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#1
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spiking
Hi all,
Being the season that it is, I have a question about spiking. I know that most orchids can be "forced" to spike through careful control of temp, light, fertilizer...etc. However, the term "forced" has always made me wonder: are we saying that these are plants that would normally not be ready to spike? If we had a very very happy plant, and we just let it be and did not manipulate anything, would it spike on its own eventually just by virtue of the fact that it has all this extra energy around? Or would it always put its energy into making new leaves/roots...etc? Cheers, Xi Wang |
#2
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spiking
Hi, Xi,
I will answer this only with respect to winter blooming Phalaenopsis. It's my understanding that Phals in our collections aren't really being 'forced', but rather exposed to conditions that mimic what they would encounter in nature at a given time of year. I grow outside here in FL, and the weather naturally cooperates in late October, November and December by giving the plants the drop in temperature that they require to spike, without any help from me. For those growing in greenhouses (and I am no expert on that, having never experienced greenhouse growing), I expect that they need to manipulate the diurnal temperature range for these plants. Now, what I consider 'forcing' would be done by a commercial grower in order to have blooming plants for shows, etc, during a season when they would not generally be in flower. I don't see anything wrong with that, but the plants will likely return to their normal blooming season afterward, possibly taking a season off to get some rest. Just my understanding. Diana |
#3
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spiking
Hi Xi,
To get a healthy Phal to bloom requires a period of about a month where the high temperature does not exceed 75 degrees. It is not exact and there are exceptions. For a mature plant that has not been in bloom for a few months, I do not thing it is a matter of the plant being ready, but instead it is just a matter of when the trigger is pulled. I spike them in all phases of leaf growth and do not think it is a factor. Until the trigger is pulled the very very happy plant is going to just keep growing and getting happier. I see it all the time. People will come to me and ask why their plant has not rebloomed in years. For a healthy plant it is almost always one of two things; the plant is not getting enough light or it is in a room that occasionally warms to above 75 degrees (kitchens were people use the oven, bathrooms with people who take long hot showers, bay windows, rooms with lots of southern exposure). If we determine light is not the issue, I tell people to move the plant to a cooler room around Thanksgiving until they see a spike coming. For the people that report back, this almost always works. The plants that have not bloomed for a couple of years often put on real shows. Pat "Xi Wang" wrote in message news:SVllf.57509$Eq5.13018@pd7tw1no... Hi all, Being the season that it is, I have a question about spiking. I know that most orchids can be "forced" to spike through careful control of temp, light, fertilizer...etc. However, the term "forced" has always made me wonder: are we saying that these are plants that would normally not be ready to spike? If we had a very very happy plant, and we just let it be and did not manipulate anything, would it spike on its own eventually just by virtue of the fact that it has all this extra energy around? Or would it always put its energy into making new leaves/roots...etc? Cheers, Xi Wang |
#4
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spiking
Diana's understanding is pretty accurate. To the extent of my research, no
one really knows what causes the summer-blooming Phals and Doritis to initiate spikes. If someone does know, please clue me in! But for the vast majority of Phals and Dtps. that generally bloom in winter or early spring, the biggest and most reliable trigger to induce new inflorescences is a diurnal (day/night) temp change of somewhere around 12-15F. Adding magnesium to the fertilizer can also help, but I don't think it will be enough without the temp change. Decreasing hours of daylight (which happens naturally in fall) also helps, but the temp change is the "biggie." One way to "nudge" them is to water at sunset. This cools the roots more quickly and "fools" them into thinking the temp change is present, if you're on the borderline. But it carries a big risk of inviting fungal and bacterial infections. Now, once you've got this spike started, if it grows up in hot temps, chances are it's going to be long and leggy, and not produce many flowers -- very disappointing. That's where that 75F max comes into play. