Should I switch?

[treyes111]

a little background info:

Last spring I bought a noid phal from a walmart I think. It was my second plant, so being new, I set it by the window and watered it at the same time as the other. The blooms ran their cycle, and I thought nothing of it. Eventually I started to notice the leaves getting soft and wrinkled. I had a new pot, got some bark/charcoal/perlite, so I figured I would repot it and see whats up

when I took it out of the pot, I found that the bottom half to 3/4 was lined with a plastic bag. the plastic was holding water and most of the roots had rotted off.

Now, a few months later, I can see some roots growing back if I move the pieces of bark a little. I am assuming I will not see a spike/bloom from this plant this year, but at least its on its way back.

But, after just getting a new phal, I am thinking "would it be better to switch to moss"? I have some sphag that I picked up to sphag and bag some of the small plants my cats pretty much killed. The new one is in moss, and I have used moss in the past and didn't have any problems. I can't really be sure now what made me use bark.

So, would now be a good time, and would there be any benefit to getting rid of the bark mix and putting it back into moss (minus the plastic bag of course), or should I just let it go in the bark the way it is?

Thanks
Tom

[janet_a]

if it were me, i wouldn't mess with it. let it go on the bark for at least another 12 months and see how it does. it takes 'chids a while to acclimate to new conditions, etc; if you keep switching around it won't have a chance to get settled. if it's growing roots, that's a good thing; let it keep doing that for a while, especially as it was traumatized before.

thx for this post--i'll be giving a newbie grower's talk at a show in a few weeks ("I just bought my first orchid. Now what?") and was already planning on mentioning removing any *overwrap* on a pot; now i'll be sure and mention checking for inner wraps as well.

[treyes111]

thanks, I know I need to practice more patients

I hope you can help others. I'd never seen lining like that in any plant, orchids or otherwise, and would have never thought to look for it

[articuno75]

A lot of the plants that come from stores are usually in moss only. A lot of newbies and some growers in certain areas don't do the greatest with using moss. My Phals were in moss and did horrible, yet my Mtdm. Bartley Schwarz grows in nothing but moss. I agree, If your plant is growing fine now, I'd leave it.

[Tobi]

Media knowledge has a lot to do with successful orchid growing. As Jenny stated, a lot
of the store supplied orchids come in moss. This is not the easiest medium to monitor
watering conditions if you are a novice at growing orchids. Once you become familiar
with your growing environment with a particular media, your orchids will prosper and
be happy.

[patlee]

This is just what works for me--now you must decide what will work for you. Quite a few of the people on this forum will tell you that they repot as soon as possible after bringing a new orchid home. I like that advice (especially if it is a rescue or has been in a big-box-store for a while.) It seems to be an excellent way of determining the shape the roots are in and you can also check out the medium and look for any insect/cultural damage. It seems to me that whenever I pull the moss away from a new plant, the roots are always yellow,mushy or completely dead,with just a hollow shell of what a root should be. So I prefer bark and what I use is Schultz's Orchid Mix. It works well for me.

Good luck with yours. Let us know what you decide will work in your growing conditions!

[janice]

Tom, I would leave it alone for now especially if it is doing okay. And be thankful that you saved this one from the moss in a bag!!

[patticake]

If it ain"t broke... don't fix it! If it's doing better, I wouldn't change it.

[evagentry]

I have to agree, if it is growing well leave it alone, but make sure its condition is really as good as it looks.

[dipasquo]

I personally have had no luck with phals potted in sphag. I think the problem is that, for me at least, my phals are much better at telling me when they need water than when they are too wet. When they need water I can see it in the leaves (they lose their rigidity and flop over); a watering tends to bring them right back. On the other hand, when they're too wet, they look just fine above the surface, until problems creep up from below and then often it's too late to avoid a lot of root damage. So large chunk bark works best for me: little risk of over watering, and if they happen to be under-watered then they are more forgiving. Sphag tends to stay wet much longer than my phals like.

[BunnytheOrchid]

You've already heard all this before from very knowledgeable and helpful people. I agree that repotting too soon after just repotting is too stressful. Also, moss is terribly difficult for me to work with. It never seems to dry out until weeks have gone by, which just makes me nervous that the plant is too dry. Then when I do water, I worry I'll overwater I find planting in bark, watering once a week, and misting in the morning works best for me. Good luck with your plant; it's wonderful to hear its bouncing back!

[Rocinante]

As a beginner, I've found that planting in bark is the safest route. I also use clear plastic pots to observe the root system. I am going to try coir mix soon, though.

[treyes111]

It is in a premade mix, I think I got at one of the big stores. I can't check the bag because I am away from home for the weekend, but I think I got it because is was AOS certified (or something along those lines) on the package.

I am gonna run with my gut, and the general consensus, and leave it as it. I can see that there were at least 3 roots growing out horizontally right near the surface of the media, and I am hoping for more in the lower levels that I can't see without disturbing much.

I guess the same is for the other...... the new one is in moss, and seems to be doing well, but I guess I'll have another decision to make once the blooms fall

Thanks everyone

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

As a beginner, I've found that planting in bark is the safest route. I also use clear plastic pots to observe the root system. I am going to try coir mix soon, though.

Aussie Gold is the best. That's what I use. What I have noticed with coir mixes is that you have to watch on the watering, cause you don't have to as much. How awesome is that? Definitely use clear pots or skewer method if doing coir mix.

[wisechild9]

I have had my phals for 4 years now (but I still consider myself a newbie). Almost all of them came in moss. Based on what I was reading on this forum, I decided to change some to the Schultz orchid bark mix when it was time to repot and then repot the other half in spagh moss. I have to say that all the ones that were switched over to the bark did not rebloom, and have had their roots rot and/or they ended up dying. And all the ones that I kept in moss have been healthy and continued to bloom. So I have to say that for me, I had to experiment and see what works. What I've learned is that my orchids like moss and that works for me the way that I water them and the conditions that they are subjected to.

[PhalPal]

Wisechild9 that is what is most important - what works for you with your habits in your environment. We have all experimented with different mixes until we found one that is a good fit for us. If you like sphagnum moss, stick with it!

[Catcym]

My oncidium has been in fine bark for 9 months and it didn't grow any better until I switched to coir mix. When I bought the plant it was in bloom and soon after I noticed the wrinkled bulbs. After bloom I repotted to fine bark and it hasn't get better. 14 days ago I switched to coir mix and I today found the blubs are plump up. It is much better shape now.

[Jerry Delaney]

Over the years, I have seen orchids grown in marbles, broken up Coke bottles, Beer bottle caps, sphagnum moss, wine corks, bark, rocks, etc and even the extreme of a piece of barbed wire stretched down the center of a green house (just so the owner could tell people that he grew his orchids on a barbed wire fence)! Truth be known, if there was ONE medium that was universally better for everyone, there would most likely be only one medium used. Everyone's conditions are different. For me, Phals + moss = one dead plant. Yet, I use sphagnum for my Bulbos and they thrive in it. Most likely due to the Bulbos being very shallow rooted. In this case, I tend to agree with those saying to leave it alone for now. Unless you have grown the plant in the same mix for 12 to 18 months it is very difficult to make valid observations.