Sphag and Bag.....

[mtequine]

Hi all,

I have a Phal that I shouldn't have bought off the sale table....unhappy roots, mostly rotten that I have trimmed off. I decided I didn't have a ton to lose and to try the sphag and bag method to grow some roots.

I'm using a gallon zip lock, couple hand fulls of NZ sphag that I soaked first and wrung out....and I reduced the amount of light (not a ton). About a week later I'm seeing mold growth on the arial roots.

Suggestions? Less light? How much less, if so?

Thanks!

MtEquine

[Diane]

Perhaps a good airing out would help, you may have left too much moisture in the sphag... S & B doesn't always work, either...

[bench72]

I have heard that not fully closing the bag is a good way to ensure that you still get a fairly high humidity but with the added bonus of some air being able to be replaced... maybe partly close the top of the bag?

[Piper]

Try some peroxide on the roots.

Julie

[jtlqh]

I've noticed when humidity in the bag is higher than 90%, you will get mold on the roots. Even with peroxide, the mold will come back in 2 or 3 days. Leave the bag open is the way to go.

Qing

[Gin]

I have put one in a small pot with Spag. and made a tent over it with plastic .
Never had any luck spaggin and baggin . What I got was rottin rootin an musty moldie .. Gin

[Piper]

Maybe sphag and clay pot. That will allow aeration, yet still keep things moist. Rooting hormone wouldn't hurt either.

Julie

[mtequine]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone....will play around and report back.

[AlessandraS]

I usually use the S&B method with plants that are totally dehydrated to the point where the leaves kind of look like wrinkled skin, and even then I wash the bag out with dilute physan, or another antifungal solution, I soak the sphag in the solution as well, ring it out, rinse, then ring out again. Then I lightly spray the plant with the dilute physan, but this time I dilute it at half the recommended dosage. Depending on what type of orchid it is, I either leave the bag open for 10 minutes at night, or 10 minutes during the day to help with the C02.
I never used to have success with it until I ditched that old notion of not giving them as much light as usual, giving them regular light has improved my success rate with this technique.
-Alessandra

[Piper]

Sunlight does inhibit mold...

Julie