Phal on its way to recovery (with lots of thanks to all of you!) and now a question

[nlnelson]

Thanks for the kind words!

Ali, I put the phal in a glass enclosure because my other half got tired of having the plastic bag it was originally in sitting on our coffee table Once the roots were growing, I was afraid things in the glass would start to get moldy so I used spacers to raise and lower the glass container off the tray below, to allow at least a little bit of air to circulate.

Tamara, thanks for the info! I do think I have better luck when I leave lots of open space in the pot - ventilation does seem to be a problem for me. I eventually decided to VERY loosely place sphag around the roots while it was in the glass enclosure so the roots could start to adjust to being surrounded by medium. After a few weeks I potted it into a clear plastic container. I put an inverted net pot in the bottom of the container, lined coco chips around the net pot, and then cut open the small center circle of the bottom of the net pot (now facing upward). I pushed the dead lower part of the phal's stem through the opening so the plant is now being held steady by the net pot. That allowed me to put a layer of very loose sphag on top without worrying about packing it tight enough to hold the plant.

Here are pics of how it looks now, the close up picture is of the phal sitting in the net pot and the other is how the plant looks potted - the pot looks big but there is actually very little media in it. The root tips are still green and new roots are growing, so hopefully it will adjust and thrive!