I went to Walmart this past Saturday and noticed that they still had Mothers Day Orchids inside and they were looking poorly. I talked to one of the managers and managed to get them marked down to 1/2 price. I picked up 15 that day and went back today and got another 7, left about 2 or 3 that just didn't look good at all. I have them all re-potted and in my greenhouse. If I can save just a few of them it will be worth it I believe. I figured they'd probably throw them out otherwise.
If those Phals are still alive, since Mother's Day, you have a better Walmart than most! Around here Lowes is the only store that even has a discount rack. The others return plants to the vendor, or trash them.
Because they are still alive and green (not yellow), they were ignored. That's good. They have a better chance of surviving under-watering than over-watering.
If they are in bark, you will have to soak the plants in a bowl of water a couple times to re-hydrate the bark. If they are in moss, one soaking will do it.
I took and repotted all of them in fresh bark. I ran out of the moss so I put peat moss around the tops of all of them. Is that ok or was it a mistake?
When you say peat moss, are you talking about the brown milled stuff?
Yes, it's the real fine stuff feels kind of like sawdust.
Ummm... That might be bad. Sphagnum moss and peat moss are two different things. Sphagnum moss is nutritionally neutral while peat moss is highly acidic. Its great for blueberries, azaleas and pitcher plants but probably deadly to orchids.
I personally would never plant an orchid in sphagnum moss, nor would I put it on top of the potting medium. The best potting medium is a coarse textured potting mix that promotes good air circulation: bark, perlite and charcoal.
Keep the sphagnum moss if you are really attached to it but get rid of the peat moss quick.
Thanks for that warning, I'll do that today as soon as I get back from grocery shopping and just leave the Orchid bark I have in there. Guess I should have asked this before I did it.
Re-potting has started, hopefully I can get them done with the two bags of Orchid mix I have. The plastic pots I have I'm drilling holes on the sides and the bottoms especially if they were the self-watering kind. One other question, I read somewhere that after the bloom dies off and the flower spike starts to turn brown at the top if you cut the brown/dead area off the spike could produce another flower. Is that true?
Yes. Be patient and watch for swelling buds. Sometimes new buds will form at the end of the old bloom stalks. Sometimes lower down on one of the "scales" on the stem. Don't cut until your plants lets you know where. If the whole stalk dies, don't feel bad. It just means there was noting left to bloom with.
Great, thank you. I'm learning more and more. I think I'm going to need a better heater this year though than the one I currently have to keep them at the right temperature. Can't move them to the other greenhouse until I get it put together and it's just too hot for that right now.
Phalaenopsis will handle temperatures down into the low 60's. The shorter days (actually its the longer nights) of fall and the cooler temps are what sets the blooms. At that point, they are taking a short winter's nap, so water less and wait for signs of life.
Daisy
Thanks Daisy, one other problem I'm running into now. I have all the orchids on shelves at the rear of the greenhouse with the door rolled up, except the ones that are going to bloom or are blooming, those are on a table next to it. I have an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer sitting on the shelves and it's showing the indoor temp over 110 at times during the day. It's also showing pretty low humidity, around 16-20%. Of course that goes up when I mist them which I've been doing several times a day since I re-potted them the other day. I thought my large black tub that I filled with water and covered with cheese cloth would raise the humidity but it's not working as I expected. I guess the best thing I can do now is make some kind of a misting system that I can put above the orchids and have it turned on several times a day with a timer is what I'm going to have to do if I want to keep these alive.
Chris, I have the same issues with hot greenhouse and low humidity. I'm finding that most of mine do better outside.
That sounds like an option however we get some pretty strong winds here especially when it's hot and I'd have to have them get blown over. I already have enough of a problem with my Angel Trumpets that I have in really large pots getting blown over.