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids "Diana Kulaga" wrote in message ... Hi, Xi, I will answer this only with respect to winter blooming Phalaenopsis. It's my understanding that Phals in our collections aren't really being 'forced', but rather exposed to conditions that mimic what they would encounter in nature at a given time of year. I grow outside here in FL, and the weather naturally cooperates in late October, November and December by giving the plants the drop in temperature that they require to spike, without any help from me. For those growing in greenhouses (and I am no expert on that, having never experienced greenhouse growing), I expect that they need to manipulate the diurnal temperature range for these plants. Now, what I consider 'forcing' would be done by a commercial grower in order to have blooming plants for shows, etc, during a season when they would not generally be in flower. I don't see anything wrong with that, but the plants will likely return to their normal blooming season afterward, possibly taking a season off to get some rest. Just my understanding. Diana |
#5
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spiking
Kenni,
You might want to check out some of Dr. Wang (TX A&M) published research on spiking Phals, it is good stuff. According to his research diurnal temp change has little to do with spiking phals. My experience is consistent with his results. While forcing in the summer months my diurnal temp change will only be 5 to 8 degrees. My experience is also that once spiked, phals can be grown warmer than 75 degrees without harm to the bud count or elongating spikes. Where I spike Phals is not the same area or temp of where I bloom them out. The diurnal temp change is a bit of a hot button for me. Over a decade ago I spent a lot of time and money trying to spike phals with diurnal temp change. After a string of failures and at the suggestion of Dr. Wang I started working with only high temps. Over a couple of years I developed a pretty reliable way of spiking most phals. The only other company to try forcing phals based on the diurnal temp change theory that I know of was Butterfly in TX. They too failed. Right now all my phals are naturally spiking. Nov through Feb is my natural spiking season. The days are short and the sun is low and very weak. The heaters often runs day and night to maintain 62 degrees. The shutters are programmed to open at 75 and it has been days since I have seen them open. This time of year my greenhouses have the smallest diurnal temp change of the whole year. Today, like yesterday, the difference in greenhouse high and low temps were 3 to 5 degrees. Sounds like the rest of the week will be the same, but still the phals will spike. Pat "Kenni Judd" wrote in message ... Diana's understanding is pretty accurate. To the extent of my research, no one really knows what causes the summer-blooming Phals and Doritis to initiate spikes. If someone does know, please clue me in! But for the vast majority of Phals and Dtps. that generally bloom in winter or early spring, the biggest and most reliable trigger to induce new inflorescences is a diurnal (day/night) temp change of somewhere around 12-15F. Adding magnesium to the fertilizer can also help, but I don't think it will be enough without the temp change. Decreasing hours of daylight (which happens naturally in fall) also helps, but the temp change is the "biggie." One way to "nudge" them is to water at sunset. This cools the roots more quickly and "fools" them into thinking the temp change is present, if you're on the borderline. But it carries a big risk of inviting fungal and bacterial infections. Now, once you've got this spike started, if it grows up in hot temps, chances are it's going to be long and leggy, and not produce many flowers -- very disappointing. That's where that 75F max comes into play. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids "Diana Kulaga" wrote in message ... Hi, Xi, I will answer this only with respect to winter blooming Phalaenopsis. It's my understanding that Phals in our collections aren't really being 'forced', but rather exposed to conditions that mimic what they would encounter in nature at a given time of year. I grow outside here in FL, and the weather naturally cooperates in late October, November and December by giving the plants the drop in temperature that they require to spike, without any help from me. For those growing in greenhouses (and I am no expert on that, having never experienced greenhouse growing), I expect that they need to manipulate the diurnal temperature range for these plants. Now, what I consider 'forcing' would be done by a commercial grower in order to have blooming plants for shows, etc, during a season when they would not generally be in flower. I don't see anything wrong with that, but the plants will likely return to their normal blooming season afterward, possibly taking a season off to get some rest. Just my understanding. Diana |
#6
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rotting phal roots
My phal has me well and truly stumped.
