leaves could bleach out, turn yellow or burn. Phalies and Paphs don't need as much light as cattleyas that is true. You can put the flowering plant anywhere in the house to be enjoyed. But when you want it to start growing, put it in a sunny window. And if you live in areas where you can summer a plant outdoors under shade cloth or lath, (a tree sometimes can cast too much shade; depends on the tree) do that. Really, an orchid growing indoors is rather foreign to them. But that goes for all plants. Soon you will be hooked and adding more plants to your collection. You will want a greenhouse. It never ends. Trust me. Good luck and have fun!!...See Morehelp! my gf's phal orchid is dying!
Comments (23)Sean, a belated welcome, A couple of my earlier messages to you haven't posted here. You have my sympathy and empathy with your orchid loss, especially because it was a thoughtful and special gift for your GF, and she's loved it so. You've gone to great lengths to save this plant. Not many folks would have done that. Kudos to you. Dunno if this will help ease the loss for the two of you, but the beloved Phal could have been doomed before you got it because of the no drainage factor. The only retailers who raise orchids to last beyond that one (unnatural) flowering are the smaller commercial orchid growers, and some of those mistreat their plants, so you end up with poor quality too. You're in good company: virtually every orchid hobbyist lost at least a few of their first orchids. After you and your GF have had a chance to talk, & if you decide to get another orchid, I have two suggestions that will increase chances the new orchid will thrive and bloom again (no guarantees, unfortunately - we're talking orchids. :)). First, as Jane said, get Ortho's All About Orchids by Elvin McDonald; Meredith Books, 1999. It's a paperback, and Amazon's got them new for $2.79! Then there's shipping from their vendor, but the book was about $20 @ Home Depot a couple of years ago. The Ortho book's only 96 pages long and has guided tons of folks to success. After the two of you have skimmed through the book... Second suggestion - order a Phal from a grower who sells online. Picking out the new Phal together could help brighten your moods. There are lots of good growers who sell online, and folks here will suggest solid growers, if you decide to go that route. We can also tell you which Phals might be easier than others. One drawback is a new plant may not arrive in spike (have a "stem" maybe long enough to have buds on it already), or in bloom (flowers open). That's because the orchid's environment hasn't been messed with to force it to bloom way out of its natural cycle, like orchids you find in stores, even garden centers. This process could have compromised your orchid's health, too. But, you're in luck - this is the time of year lots of Phals are in spike. I live in Minneapolis, MN and see you're in SE Nebraska. We're geographically challenged in the orchid world. There may be small commercial growers kinda near you or your GF's school, but none that sell online as far as I know. Also, the only show around here where you can buy orchids is in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival in January, and only a few vendors attend. It's the absolute worst time to buy an orchid cuz of its exposure to cold temps. People in Chicago, S CA, FL, and farther up the E coast live in paradise re: lots of good growers and big shows throughout the year. I'll be thinking about you two. Please let us know how it's going. Whitecat8 Here is a link that might be useful: Ortho's All About Orchids, Amazon.com...See MoreRepotting tomato seedlings - use regular potting mix or orchid mix?
Comments (10)I have studied growing in containers quite a bit...and there is a lot of info available under the "container" section, and elsewhere. Some of the contributions from certain gardeners is very good. One of the primary downfalls of many container mixes is: they do not drain well because of the size of medium used in the mix (over-simplification). Have you ever noticed the bottom 2 inches of your pots loads up with "muck"? There are a couple of reasons for that. I actually "custom" mix to eliminate/reduce this common problem (in addition to using a wick). As stated above...you can really empty your bank account buying supplies if you are not careful. Oftentimes, I buy inexpensive (larger quantity) bags of cactus mix to supplement my other ingredients. I am not sure what your ideas/purposes are...but it is a good thing to pay attention to what you are using for a soil mix. It can make or break your whole planting experience. Some folks plant in crap...and then they spend a small fortune on seeds, plants, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, etc....and still fail. I do not mean to rant...but rather help some folks avoid trouble and disappointment. With good intentions...I see people put rocks in the bottom of their containers, use "moisture control" mixes, add native soil to the mix, and do all kinds of stuff that shoot themselves in the foot. Kind of sad. goodluck, and keep asking... PS If you are just temporarily re-potting to a larger pot prior to garden plantout...just save yourself some money/time and use "regular" MG potting mix or like product. Not sure what your plan is. haha...See MoreAfraid to repot! Why do my repotted orchids always suffer after???
Comments (13)Arthrum: good point, the temps in my house are only kept above 65 degrees, but it still seems that some temperature hardy plants still show dislike of my repotting... Dbarron: oh my! Sounds like a tragedy! I get upset enough when I break of a new shoot! Vtandrea: thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely try it on one of my oncidiums! Jane: I live in the Oakland hills in the SF Bay Area. I grow almost all my indoor orchids in the same spot, positioned around a fireplace to control the amount of light. The facing of the house isn't the best. 80% of the light is late morning to afternoon sun . 90% of the windows are west facing :( like the house... The problem might be I repotted at the wrong time. I didn't a lot of reporting in the winter/ late fall (whoops...)...See Moreoldmangroot
8 years agogarnet16
8 years agooldmangroot
8 years agogarnet16
8 years ago
Sherry8aNorthAL
8 years agogarnet16
8 years agogarnet16
8 years agobossyvossy
8 years ago
mesembs
8 years ago
mommas_secrets
8 years agogarnet16
8 years agomesembs
8 years ago
Sheila
8 years agoDanielle Rose
8 years agoalan_rr
8 years ago
joyfulsu
2 years ago
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