noid phal. white on leaf

[LoveOscar]

Alright, this is the new little guy I picked up yesterday. It looked healthy and has 4 spikes! Couldn't help myself. Really.



Anyways, I was giving it a serious once over this afternoon and I noticed some stuff I'm not to confident about in a brand new plant. There is some silver coloring on a small, lower leaf. It seems to be, so far, affecting only one leaf. It's a bit tight to reach so I don't know if it is powdery or not.



I am also curious to know if this plant is starting to be root bound? We seem a little cramped, but I didn't plan on repotting until after the blooms had finished. Do I need to consider doing this sooner? And I am wondering about the condition of the air roots. On my other phal. the air roots are full, firm and bright green like the lower roots.





As always, any advice is fully appreciated!

LO

[ksriramkumar]

Lovely buy. Silver coloring looks like a salt deposit to me. Phal is on sphag and looks root bound but roots inside the pot look healthy.Ariel root looks bit dry. I would wait for the blooms to dry out and I would repot in bark and charcoal.

[LoveOscar]

Its from a home improvement store, and I found it in the outside garden section. It seems they either get watered less outside, or dry out faster to me. I gave it a little water yesterday at the bottom of its pot and it drank it right up. I dont want to over do watering, but does it seem to be on the edge of dehydrating?
Posted via Mobile Device

[LoveOscar]

Where would a salt deposit come from? Do I leave it or try to clean it up?

Thank you,
LO
Posted via Mobile Device

[SeanHoutman]

The white stuff is definitely just hard water deposits. Technically a "salt" this one is calcium carbonate, and won't hurt your plant. What to do about the roots, well, if you are going to change medium, wait till the flowers finish. If you are planning on putting it in more moss, you can do that now, don't bother with taking out the old moss, just pack new moss firmly around the old, in a slightly larger pot. Make sure you wait till the moss is slightly crisp on the top before watering it.

If you use moss, there are two ways of packing it. Loose moss allows for more air movement, but can also hold more water and get waterlogged, but even if waterlogged, still lets air in. Tight moss has been thoroughly tested, and found to be best to get a phal from lab, to liner, to pot, to market quickly. It is easy to keep consistent so a large number of plants will be ready to be watered at the same time. If tight moss gets waterlogged though, it is death to the roots.

[kspalding]

You will want to be really careful if you plan to leave it in the plastic. Especially since warm weather will be with us soon. These plants in the plastic tend to hold in alot of moisture and always include moss that virtually suffocates around the roots. Its ok during cold season when water is less but I don't particularly like the set up with the plastic. Maybe thats just me.

[LoveOscar]

I just bought this orchid Saturday afternoon, and it came in the plastic. I thought about cutting the plastic open some to give it some breathing space, or removing it entirely from the plastic and the ceramic, leaving it on the moss but out in the open (maybe in a bigger plastic bin, sitting on some river stones). I bought it in the middle of blooming, I don't want to just remove everything and repot it if I am supposed to wait until after blooming to repot normally.

I understand not wanting to leave it in the moss. I don't really have much of a spring where I am. Usually, once it starts to heat up, I'm in full blown summer swing with high humidity after a couple weeks. I know the moss will mold here, I'm counting on it. I've already had to spray away some mold in my regular potting soil plants with a 1:9 mix of hydrogen peroxide to water. I'm expecting it, I just don't want to kill it.

If you have any suggestions, feel free. I'm a beginner in all things orchid. My orchids are mini phal.s and will most definitely be staying in doors in a south facing bedroom with 1 east window, 1 south window, and 1 west window. The room will not be getting any A/C but will have fans going to keep air from stagnating.