Repotted Phal & Den. and now they look distressed??

[pinky]

I just recently repotted a phal and a den into a bark mix from sphag. They looked great at first..but now they look sad

I am using the skewer method for watering both of them.

I keep the phal in low light and I keep the den in full light, but I have a curtain to break up some of the sun.

After repotting the phal, the leaves are beginning to look droopy. =[ They are not as firm as they were before. The leaves look to be good color wise. They are a deep green...but not overly dark.

The den's leaves are ok...but the canes are getting shriveled up. At first I didnt have the skewer in with the den and i noticed it was dry, so I watered it and now I have a skewer in there...but the canes are still shriveled. The last time I watered it, I made sure to give it a good soaking.


What am I doing wrong? Are they in shock from being transplanted from sphag to bark?

by the way~I made sure that I soaked the bark for about 36 hours before using it..but it still seems to dry remarkably fast.

[Jlie]

Good morning!
I think you're right about transplant shock. Your Phal sounds dehydrated. You could thicken up the potting material a bit to ease off the stress? You could also put the current pot into another pot (to make like an oxygen core pot' situation) to bring up the relative humidity around the roots. Keep it warm. I've noticed that my Phals take about 3-5 days to respond to any media changes I've given them and then weeks before they'll stop sulking and start growing again. How are the roots btw? It'll take time.

I don't have any experience with Dens. I hope your two perk up soon.

[janet_a]

Yes, you may need to increase the watering for a few weeks. Your old mixes, by virtue of being old, held more moisture than the new ones do. Just be judicious and don't overdo it. They'll be fine.

[JudyC]

I had the same experience with a couple of my phals when repotted. 1 in particular I'm still nursing & it's been months. This was my fault tho, I waited too long to repot and the roots were awful

They will bounce back.

I have all my orchids on humidity trays and believe it or not, most days I have to add more water to the trays. It sure helps in my home under this dry winter conditions. I also place a small portable humidifier in my sunroom only when the humidity level drops to a certain %, and lately haven't had to do so in the past 3 weeks believe it or not.

[englandfx]

To be honest with you, I personally think the Skewer method of watering works most effectively with sphag medium and NOT bark medium.

With Bark, it is tricky since it won't completely cover the skewer; unlike sphag which completely covers the skewer 360 degrees all the way around.

So this throws off your watering when you're depending on the skewer to tell you if it is dry or not while you have it potted in bark medium.

Also, I find that phals prefer bark medium that is small or medium (but more on the small size) and not LARGE & CHUNKY.

[Leafmite]

I use lava rock (large and chunky) and I find it best to soak the orchids in the water for a few minutes to give the roots a chance to absorb water as with a larger medium, the water runs through pretty fast. I use plastic net pots which make it easy to check the roots. If you can push a little medium aside and check some roots without disturbing the orchid too much, it might be nice to see how the roots are doing. If they are healthy but dehydrated, a long soak should help green up those roots. Good luck,
leafmite