It finished its second blooming for the year about a month ago -- it seems to be on a winter and summer schedule, and the summer blooming seems to have lasted longer than expected. Right now I'm seeing something that looks like what Kenni Judd described in another post. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids It's still a bit early to tell, but it looks like it is a secondary branch that is forming. That's the good news. The bad news is that its roots seem to be rotting. I've cut off a number of aerial roots (three or four) and I'm pretty sure some of the roots that are in the mud mixture (Pro-Mix with extra perlite) are also rotting. The aerial roots started developing problems at the tips/ends. The best description I have of them is that they started to look deflated. I let the damage back up the root a bit, just to see what would happen, but I couldn't let that happen for very long, so out came the scissors and the razor blades. Lopping off the root was a bit of a challenge as the centre core/vein was still very green and very strong. The last new leaf the plant produced is now about four-and-a-half-inches long and still seems to be growing well. I don't see any signs of a new one coming along yet. The plant hasn't produced any new aerial roots in about two months, which is a long time for this plant. Now I've read here that phals may try to blast buds if they think they are dying. Is this what this plant is doing or can it continue to live and thrive even as the roots are dying? I had decided to repot the plant, but I wanted to give it a chance to really finish its blooming cycle and for the spike to turn brown and dry out. Of course it's not co-operating. I don't want to discourage it from blooming, so I'm not overly excited about repotting it now, but first and foremost, I really don't want to let the plant die. I've tried to figure out if the pot I chose when I repotted it this past spring was too large, or if the medium is breaking down much more quickly than expected (I have notice for the last six weeks or so that it doesn't seem to be drying out as quickly, and my watering schedule is longer than normal), or if there is something else that has suddenly gone wrong. Does anybody have any suggestions about what is happening, why it is happening, and what I should do next? --Vic |
#7
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spiking
Hi,
Thanks for all that great info. I guess "trigger" would be a better word than forced. Oh and in case anyone is wondering, no I am not related to Dr. Wang lol....though perhaps in the distant past...? Cheers, Xi Pat Brennan wrote: Kenni, You might want to check out some of Dr. Wang (TX A&M) published research on spiking Phals, it is good stuff. According to his research diurnal temp change has little to do with spiking phals. My experience is consistent with his results. While forcing in the summer months my diurnal temp change will only be 5 to 8 degrees. My experience is also that once spiked, phals can be grown warmer than 75 degrees without harm to the bud count or elongating spikes. Where I spike Phals is not the same area or temp of where I bloom them out. The diurnal temp change is a bit of a hot button for me. Over a decade ago I spent a lot of time and money trying to spike phals with diurnal temp change. After a string of failures and at the suggestion of Dr. Wang I started working with only high temps. Over a couple of years I developed a pretty reliable way of spiking most phals. The only other company to try forcing phals based on the diurnal temp change theory that I know of was Butterfly in TX. They too failed. Right now all my phals are naturally spiking. Nov through Feb is my natural spiking season. The days are short and the sun is low and very weak. The heaters often runs day and night to maintain 62 degrees. The shutters are programmed to open at 75 and it has been days since I have seen them open. This time of year my greenhouses have the smallest diurnal temp change of the whole year. Today, like yesterday, the difference in greenhouse high and low temps were 3 to 5 degrees. Sounds like the rest of the week will be the same, but still the phals will spike. Pat "Kenni Judd" wrote in message ... Diana's understanding is pretty accurate. To the extent of my research, no one really knows what causes the summer-blooming Phals and Doritis to initiate spikes. If someone does know, please clue me in! But for the vast majority of Phals and Dtps. that generally bloom in winter or early spring, the biggest and most reliable trigger to induce new inflorescences is a diurnal (day/night) temp change of somewhere around 12-15F. Adding magnesium to the fertilizer can also help, but I don't think it will be enough without the temp change. Decreasing hours of daylight (which happens naturally in fall) also helps, but the temp change is the "biggie." One way to "nudge" them is to water at sunset. This cools the roots more quickly and "fools" them into thinking the temp change is present, if you're on the borderline. But it carries a big risk of inviting fungal and bacterial infections. Now, once you've got this spike started, if it grows up in hot temps, chances are it's going to be long and leggy, and not produce many flowers -- very disappointing. That's where that 75F max comes into play. