Potting suggestions

[888diva]

I recently purchased 3 more Phals. 1 is in clear plastic med/lge size pot and the roots and leaves are huge and growing thru holes at the bottom of the pot and out of the top of the pot. The other is in a med/sm clay pot and the same thing is occurring.

I am unsure of the size to repot and the mix to use.
have trimmed the dead and dangling roots and patted with some ground cinnamon.

Any suggestions?

[mystirie]

I am also looking for information on reportting of a phal. I need to know what kind of a pot works the best and so on. I'm pretty acluistic about this poor plant.

[pikevi]

hello diva888, mystirie,

Welcome to the forum.

I am not very experienced but I have had sufficient success with Phals.

I use 6-8" clay pots depending on the size of the plant and for mix I use small or medium, coconut husk chunks , perlite, oak bark and sphagnum moss.
I think charcoal can be added but I have not done so with my Phals.

My mix is about 60-80% coconut husk and teh rest is oak bark and sphagnum moss and a little perlite.

Since I have small medium and large barks I usually place a few large chunks in the botton regardless of the size of the plant to facilitate easy drainage and then add the mix on top of it. If the plant is flowers many recommend that you DON"T repot untill the flowers drop off. I, however, repot plants right after purchasing and the only difference is , if they have flowers, I am careful not to disturb the roots and just "TRANSFER " the plant to the new pot.

If the flowers have dropped off , you can shake off the old medium and cut the dead or rotting roots off and hold the plant inside the pot and just above the large barks and fill the pot up with the mix. No need to pack them hard.

I soak the pot in water for about 5 mins take it out, place it on news print to let all the water seep out and then spray a mild mix of fertilzer(plantprod).

Then it is placed on the shelf away from the other orchids. Some sort of a precaution(quarantine) , just in case they carry some parasites or diseases.

good luck.

[I will add the photo of the ingredients and some Phals I have shortly]

P.S.: please wait for more experienced growers to add more.

[fred]

just a useful link that i found you might be interested with

http://www.sdorchids.com/phal_beginner_nn.htm

i hope this helps

[pikevi]

follow up:

This may or may not be necessary. I am attaching the photo of the various ingredients I use for different orchid-mixes.

I am also attaching two photos of the Phals. showing, I believe, reasonably good growth. Some leaves are more than 30cm ( 1 foot) long. You could see new leafs coming out. All of them are growing well but I don't get many large spikes. I am sure something else other than the medium is (are) lacking. I suspect light.

fred: thanks for the link.

[Sharyn]

Originally Posted by 888diva

:I am unsure of the size to repot and the mix to use.

Rule of thumb is to go one size pot larger. I rarely have to go to the next size pot; instead, I sterilize the pot and reuse. I like clear plastic pots, then placed into clay pots or other decorative pots. Clay pots dry out much faster.

As far as what kind of media to use: That's a good question and we all have our favorites and like to experiment. At lot depends on your climate and how fast your pots will dry. (you should update your profile to include your
location.) Sometimes, I've used bark, a mixture of small & medium bark, perlite and a little charcoal. Personally, for my growing conditions, I've had problems with this media not hydrating the roots enough and some of my phals have suffered. Recently, I switched to a peat based mix and I like it much better.

I'm sure others will weigh in here and give you more tips and links. Keep checking out the forum. There's lot of great tips and help available. Good luck with your new phals.

Nice pics pikevi!

What type of pot you use will depend on your watering habits. Here in NJ zone 6 I prefer to water once a week, so I use plastic pots as they don't dry out as quickly as clay pots. I use 2/3 small bark and 1/3 spagnum moss and I toss in perlite, charcoal and some small clay pellets for weight. This mix holds a bit more moisture which allows me my weekly watering (in the winter it may even stretch out to ten days).