Sick Da Chien Phal

[Cjcorner]

Yes, my beautiful Da Chien Spider isn't doing too well. I had to do emergency repotting. The first of the buds began to open and three days later it still hadn't fully opened. I pulled it out of it's clear plastic container and as usual when someone repotted it they left the rotting clump of sphagnum in the middle to rot the roots! AAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!
If i've said it once, i've said it a million times......sphagnum is the worst junk in the world! Why do they do that?????? Don't they know sphag in the middle and wood surrounding it rots roots like crazy???
I removed one spike and will likely remove the second spike in a couple days. Sprayed it with anti-fungal and hung it off a shelf to air dry, then put it in a new container and a nicer mix. I just want a chance to enjoy its pretty flowers before it freaks out and dies!
Bummer!!
Connie

[ischel1]

So sorry Connie. If I had an orchid for every time that happened to me....well I'd have to move to a bigger house. Hmmmm not a bad idea!

[clintdawley]

Sorry to hear that, Connie....(I only grow phals in 100% spag. I can adjust my watering habits..but if you don't know the spag is there then it can get ya!)

I once had one with a large hunk of rockwool in there with the bark and it rotted too. (Hence, I always repot new plants...)

[Cjcorner]

Yeah, for Awhile I was repotting them all too. Then I had shoulder surgery and since been very bad and not kept up with all that. My hubby hates it when I repot right away and lose flowers because of blasting. Guess i'm going to have to be a little more careful again and just repot all newbies. Helps id bug infested plants too.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

The little ball of spag. is from the grower plug. After the orchids are removed from compot, they are placed into tiny pots of spag to grow out to sell. Many people who re-sell orchids buy these and just stick them in bark. That is why there is always that rotting mass in the middle of the pot of bark mix. It is frustrating. I always repot a new orchid - unless I know where it came from and how it was grown.

Cheers,
BD

[smartie2000]

Sorry for the problems. Luckily it should bounce back fast.

Intersting info BD.

What else was also misleading is that one bargain store had plants which had all the same hybrid name on them when they were all very different plants! Might as well not label any of them than to give misleading info. The good thing was that they were only $15 and nice finds