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Originally Posted by Sueian  Hi - bought an orchid book a while ago as killed off two plants as not sure of watering etc. Book said to put plant on stones and water the stones and let them take up what water they need. |
If that is what the book said, I would be of the opinion that it's not a very good orchid book. This watering method poses more questions than it answers: How would you know when it had taken up as much as it needed? How long would that take? How much water does an orchid need?
I am going to guess that your phal has been fairly wet pretty consistently. If that's correct you probably have some rotted roots. I'd recommend checking out the roots to see if they are good or gone. Green or cream coloured, firm and crisp is good and healthy. Black, grey, or brown, and soft or mushy is dead.
You might as well go ahead and repot (unless you've done it recently) as this will give you a chance to check out the roots and besided if it has been wet the mix may also be degraded.
Abandon that old method of watering and look at this thread for
watering using the skewer method. Actually consider tossing that whole book.
Many orchid growers do use trays of pebbles with water in them but not for watering. They are
humidity trays. The pot sits on top of the rocks above the water and the water raises the humidity level around the plant. The plants never sit down in the water.
Fingers crossed, hoe or the best, and if you feel like it, write the author of that book and tell them they're WRONG!
Regarding your new phal that is dropping its flowers, phals do not respond too well to changes in conditions andit is not uncommon for them to drop buds or flowers when they're moved from one location to another. The flower drop is probably nothing to worry about. Go to
AOS | Home and get a good culture sheet on phals. Give it a read and let us know if you have any questions.
Good Luck!!