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids "Diana Kulaga" wrote in message . .. Hi, Xi, I will answer this only with respect to winter blooming Phalaenopsis. It's my understanding that Phals in our collections aren't really being 'forced', but rather exposed to conditions that mimic what they would encounter in nature at a given time of year. I grow outside here in FL, and the weather naturally cooperates in late October, November and December by giving the plants the drop in temperature that they require to spike, without any help from me. For those growing in greenhouses (and I am no expert on that, having never experienced greenhouse growing), I expect that they need to manipulate the diurnal temperature range for these plants. Now, what I consider 'forcing' would be done by a commercial grower in order to have blooming plants for shows, etc, during a season when they would not generally be in flower. I don't see anything wrong with that, but the plants will likely return to their normal blooming season afterward, possibly taking a season off to get some rest. Just my understanding. Diana |
#8
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rotting phal roots
Vic,
First of all, you have to understand that phalaenopsis, like most orchids, are epiphytes, and the species in nature tend to grow attached to the bark of trees with their roots on the surface and hanging out in mid air. Because of that adaptation, it is important to make sure that the potting medium you have has lots of free air space to allow gas exchange to occur freely at the roots. I doubt if most growers would find a "mud mix" to provide enough air flow, and even so, keeping the moisture-air balance is tough. I'd suggest moving the plant into a more open medium - one that still holds a lot of moisture, but that has lots of so-called "macroporosity", spaces between the particles. There is no single best medium for everyone, so describing more of your growing conditions is likely to get a variety of suggestions from us here. Secondly, I think your attempt at remedies has negatively affected the plant. As the aerial roots you removed were difficult due to the green inner core, it sounds like they were still viable and functioning. The gray coating is velamen, which is basically dead cells that act as a sponge to capture water and pass it onto the living tissue. If they were stiff and wrinkly, it was likely a symptom if insufficient watering or humidity, or both. If the plant only has a single viable root at this point, I think letting it bloom again may mean the plant's demise. I would remove the flower spike altogether, repot it into a more "open" mix, and get it well established again. Once it is healthy, it will grow new spikes. One more thing about phals roots and rotting - cold and wet is a terrible combination, so this time of year it is important to keep the plant warm. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info! wrote in message ... My phal has me well and truly stumped. It finished its second blooming for the year about a month ago -- it seems to be on a winter and summer schedule, and the summer blooming seems to have lasted longer than expected. Right now I'm seeing something that looks like what Kenni Judd described in another post. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids It's still a bit early to tell, but it looks like it is a secondary branch that is forming. That's the good news. The bad news is that its roots seem to be rotting. I've cut off a number of aerial roots (three or four) and I'm pretty sure some of the roots that are in the mud mixture (Pro-Mix with extra perlite) are also rotting. The aerial roots started developing problems at the tips/ends. The best description I have of them is that they started to look deflated. I let the damage back up the root a bit, just to see what would happen, but I couldn't let that happen for very long, so out came the scissors and the razor blades. Lopping off the root was a bit of a challenge as the centre core/vein was still very green and very strong. The last new leaf the plant produced is now about four-and-a-half-inches long and still seems to be growing well. I don't see any signs of a new one coming along yet. The plant hasn't produced any new aerial roots in about two months, which is a long time for this plant. Now I've read here that phals may try to blast buds if they think they are dying. Is this what this plant is doing or can it continue to live and thrive even as the roots are dying? I had decided to repot the plant, but I wanted to give it a chance to really finish its blooming cycle and for the spike to turn brown and dry out. Of course it's not co-operating. I don't want to discourage it from blooming, so I'm not overly excited about repotting it now, but first and foremost, I really don't want to let the plant die. I've tried to figure out if the pot I chose when I repotted it this past spring was too large, or if the medium is breaking down much more quickly than expected (I have notice for the last six weeks or so that it doesn't seem to be drying out as quickly, and my watering schedule is longer than normal), or if there is something else that has suddenly gone wrong. Does anybody have any suggestions about what is happening, why it is happening, and what I should do next? --Vic |
