Help ! new growth on paph came off !!

[prisana]

My new paph's new growth decided to fall out of the medium . I tried to be very careful watering it ( killed one paph a month ago ) . I just looked at the bottom of the pot and found out the plastic pot (inside clay pot) did not have a hole in the bottom ! , which probably means the whole time I've been watering it , it's roots have been sitting in the water day in, day out.

It's bloom just now started to open, but not comepletely yet. Should I put it in a new pot now ? will that effect the bloom ? I'm not sure how serious this is..and I sure don't want to lose this one too. Any suggestions would be much appreciated --

[brookn]

Oh boy, I am not sure what you should do, but you have my sympathies.

[tom499]

ermmm you get a knife and carefully make some holes or something.

if it was sodden through i would put it out, forget the flower, save the plant.

repot it with new medium.

thats just my view though.

[prisana]

Thanks Tom and Brook, I did use a knife this morning , but couldn't get the hole to be big enough ( water poured out when I did ) it also created this tiny dam of plastic around the hole and preventing the rest of water to come out .
I stuck the baby back in the pot, it's just sitting there in the groove of the medium right now , do you think it will grow roots and survive ? ( I see little knobs that look like roots are coming out ) , but they're kinda brownish.

Should I just take out the whole plant and put it in a clay pot to let it dry out a little without disturbing the roots or leave it there and hope the hole will provide some relieve ? I'm very new to paph..hardly know a thing about it.

[tom499]

what media have you got it in? moss is extremely good at holding water and will cause a continued problem, other such media will do the same.

paphs usually come in a medium to fine media because of there quite thin roots. I would take it out, with media attached and prop it up in a big pot with holes in over night.

This will give it a much better chance of dryin out with out as much disturbance to the roots.

[brookn]

I drill holes in my pots and clean up the holes with a razor or hobby knife, if you mess the pot up, it's just plastic. I say carve on it. I am not an expert on paph, but I do know plants, and I say let it sit slightly covered in the medium and breathe for a while. Don't let it dry out too much, I know they like to be moist. Remember, after all it has been through, and I know I would be fussing way too much over it, it is probably in shock. Give it a few days to adjust to being drier, then address the roots. Experts feel free to jump in. The knobs are a good sign, and brown is not necessarily bad, black is. The bloom, I tend to agree with Tom. Can you explain more about this growth, or get a pic. I am having a hard time picturing it.

[kmarch]

prisana,

This is one of those rare occasions when I am going to recommend repotting eventhough the plant is in bloom. I believe the lack of holes has resulted in th eplant sitting in water as you feared. This may have also caused the base of your new growth to rot off. When the new growth came off, did it have any roots with it?

Even though the plant is in spike, I think i would repot. I normally would not recommend this but this isn't your typical situation. I believe it will be best for th eplant to get it out of the wet mucky mix and into something fresh with good drainage. I suspect the bloom will still open but maybe not last as long, which is preferable to losing the whole plant.

Take lots of pics of the bloom when it is fully open for posterity's sake.

Good luck.

[prisana]

Thanks guys____ The new growth has tiny brownish root stumps..I'll get you a couple of pics. Sory , can't get close enough to really see the stumps without it being blurry--

[fred]

prisana

I would repot the new growth into some spaghnum moss

thank you for the pics

[prisana]

Ok, I took out the plastic pot and plop the whole thing into a clay pot with lots of slats . So I should put the baby in wet sphag then ? In a bag ?

Tom, The media that it came in is medium bark and peat chunks. The bottom is saturated. It's so irreponsible of them to stick an orchid in a pot with no holes. You would think they knew better !

Well, I hope this helps the plant a bit..it's dry inside the house , so maybe by tomorrow it would dry out a bit more, if not, I'll repot the whole thing.

[fred]

I would use damp spagh.

I have never used the bag method myself.

hopefuly other members will advise you on that one

[kmarch]

I'm with Fred, I'd put the growth that fell off in sphag and bag as it may root.

I need to correct a point made above about Paph roots. The reason we use small-med mix is not because Paph roots are thin, on the contrary, Paph roots are relatively thick and very furry. The reason we use small to medium size mix is to hold moisture close to the roots. Drying out completely is not particularly good for a Paph root, so don't leave the plant unpotted to dry out or anything like that.

Above Tom mentions that sphag will always cause problems. This may be true for him in his location but it may not be true in other regions. It is not always the case that sphagnum moss will always cause a problem. It depends on many other factors like drainage, geographical location, conditions (greenhouse, home, etc), and watering habits. For example here in Melbourne Australia I use sphag as an additive to increase moisture retention.

[fred]

I am lucky enough to have spaghnum moss at my finger tips here in Tasmania

when growing orchids in spagh it is also important not to let the spagh dry out
spagh must be kept moist not wet.

I also see spaghnum moss as a very useful tool with my orchids.

the first thing i do when getting a young growth to strike is I plant in spagh.

opps i almost forgot to say spagh will start to go off ( sour)after about 7 months.

and needs to be replaced with new.

[prisana]

Thank you Kevin and Fred, I'll have the baby in the sphag right away. Hope I won't have to wait too long to see the new roots..I dusted it with rooting hormones too, just in case.

[tom499]

Apologises for the use of my words, i did recommend a repot. Where i live it is a fair bit cooler, so i can take a plant out of its pot and put it in a much larger one with most medium attached to let it dry out over night, as it wont dry very fast.

As for spaghnum moss i do use a small amount, but was merely asking to see if there was alot of it, which wouldnt do a paph good if it was waterlogged, as spaghnum can take a long time to dry out (although faster in your warmer climate).

again my apologies i will think more before i type

[kmarch]

No worries Tom. You're doing well and I can see you've learned quite a bit in just the few months you've been on the form, so good on you for that! This forum, being an international forum with members from something like 12 or more different countries, continues to strech my brain as I am constantly reminded that the conditions a plant likes is one thing, the method we use to deliver those conditions is another. The former doesn't change, the latter depends heavily on where we are and where we grow. It's not an easy thing to keep in mind.

Cheers

[tom499]

I'm trying to make the most of the forum its better than any book i have seen, and so cheap its free

I find that showing my point of view in all these situations either helps the person who asks, or my technique is made better by the many great growers here