PHAL IN S/H- not such a happy camper

[vcuchick]

So I have two phals that were repotted in S/H back in June, had subsequent root rot, recovered and growing a good root system, new leaves and seems "ok" but the new leaf growths are small and not getting longer than 3-4 inches (older leaves are at least 6 inches)

Growing on heat mats, east window, flushed with distilled H20 about 2x/ week, reservoir topped off daily. MSU fertilizer "weakly" (tspn or less/gal) about 1x/month. - the larger plant did spike this fall, but I cut it to let the plant spend its time growing good leaves rather than flowers this season...

Any suggestions? looking to give them one more shot before I give them up for adoption at my local society meeting.

[Dendian]

Hmmm, I did have one plant that sort of "aborted"' any further leaf growth on one growth when I put it in s/h, but then went on to produce a new growth that is now larger than the original growth. Maybe that one leaf was when it wasn't happy, but now that it is again it will grow larger leaves in the future? Just my .02.....

[Undergrounder]

What's wrong with them? they're just recovering from the root loss but they look strong and happy to me. They just need more time to grow those big leaves back.

[mehitabel]

I agree with Dendian and Undergrounder: they look great to me, and subsequent leaves will be progressively bigger.

You did very well to bring them back the way you did

[tangers40]

i agree, it looks healthy and happy. i've never had a phal sulk when repotted into s/h, but one of my dens did. that's what the small leaves look like to me...a temporary sulk.

[lmartiny]

They looked OK to me too but I rarely comment on an SH thread since I don't use that. But I'd give them some time. Or put 'em back in bark.

[katrina]

I could be waaaay off here because I've never grown a phal in s/h. I had a phal do this last year...mine was a light issue. It was recommended to me that I had it in higher light than it was used to. I moved it to a shadier spot...subsequently, the leaves grew larger.

[syndywindy]

I tried about half my phal's in S/H and was not happy with how they were responding. They basically were deteriorating and the only reason I could see was the S/H. So they were put back into a bark mix and they all recovered and are doing great, new growth, healthy looking roots and setting spikes.

[Undergrounder]

Originally Posted by syndywindy

I tried about half my phal's in S/H and was not happy with how they were responding. They basically were deteriorating and the only reason I could see was the S/H. So they were put back into a bark mix and they all recovered and are doing great, new growth, healthy looking roots and setting spikes.

Going from bark into S/H is always going to be a hard slog, the roots will most likely die off before new ones grow. They're not used to the all that water.

[NancyG]

I'm not exactly a purist when it comes to s/h. My phals don't like it unless I wrap some sphag around the center roots and then place it into the hydroton and put more hydroton around all of it. I wasn't too successful especially with the phals with just hydroton.

[Ray]

There are several pieces of guidance already offered that need to be integrated:

1) Root cells "tailor" themselves to then environment they are in when they grow.

2) Once growth, they do not change.

3) When you change root zone conditions (whether or not s/h is involved), the old roots may not work so well, so new ones are needed to replace them. The greater the "old" and "new" conditions differ, the more stringent that requirement, which is why the timing of repotting needs to coincide with new root growth for the best outcome.

VCUChick noted that this had already happened, so there must be other issues, and I'd look at poisoning and underfeeding.

The reservoir should never be "topped up". As the plant takes up nutrients, it expels wastes into the solution. Likewise, gas exchange - occurring predominately through the roots with epiphytic orchids - contaminates the solution. After several days of routine growth, who knows what that solution chemistry has become? Topping up the reservoir does nothing to remedy that. If anything, all you end up doing is letting those contaminants get more concentrated.

The idea is to fill the pot rapidly to the top with fresh nutrient solution EVERY time you water. That saturates the medium, flushes residues, and returns the root zone to the original, "target" chemistry. It also does away with the need to "flush" the pot with plain water.

[flyfishdoc]

I put all my plants into S/H in August and have had great results. I did not expect to see as much growth as I have so far.

Most of my phals have put out smaller new leaves than the older ones, but the newer leaves are healthier looking (as are yours). I would have thought that 3 months was a short time to see such dramatic changes, and even 5 months for yours. When I transplanted I expected it to take 6 months to see large improvements. Happily, I was wrong!!

Needless to say, I am extremely happy with the growth that I see, and expect next year to be a great orchid year for me. I would bet that your phal will take off if you take Ray's suggestions and keep it in S/H and in the next 6 months you will see multiple larger leaves