#9
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rotting phal roots
On Wed, 7 Dec 2005 06:00:41 -0500, "Ray"
wrote: Vic, First of all, you have to understand that phalaenopsis, like most orchids, are epiphytes, and the species in nature tend to grow attached to the bark of trees with their roots on the surface and hanging out in mid air. Because of that adaptation, it is important to make sure that the potting medium you have has lots of free air space to allow gas exchange to occur freely at the roots. I doubt if most growers would find a "mud mix" to provide enough air flow, and even so, keeping the moisture-air balance is tough. I'd suggest moving the plant into a more open medium - one that still holds a lot of moisture, but that has lots of so-called "macroporosity", spaces between the particles. There is no single best medium for everyone, so describing more of your growing conditions is likely to get a variety of suggestions from us here. Well I decided to go with the mud mix because it seemed to best choice to replicate the original medium the orchid was thriving in, and up until this point, it seemed to be working. As this no longer seems to be the case, do you have any suggestions for a more open medium? Bark? Something else? My growing conditions are northern light window, typical southern Ontario apartment. When the heat is on, I try to keep the temperature between 71 and 74 Farenheit (there are no fine controls on my heater). Since I hate a dry atmosphere, I run a humidifier usually to the point where I can just see condensation starting to form on the windows. Secondly, I think your attempt at remedies has negatively affected the plant. As the aerial roots you removed were difficult due to the green inner core, it sounds like they were still viable and functioning. The gray coating is velamen, which is basically dead cells that act as a sponge to capture water and pass it onto the living tissue. If they were stiff and wrinkly, it was likely a symptom if insufficient watering or humidity, or both. I have a couple of roots with the dry, scaly, grey/brown coating -- they are still there, as they just looked ugly but otherwise seem healthy. (I am glad to hear that they are supposed to look like that. I was a bit worried about those ones too.) I didn't cut those roots. The roots I cut off were mushy and withered and hollow at the ends -- maybe the last inch or so of the root. In the "dead" part of the root the core is dry and brittle and provides no resistance to cutting. If the plant only has a single viable root at this point, I think letting it bloom again may mean the plant's demise. I would remove the flower spike altogether, repot it into a more "open" mix, and get it well established again. Once it is healthy, it will grow new spikes. I'm not sure how many viable roots it has. There are still three or four large, healthy aerial roots. I don't know how many are underground, but there are some, and some large ones. One more thing about phals roots and rotting - cold and wet is a terrible combination, so this time of year it is important to keep the plant warm. I don't like being cold and wet either. g As I said, I try to adjust the watering cycle to the needs of the plant. I make sure the medium dries out before it gets watered again. The plant determines the schedule, not the calendar. Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info! wrote in message ... My phal has me well and truly stumped. It finished its second blooming for the year about a month ago -- it seems to be on a winter and summer schedule, and the summer blooming seems to have lasted longer than expected. Right now I'm seeing something that looks like what Kenni Judd described in another post. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids It's still a bit early to tell, but it looks like it is a secondary branch that is forming. That's the good news. The bad news is that its roots seem to be rotting. I've cut off a number of aerial roots (three or four) and I'm pretty sure some of the roots that are in the mud mixture (Pro-Mix with extra perlite) are also rotting. The aerial roots started developing problems at the tips/ends. The best description I have of them is that they started to look deflated. I let the damage back up the root a bit, just to see what would happen, but I couldn't let that happen for very long, so out came the scissors and the razor blades. Lopping off the root was a bit of a challenge as the centre core/vein was still very green and very strong. The last new leaf the plant produced is now about four-and-a-half-inches long and still seems to be growing well. I don't see any signs of a new one coming along yet. The plant hasn't produced any new aerial roots in about two months, which is a long time for this plant. Now I've read here that phals may try to blast buds if they think they are dying. Is this what this plant is doing or can it continue to live and thrive even as the roots are dying? I had decided to repot the plant, but I wanted to give it a chance to really finish its blooming cycle and for the spike to turn brown and dry out. Of course it's not co-operating. I don't want to discourage it from blooming, so I'm not overly excited about repotting it now, but first and foremost, I really don't want to let the plant die. I've tried to figure out if the pot I chose when I repotted it this past spring was too large, or if the medium is breaking down much more quickly than expected (I have notice for the last six weeks or so that it doesn't seem to be drying out as quickly, and my watering schedule is longer than normal), or if there is something else that has suddenly gone wrong. Does anybody have any suggestions about what is happening, why it is happening, and what I should do next? --Vic |
