Joe wrote:
Would the nasty bark be the cause of the lack of blooming and seeming
inadequate root development of the paph and of the dormancy of the
phal?
Bad bark (or old medium of any sort) is very bad for most paphs.
Some tolerate it better than others, and it depends a lot on your water
quality. I'm pretty sure it is more a function of salt (or 'crud')
accumulation than actual density of the mix, unless the mix is really
really soft. You can grow paphs in old socks if you want, just change
the socks once a year.
In a classic case of not practicing what I preach, I've gone a bit
longer than I care to admit between repottings of my paph collection.
Some of them were repotted in the spring, some haven't been repotted for
2 years. All the ones repotted in the spring are doing substantially
better than the ones in older mix. I know that when I finally do get
around to repotting those older ones, I'll have substantial root loss
and I'll probably have to move them down a pot size.
I don't grow as many phals, but usually failure to thrive for phals
(in my hands) is temperature related. I've heard some vendors say that
they will just plain stop growing below 60F, and take months to start up
again. If so, I have a few hundred phals that got down into the very
low 40s that aren't going to be doing much for me... Most of them are
in spike though.
Also, what do healthy phal roots look like?
Firm and white (or green), usually with green or red tips. Firm is
the important part. They should be turgid and round in cross-section.
Hard and flat is not good... Soft and mushy you already know isn't
good... Sometimes you will see a constriction (usually at a bend, which
is ok). Sometimes a short expanse of 'thread-like' connection between
the firm white parts. That is a section of root that only has the
central core remaining. Not usually the best sign, I tend to clip those
roots back and hope that they will branch.
Incidentally, this paph is one hell of a tough plant. When I first
got it, I was - unwittingly, of course - feeding it fertilizer at
three times the recommended strength. All of my other plants croaked
immediately, but this one stuck around.
They are tougher than most people give them credit for. They
tolerate me pretty well, and that says something.
Rob
--
Rob's Rules:
http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit
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