Lots of Questions

[orchidyachtie]

Hello,

I work in the luxury yachting industry and part of my job is to take care of the 15 Phal orchids on board our boat. I generally kill any plant I come into contact with so I'm a little overwhelmed at times. They have been doing well with my watering schedule and have been in flower for about 3 months.

Lately some of the leaves have started looking wilted or wrinkly, but only on a few plants. Why is this? What can I do?

Also, on one plant all the leaves fell off but it continues to flower? Help.

The humidity is about 50-60% generally, but parts of the boat are warmer than others. Since we rarely have guests I was considering moving all the plants to the room where they seem to grow the best, just to keep them pretty? Good idea? Do they take well to movement?

Some of the roots are dried up and wrinkly, can I cut them off?

As an interesting side note, the generaly rule of watering orchids in our industry is letting a couple of ice cubes melt into them once a week. This works quite well.

[Tarad]

Welcome to the forum! Wow lots of questions! First I must say you having a job that sounds like fun There will be plenty of responses to help you out. Pictures say a thousand words sometimes so pics of wilted or wrinkly close up would help could be a couple of things. Could be not enough water for the wrinkly or too much water for the wilted etc. When you say warmer what is the temp differences between rooms. When you say take well to movement do you mean moving them from room to room? They do like air circulation/movement with fans keep the air moving around them. Most probably do not thing much of the ice way of watering it is not thorough watering, only watering where the ice cube lays. It is better to study the phal care link on this site as there is a wealth of info there. Again others with much more experience will chime in. I have only phals mostly. Tara

[orchidyachtie]

"Take well to movement" - I meant moving it to another room with about a 5-7 degree temperature difference.

Also, I've noticed on plant has grown a lot of off shoots from the main stem, this seems to be affecting the overall number of blooms. Should I trim them?

[risa59]

No no don't trim anything that is alive (leaves, roots, spikes). The link should show you how to tell if roots (in the potting mixture) are dead. The only time we trim anything usually is 1)when the roots look dead -roots in the pot are squishy or have lost their root covering and look like thin threads and 2)some of us trim the spike down to the first bloom after the blooms have died but some of us only trim the spike if it turns brown.

[brookn]

Hi, it sounds like they are being underwatered. Do not cut of any good roots, if they are wrinkly but not mushy, they probably need water. The ice cube thing is not appropriate for watering these plants, they are tropical plants, and too cold of water is detrimental to them. I recommend that you take them to a sink and thoroughly water them until the media is drenched, then let the leaves dry where there is plenty of air movement. I use my kitchen sprayer and adjust the flow of water to a gentle lukewarm spray. Remember to put them where there is air movement to dry the leaves quickly, as you do not want water to sit in the crown of the plant. You can also soak water them by filling the water close to the rim of the pot and letting them soak for about 15 min. This helps to saturate the medium they are in.

Here are some links for you:

http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/new...f-orchids.html

AOS | Phalaenopsis

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by orchidyachtie

As an interesting side note, the generaly rule of watering orchids in our industry is letting a couple of ice cubes melt into them once a week. This works quite well.

Mmmm, don't do this. It's one of those orchid myths like "get your orchid to flower by putting it in a bag under the sink for 6 months". Best to read over the cultural advice and culture sheets the other members have provided, some of them are (in my opinion) phal growing experts. There's a whole thread here on the forum about the ice cube myth de-bunked. Best to learn to care for the plants properly. The ice cube thing apparently doesn't work so well if the plants are dropping leaves.

[orchidyachtie]

Thanks so much for all of your advice.

The most confusing thing about caring for these plants is that most of them are thriving perfectly, and only a few have leaf and root issues. I shall try to apply your advice. Thanks!