Styrofoam peanuts I should say just to be clear heheh.
Senior Member
Styrofoam peanuts I should say just to be clear heheh.
Member
im glad you cleared that up i almost put some boiled peanuts in the bottom and you know we love our boiled peanuts down here in the south(non-comical stab at southern culture). haha. i would if you told me it was like liquid gold for them however. yes the bark mix with the peanuts is a Very open mix. more so than im used to. but i guess that could be a good thing.
Senior Member
I'm not that mean hehehehe. Hopefully the bark mix will work better, I think it will.
Senior Member
First time I tried boiled peanuts, I thought it sounded awful. But, my Florda friends insisted, and I found they were actually pretty good.Originally Posted by drew33998
The plastic pot (with a few styrofoam peanuts in the bottom) & mark mix works well for me. Good luck!
Junior Member
Ok sorry to butt-in but I have a question: I recently reppotted one of my Phals into some moss and I'm having the opposite affect. It dries out in a day, my mounted one in half a day. They were doing well but my folks wanted them into my room and so now they are no where near the humidifier and while they have a bowl of gravel and water they are becoming drier than bone. Honestly I'd rather water them more often but not if it's going to drown them. I mist my mounted girl twice a day and I've been doing it more frequently with my potted one but not regurarly; should I? I'm if-ie on what to do here; any help? Please and thank you!
Senior Member
My orchids reside in a greenhouse...I would NEVER put them in the moss, as they would stay too wet, too long. I guess the only thing you can do is exactly what you've been doing. The old saying "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" applies here. Good Luck with them...Betty :-)
Senior Member
I can imagine that the mounted one dries out that fast...but it is a bit hard to believe on the potted one. Are you sure it is drying out an inch or so deep into the pot, and not just on the surface? How tightly packed is the moss?
If it is really drying out that fast, I guess all you can do is water & mist more often. If they are drying out (or nearly so) in between waterings, you should not be drowning them. Do water or misty early enough in the day that the leaves & crown dry out before evening...otherwise they will rot.
Oh, another idea besides the gravel trays would be to out them in a terrarium or similar case. It isn't a problem we have where I live, as we are fairly humid, but I have heard of other people doing that.
Senior Member
All of my Phals. are in moss. Long fiber New Zealand Spagh. moss. I water once a week, soaking the moss thoroughly. I grow under lights. They are in anything from 3" to 7" pots. The key is to water thoroughly, not just until it flows out the bottom. I put the pot in a small bucket and make sure it is soaked through. Also, when you pot them, pack the wet moss well, not loosely. But, and this is important, you are going to repot annually if not more often. Moss holds onto mineral salts from the fertilizers and they do not realease well when you water with straight water. Burned leaftips and dead roots will follow from the buildup if you do not repot often.
Junior Member
What do you mean by that?
Senior Member
As you fertilize your plants, there can be a buildup of mineral salts on the medium you use to hold your plants (bark, coconut, moss, etc....) That is why you will often hear it recommended that at least once a month you water heavily with plain water - to wash away some of the accumulation of these salts. Spagh. moss holds on to those salts, they are not easily washed away. As a result the salt buildup on the moss causes root tip burn on your plants. This in turn can kill the roots over time.
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