Sorry. About the sponge: repotting could turn into a minor nightmare, no?
And, it's not infrequent for me to pick up a sponge next to the sink and
smell mildew, no matter how clean I try to keep them.

Just sayin'.

Diana

The sponge can definatly get funky...but at least they're made of
synthetic stuff that won't rot. If its home to mildew, meh...maybe a
lil' stinky but that's not too big a deal. I would say that they never
come CLOSE to the cornucopia of stuff found in bark and moss.

About the repotting : Nightmare to clean all the little sponge chunks
from the roots ?? The roots will cling to the sponge chunks ?
Yeah...that probably will be ugly...but how would that be different
than the aliflor (that I looked up) ?


Diana Kulaga wrote:
Sorry. About the sponge: repotting could turn into a minor nightmare, no?
And, it's not infrequent for me to pick up a sponge next to the sink and
smell mildew, no matter how clean I try to keep them.

Just sayin'.

Diana

Well, mildew is fungal, if I'm not mistaken (I could be). You wouldn't want
any kind of fungal substance in that pot, IMHO. And if I'm wrong about that,
still, who wants "stinky" around the Phals? Anyway, I agree about bark and
moss. I do not use any bark at all, because I have no feel for it and don't
like to dig the stuff out when I repot. Spaghnum has its place, especially
when trying to rescue something and give it some new roots.

As far as the repotting is concerned, Aliflor is a piece of cake, especially
with Phals. To be sure, Aliflor can get wrapped up in roots, but considering
the way Phal roots grow, it's not much of a deal. It's more of an issue when
repotting a Catt or Den that has overgrown its pot, but even then, it's a
walk in the park compared to bark. And it doesn't break down, so repotting
can be put off for a much longer period of time than with bark or moss.

Having said all that, one of the safest ways I've found to grow Phals is in
a slat basket, hung tipped so that the plant cannot retain water in the
crown, and in that case I use spaghnum moss. It dries out quickly in my
environment and the plants which I grow that way love it. One of the big
problems with moss is using it in plastic pots. The **** stuff never dries
out that way. I have a huge Phal in clay and spag right now, and it dries
rather quickly. Still, when it's finished blooming, into Aliflor it goes.

Anyway, there are as many media for orchids as there are orchid fanatics
like us. Never hurts to try something new!

Diana

On Wed, 7 Jun 2006 17:39:44 -0400, "Diana Kulaga"
wrote:

I have a huge Phal in clay and spag right now, and it dries
rather quickly. Still, when it's finished blooming, into Aliflor it goes.

Anyway, there are as many media for orchids as there are orchid fanatics
like us. Never hurts to try something new!

Diana


Repotting in Aliflor is easy. Pick the plant up. Check for dead,
decay, mushy roots -- none found = Stick it in a pot and pour fresh
aliflor in to fill it up. OH some stuck to the roots - no worry. The
stuff is not rotting. IF you flush your pots well it is not full of
chemicals or salts... it belongs to this plant just as if the plant
were growing in the wild. Less disturbance of roots.

My only problem has been with the summer cym breaking pots because the
root ball became too large and too strong. Cym Golden Elf has broken
out 3 times. They push up in the pot about 1-1.5 inches then they
just split the plastic pots. Now when one is sitting a bit high I
look for a split starting. Can not adequate water S/H if the pot is
split. G
SuE
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