#10
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rotting phal roots
Unless I go with Semi-Hydroponic culture (details at my website), I either
use sphagnum or a mix of 50% CHC and 25% each coarse charcoal and #4 perlite. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info! wrote in message ... On Wed, 7 Dec 2005 06:00:41 -0500, "Ray" wrote: Vic, First of all, you have to understand that phalaenopsis, like most orchids, are epiphytes, and the species in nature tend to grow attached to the bark of trees with their roots on the surface and hanging out in mid air. Because of that adaptation, it is important to make sure that the potting medium you have has lots of free air space to allow gas exchange to occur freely at the roots. I doubt if most growers would find a "mud mix" to provide enough air flow, and even so, keeping the moisture-air balance is tough. I'd suggest moving the plant into a more open medium - one that still holds a lot of moisture, but that has lots of so-called "macroporosity", spaces between the particles. There is no single best medium for everyone, so describing more of your growing conditions is likely to get a variety of suggestions from us here. Well I decided to go with the mud mix because it seemed to best choice to replicate the original medium the orchid was thriving in, and up until this point, it seemed to be working. As this no longer seems to be the case, do you have any suggestions for a more open medium? Bark? Something else? My growing conditions are northern light window, typical southern Ontario apartment. When the heat is on, I try to keep the temperature between 71 and 74 Farenheit (there are no fine controls on my heater). Since I hate a dry atmosphere, I run a humidifier usually to the point where I can just see condensation starting to form on the windows. Secondly, I think your attempt at remedies has negatively affected the plant. As the aerial roots you removed were difficult due to the green inner core, it sounds like they were still viable and functioning. The gray coating is velamen, which is basically dead cells that act as a sponge to capture water and pass it onto the living tissue. If they were stiff and wrinkly, it was likely a symptom if insufficient watering or humidity, or both. I have a couple of roots with the dry, scaly, grey/brown coating -- they are still there, as they just looked ugly but otherwise seem healthy. (I am glad to hear that they are supposed to look like that. I was a bit worried about those ones too.) I didn't cut those roots. The roots I cut off were mushy and withered and hollow at the ends -- maybe the last inch or so of the root. In the "dead" part of the root the core is dry and brittle and provides no resistance to cutting. If the plant only has a single viable root at this point, I think letting it bloom again may mean the plant's demise. I would remove the flower spike altogether, repot it into a more "open" mix, and get it well established again. Once it is healthy, it will grow new spikes. I'm not sure how many viable roots it has. There are still three or four large, healthy aerial roots. I don't know how many are underground, but there are some, and some large ones. One more thing about phals roots and rotting - cold and wet is a terrible combination, so this time of year it is important to keep the plant warm. I don't like being cold and wet either. g As I said, I try to adjust the watering cycle to the needs of the plant. I make sure the medium dries out before it gets watered again. The plant determines the schedule, not the calendar. Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info! wrote in message ... My phal has me well and truly stumped. It finished its second blooming for the year about a month ago -- it seems to be on a winter and summer schedule, and the summer blooming seems to have lasted longer than expected. Right now I'm seeing something that looks like what Kenni Judd described in another post. Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching lower on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings, too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a good primary blooming. