Help with Dendrobium Proud Appeal and Miltoniopsis Milton Brown

[chemist]

I bought Dendrobium Proud Appeal 'Ace' and Miltoniopsis Milton Brown 'Deep Sea' and today it was delivered.
Here are pictures


Thinking it comes from reputable green house and looking at the leaves/PB/canes i was expecting root to be ok but...
To me roots do not look good, some of them empty inside (velomen is vanished).
So question do i need to repot it right away?
Both plants are in spike.

Somewhere i read that sometimes GHs are buying bulk and than repot and sell, and that dends are grown in SH or some other term but idea is in abundance of water. and then they repot it into bark for sale.
I'm afraid its a case for this dend. Some bark got out of pot and i saw that roots not that much bound to the bark if as they would be grown in it. It potted in orchiata bark and i my last experience with it was not successful.

If to repot what media would you suggest for windowsill/under light grower with average day time temp in summer about 80F (on some day higher) and winter day time - mid 70F . RH about 40%.


Milt i know low temp grower so i think to take it to work where temp is about 75F in summer.
Milt roots on outside also not in great shape (im afraid to dig it out of pot with out consulting here first ).

So , what would you suggest?!

[flordeloto]

They both look really good to me. If the are both in spike I would wait unless you want to loose you flowers in which case I would cut it off so the plant won't waste energy. Rule of thumb, repot after flowering. Some plants do better when they are constricted.

[chemist]

I guess I leave it as it is right now, until I see shriveling leaves/bulbs/canes.

with dend in bark its little bit clear to me how water it. But milt is in moss ( ) and I don't have successes growing phals in it. Is it different with milt? do they benefit from being potted in moss? how often do I have to water it than?

[Brutal_Dreamer]

When we sold orchids commercially, we would buy plants from Hawaii that looked exactly like these. We would buy them in spike by the case load and would repot immediatly upon arrival. These orchids are typically grown in plugs and then moved into a slightly larger pot with a 'bark' mixture. We would remove the pot, clean out the bottom center of the roots where the plug was typically still inside and rotting the roots, and repot in a fresh bark mix. The orchids never missed a beat and bloomed right on schedule with few exceptions. I always recommend potting your orchids in a mixture that works well with your watering habits. This way, your orchids can all be watered on the same schedule and will not suffer such a shocking change.

Best of luck!

Cheers,
BD

[chemist]

Yesterday i noticed one of the buds on Milt turn watery-yellowish. I just snipped it off thinking maybe just one. But tonight i noticed another one on another spike. Please see pictures. Did you see it before on any of your plants? I'm curious is it due to shipping stress, change of environment or its some kind decease or maybe i already over watered it so it shows sign like that.
Also leaves on smaller PB turn yellow from inside. Is the smallest PB older one or its new growth?.
Do you have any idea what might go wrong?

I wonder how roots look inside the pot, do you think i should unpot it to check it out?





P.S.: I understand its taking longer time to write answers to all inquires you could have so if its easier for you you can reach me at 3474841599 at your convenience .

[ksriramkumar]

Symptoms of watery appearance and the color of the leakes makes me think that it is a bacterial infection to me (Erwina?). Try spraying the entire plant with physan and suggest not to water the foliage

[chemist]

watery were only buds, leaves are on the dry side. And i never watered foliage on it, not even misted.
Ill spray it with physan just in case, probably better tomorrow morning so it will be warmer (Crazy weather in NY, 55-60F daytime in June!)

[ksriramkumar]

ok. spray the entire plant and keep posted on the progress.

[flordeloto]

Hi Chemist, with bark , you want to let the bark dry a bit in between, but not all the way. With moss, same thing, but because it dries so quick keep an eye on it, don't let it completely dry because latter its hard to make it absorb water on the next watering. When its done flowering I would re-pot it with bark. I only use moss for those plants that like to keep their feet wet all the time. Right now I'm trying something new that one of my orchid club buddies does. About 70% of my plants are already re-potted in this manner. His potting mixture is 1/3 bark + 1/3 lava (volcanic) rock + 1/3 Perlite. He waters all his plants every 2-3 days depending on weather sometimes more. This guy has the most beautiful plants in the club, there is no longer a problem with over watering, and your bark will not decompose as much. Instead of re-potting every 3-4 years you can go much longer plus you can reuse the lava rock. I's been 3 months and so far they are doing very well. I got my greenhouse in an automatic sprinkler + misting system and I give them a good flush with the hose once a week twice. Maybe I will feel a little more daring in the future and I will go with what Santa Barbara orchids does. The grow their orchids on plain old gravel, and as the plant grows they just add a bigger pot, no more gravel...just a pot. They water their plants only once a week for 20 min.
These are some of my Santa Barbara Orchids planted on gravel

[chemist]

Thank you flordelote! Plants in Santa Barbara are probably will be happier outside than if in NY in gravel.

Ksriram is it ok ro spray spikes too?
Also do i have to drange media too? It was watered recwntly so not sure its good idea to add more water.
I took it out of the pot, here are pics from all 4 sides.



There are many brown ones , its hard to say if they are mushy since on milt roots not that mch velomen as on phals. Are those dead or going that way?

I spoke with it grower yesterday she think it migjt be due to overwatering. Recently it got a lot of water. Before i realize that its in moss (at receiving) i soak it in water . Yellowish leaves are on older smaller PB, so maybe it was just the time for them to go?

If it needs to be constantly evenly damp mayne i can put it in SH?!