As Ray said, phals will loose their roots when repotted into
hydrophonic media.

That makes the fourth phal that has died promptly on entering my
flat. After one or two weeks the roots just rot, even if I just leave
it alone in its pot.

My Dendrobium has started another something (either a new spike or a
keiki, time will tell), and my three epidendrum keikis are growing
like mad - the rhizome is growing about 1mm each day. I suspect the
250w HID fixture I got just recently to be responsible.

I expected the phal to respond like the dend. I had to repot that one
immediately, and put it into a clay pot with primeagra-like pellets as
a medium. It just continued flowering, seemingly without any ill
effects. It is a large plant, but it has been standing in that pot
since before christmas. I don't expect it to keel over and die any
time soon.

What is it with me and phals? Could it be the temperature? It is about
20C/68F in the room I have my plants.

Geir

68F night and day? how cold does it get at night? what's the min and max?

"Geir Harris Hedemark" wrote in message
...
As Ray said, phals will loose their roots when repotted into
hydrophonic media.

That makes the fourth phal that has died promptly on entering my
flat. After one or two weeks the roots just rot, even if I just leave
it alone in its pot.

My Dendrobium has started another something (either a new spike or a
keiki, time will tell), and my three epidendrum keikis are growing
like mad - the rhizome is growing about 1mm each day. I suspect the
250w HID fixture I got just recently to be responsible.

I expected the phal to respond like the dend. I had to repot that one
immediately, and put it into a clay pot with primeagra-like pellets as
a medium. It just continued flowering, seemingly without any ill
effects. It is a large plant, but it has been standing in that pot
since before christmas. I don't expect it to keel over and die any
time soon.

What is it with me and phals? Could it be the temperature? It is about
20C/68F in the room I have my plants.

Geir

"Jerry Hoffmeister" writes:
68F night and day? how cold does it get at night? what's the min and max?

It oscillates between 64 and 72F.

Geir

Geir,

Phals appear to do much better for me if maintained quite warm after
repotting - even if it's just on a heated mat to keep the root system warm.
Your setup has done just the opposite.

Your use of clay media and clay pot causes the liquid evaporation rate to go
way up, as the clay pot wicks the water and becomes a greater surface area
from which the water will evaporate, hence a significant amount of
evaporative cooling is occurring. That's a great setup for cool-growing
species in warmer environments, by the way.

--

Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids
http://www.firstrays.com
Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info!


"Geir Harris Hedemark" wrote in message
...
As Ray said, phals will loose their roots when repotted into
hydrophonic media.

That makes the fourth phal that has died promptly on entering my
flat. After one or two weeks the roots just rot, even if I just leave
it alone in its pot.

My Dendrobium has started another something (either a new spike or a
keiki, time will tell), and my three epidendrum keikis are growing
like mad - the rhizome is growing about 1mm each day. I suspect the
250w HID fixture I got just recently to be responsible.

I expected the phal to respond like the dend. I had to repot that one
immediately, and put it into a clay pot with primeagra-like pellets as
a medium. It just continued flowering, seemingly without any ill
effects. It is a large plant, but it has been standing in that pot
since before christmas. I don't expect it to keel over and die any
time soon.

What is it with me and phals? Could it be the temperature? It is about
20C/68F in the room I have my plants.

Geir

"Ray @ First Rays Orchids" writes:
Phals appear to do much better for me if maintained quite warm after
repotting - even if it's just on a heated mat to keep the root system warm.

Right. I will have a go at increasing the temp for the sad remains of
the phal. There is still a handful of roots left.

Geir

what Ray said

"Geir Harris Hedemark" wrote in message
...
"Jerry Hoffmeister" writes:
68F night and day? how cold does it get at night? what's the min and
max?

It oscillates between 64 and 72F.

Geir

Geir Harris Hedemark wrote in message ...
As Ray said, phals will loose their roots when repotted into
hydrophonic media.

That makes the fourth phal that has died promptly on entering my
flat. After one or two weeks the roots just rot, even if I just leave
it alone in its pot.

My Dendrobium has started another something (either a new spike or a
keiki, time will tell), and my three epidendrum keikis are growing
like mad - the rhizome is growing about 1mm each day. I suspect the
250w HID fixture I got just recently to be responsible.

I expected the phal to respond like the dend. I had to repot that one
immediately, and put it into a clay pot with primeagra-like pellets as
a medium. It just continued flowering, seemingly without any ill
effects. It is a large plant, but it has been standing in that pot
since before christmas. I don't expect it to keel over and die any
time soon.

What is it with me and phals? Could it be the temperature? It is about
20C/68F in the room I have my plants.

It may well be how it is potted. As you already pointed out, phals
will loose their roots when repotted into hydrophonic media. But,
given you note that they rot on you even if you leave them alone in
their original pot. What you don't say is what they were potted in
when you bought them, and that may be significant.

Something I have begun to notice, and in retrospect it makes some
sense given the problems I had in the fall with phals, is that when I
get phals that had been potted like most of the dendrobiums I have
bought (packed tightly in sphagnum in 10 cm clay orchid pots (i.e. the
ones with the slots in the side), the phals suffer significant stress;
and until I clued in on this, they died. I suspect that the folk who
packed them in the sphagnum packed them so tightly that even though it
takes three to four days to dry out when the humidity is so low, there
is effectively no air available to the roots while the moss is moist.
The latest phal I got is now showing signs of stress (the bottom two
leaves are beginning to yellow, and several buds have blasted), so I
am going to repot it now in coconut husk chips, even though it is in
bloom (there are well over a dozen flowers open in all their glory,
with more on the way). It may also be that this winter, being as cold
as it has been, the house is very dry even though my humidifier is on
all the time. I fear that if I leave it too long, it will die. But
if it responds in the same way to repotting that my Dtps. Nobby's
Pink Lady x Dtps. New Cinderella x Taisuco Happy Beauty Valentine did,
the inflorescence may well start growing again.

In my environment, any orchid planted in coconut husk chips seems to
do extremely well. Not one of them is showing signs of stress. But
of those planted in moss, ONLY the dendrobiums seem happy.

Cheers,

Ted

Something I have begun to notice, and in retrospect it makes some
sense given the problems I had in the fall with phals, is that when I
get phals that had been potted like most of the dendrobiums I have
bought (packed tightly in sphagnum in 10 cm clay orchid pots (i.e. the
ones with the slots in the side), the phals suffer significant stress;
and until I clued in on this, they died. I suspect that the folk who
packed them in the sphagnum packed them so tightly that even though it
takes three to four days to dry out when the humidity is so low, there
is effectively no air available to the roots while the moss is moist.

Ditto here. What I have found when bringing these in from Hawaii where they
come in NZ sphag is that the plants continue to flourish for several months,
but then begin a decline.

And it is always the roots. Not only can there be no air getting down there,
but the core of the medium remains terribly wet. When in NZ, I usually water
Phals every 7-10 days and still the centers stay sopping wet. BTW- these are 4
inch plastic pots! Not exactly large.

The trick I have learned is to watch for significant root growth outside the
medium- specifically significant root development between the leaves and
otherwise above the crown of the plant. I try to repot into my usual mix before
this takes place, but once I see it then I know it is time to make repotting a
priority.

But it also bears remembering that when I leave the Phals in the NZ mix for a
few months, I do not have the "Hawaii effect" whereby the plants slow down
after being raised in such idyllic conditions before coming to me. I do not
know why this is, but if I pull them out of the NZ too soon, then they do get
more sluggish for a while.

Take care,

Tom.