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids It's still a bit early to tell, but it looks like it is a secondary branch that is forming. That's the good news. The bad news is that its roots seem to be rotting. I've cut off a number of aerial roots (three or four) and I'm pretty sure some of the roots that are in the mud mixture (Pro-Mix with extra perlite) are also rotting. The aerial roots started developing problems at the tips/ends. The best description I have of them is that they started to look deflated. I let the damage back up the root a bit, just to see what would happen, but I couldn't let that happen for very long, so out came the scissors and the razor blades. Lopping off the root was a bit of a challenge as the centre core/vein was still very green and very strong. The last new leaf the plant produced is now about four-and-a-half-inches long and still seems to be growing well. I don't see any signs of a new one coming along yet. The plant hasn't produced any new aerial roots in about two months, which is a long time for this plant. Now I've read here that phals may try to blast buds if they think they are dying. Is this what this plant is doing or can it continue to live and thrive even as the roots are dying? I had decided to repot the plant, but I wanted to give it a chance to really finish its blooming cycle and for the spike to turn brown and dry out. Of course it's not co-operating. I don't want to discourage it from blooming, so I'm not overly excited about repotting it now, but first and foremost, I really don't want to let the plant die. I've tried to figure out if the pot I chose when I repotted it this past spring was too large, or if the medium is breaking down much more quickly than expected (I have notice for the last six weeks or so that it doesn't seem to be drying out as quickly, and my watering schedule is longer than normal), or if there is something else that has suddenly gone wrong. Does anybody have any suggestions about what is happening, why it is happening, and what I should do next? --Vic |
#11
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rotting phal roots
Ray wrote:
Unless I go with Semi-Hydroponic culture (details at my website), I either use sphagnum or a mix of 50% CHC and 25% each coarse charcoal and #4 perlite. That is also the mix I use for most things. Although for phals I have moved entirely to a peat mix. Full circle... I've started adding diatomite to my coconut mixes. In place of perlite, or in addition to. -- Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com 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 obtain more orchids, obtain more credit |
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rotting phal roots
On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:58:08 -0500, Rob
wrote: Ray wrote: Unless I go with Semi-Hydroponic culture (details at my website), I either use sphagnum or a mix of 50% CHC and 25% each coarse charcoal and #4 perlite. That is also the mix I use for most things. Although for phals I have moved entirely to a peat mix. Full circle... I've started adding diatomite to my coconut mixes. In place of perlite, or in addition to. -- Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com 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 obtain more orchids, obtain more credit So does anybody have any theories about why aerial roots would rot? Some of them are barely even touching the potting mixture. I could understand if they were waterlogged and underground and didn't have an opportunity to dry out, but the ones that are exposed to the air shouldn't do that, should they? Is there some other problem that I possibly missing? --Vic |
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rotting phal roots
Assuming that the plant is otherwise healthy (and from what you've written,
it doesn't seem to be in as bad condition as I originally thought), perhaps the aerial roots didn't rot, but died back from *lack* of water. I've seen that happen. The tips of the roots shrivel. Sometimes we forget that the aerial roots might need more moisture than the ones in the pot, which are surrounded by medium to maintain moisture. Possible? Diana So does anybody have any theories about why aerial roots would rot? Some of them are barely even touching the potting mixture. I could understand if they were waterlogged and underground and didn't have an opportunity to dry out, but the ones that are exposed to the air shouldn't do that, should they? Is there some other problem that I possibly missing? --Vic |
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rotting phal roots
On Wed, 7 Dec 2005 18:42:33 -0500, "Diana Kulaga"
wrote: Assuming that the plant is otherwise healthy (and from what you've written, it doesn't seem to be in as bad condition as I originally thought), perhaps the aerial roots didn't rot, but died back from *lack* of water. I've seen that happen. The tips of the roots shrivel. Sometimes we forget that the aerial roots might need more moisture than the ones in the pot, which are surrounded by medium to maintain moisture. Possible? Diana I guess that could be it. I notice I've been watering at longer intervals -- say a week and a half versus a week (those are just rough, rough estimates I think my intervals are actually a bit longer than that) -- maybe I've pushed it too far trying to make sure that the plant wasn't getting too much moisture. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it and see what happens. --Vic |
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