Afterwards...

     Everyone re-repotted, in the window. This is after I had the shelf that holds my orchids fall, de-potting all the plants. Details on individual plants to come.

A series of unfortunate events...

     The shelf that houses all but 2 of my orchids has failed to hold onto the wall and fell approx.  5 ft to the ground today.

     Why?

     The idiot that installed the shelf attached it to drywall instead of wall studs. I wish I took pictures, but I was too concerned with the state of my orchids and carpet to do so. Luckily, there was minimal dammage - Everything needs a repotting though. Cleaning the spilled media and terra-cotta from my carpet was a pain in the ass. The media was too damp and sticky for the vacuum to pick up but too small to pick it all up by hand. Tedious work!

     Its a funny turn of events because I just came home with two more orchids for my collection and my orchid supply order came in the day before. Fate?
     Needles to say, I will be updating again with the repotting info.

Wish me luck...

New Cattleya L.C. Mari's Song x Mem. Robert Strait 'splash petal'

Cattleya after repotting.

     My first cattleya! I purchased it as a 'good job' gift after being accepted to Rutgers University (yay!). It is a BetterGro plant from Lowes home improvement, and I am unsure if its blooming size yet. There were two sizes but I bought the smaller one, for it was half the price of the larger. Im in no rush to see it bloom, and a few dollas of savings is always nice :) .
     The cattleyas were in a fresh shipment, so root rot was not a concern, but Im happy I ended up looking at the root ball: Surprisingly, there were a good amount of mushy brown roots!
     Originally planted in a 3" plastic pot with small/medium bark perlite mix. 3 Pseudobulbs, and one just starting to grow.

Original potting.

New growth - a spike-like mystery growth (center, under leaf). New pseudobulb seen on left side.

New pseudobulb!

Roots, after being picked clean and snipped of rot.

       I have fallen in love with LECA. I have been using it lately in all my repotting - It holds some water but is extremely airy and dries efficiently.

3" clay pot, a bit big but I placed extra LECA on the botton for drainage.

Newly planted in LECA Bark mix.

     I repotted the cattleya into a slightly larger clay pot (~3.5" across), with LECA and a medium bark mix. I cannot wait to watch it grow!

New Phalenopsis NoID. "Miker"

Bright yellow blooms with purple accents.

     My boyfriend bought me a lovely gift for Valentine's day -  I am an owner of another NoID phal.  Im a bit disappointed since I already own a bunch of NoID's, but nonetheless, I love it. My boyfriend had great taste in flowers!
     I am naming it "Miker", after a nickname given to my boyfriend by friends.

Poor picture, but you get the idea :)

New root poking out besides an old one that was snipped off.
Barely visible but there!

   



















     As with almost every grocery store Phal, this one was packed tight with soaking wet sphagnum moss. Adding to the injury, my boyfriend watered it even more, leaving it in a puddle of water. I almost instantly unspotted it to find rotting roots, which I pruned on the spot. Without any cinnamon, I left the phal out to dry for 24 hours, so the cuts would be less susceptible to disease.
     Good news is, the phal seems to be poking out new roots already. Recovering this root-rotted phal might be easier than I thought. I repotted it into a clear 4.5" container with a LECA sphagnum mix to keep things moist, yet airy.

     The 4 blooms are 3" across, and possibly scented - I smell an *extremely* faint floral scent when watering.  This is something I will have to confirm with some research and maybe another bloom cycle. It may just be all in my head :P

Spots along stem - injected?

    I am a bit concerned that the lovely purple in the phal is injected. I guess we will find out when It blooms again!

Root rot on Phal. NoID w/ keikis

Leaves showing some distress - Drooping and thinning especially on the bottom two.

 
      I think I finally understand why this Phal is pushing keikis.

     When I originally picked up this Phal. NoID I had no idea that it would push keikis from its spikes. It root system wasn't ideal, but still nice compared to what I usually find in big-box stores. Nothing I couldn't handle or havent fixed on previous orchids. The roots were slightly rotted, so I clipped, disinfected, soaked in SuperThrive solution, then potted into bark. About 4 months later, the plant became very thirsty and droopy. To my dismay, half of the existing root system was dead. This time, I clipped and disinfected with Physan and a fungicide to be safe before repotting into spag/bark mix. I added some chopped spag to keep up with the plants thirst, but made sure to keep it very airy. The medium dried completely about every 3 days. Afterwards, the phal was rather happy for another 4 months.

Post rot removal. 3 roots keeping this phal alive, all showing signs of rot, too.

     Recently, more drooping made me worried. I unpotted one last time to find 3 stubby roots keeping this Phal alive. There is one, stubby, somewhat healthy green areal root, but it rarely receives moisture so I doubt it contributes much. I cleared away the major rot, and once again soaked in Physan. The 3 roots I left all show black (but not mushy) rot. I will let them just slowly rot away and provide some water to the plant before I lop them off. There is no signs of new root growth, despite treatment with Superthrive.
   I am at loss - is this viral rot? And why would a rotting, on-the-brink-of-death Phal grow 2 new leaves?

Keiki 1 (right) and Keiki 2 (left)

 
   Keiki 1 has finally grown a nice root. It has attached itself to the cork, just like I wanted it to.
   I honestly am not too concerned about the mom. I of course will try to keep it alive but will not extenuate myself, especially since its a NoID and since I have 2 keiki clones.

     Hoping for the best, but dont expect any good news out of the mom.

Phal "Ikea" in full bloom.

Close up of Phal. NoID "Ikea".

   
     These poor cellphone photos do no justice to how richly colored the blossoms are! Imagine a bright, buttery crayon-yellow with deep wine-colored spots. Its surprising how washed out the color is in the photos.

     It has taken about 1 month for all the buds to open, totaling 5 blooms. This isn't bad considering that in the span of purchase to bud, the phal was repotted twice and exposed to undesirable cold during Hurricane Sandy. The two new leafs continue to grow, but look like they are growing long and thin - a classic sign that it lacks sufficient light. I have been looking online for plant racks that I can place infront of my window, but I think I will hold off on my decision until September.

Full view of the phal and a wrinkly bed sheet.

I will be moving my plants with me to my new college in september, and plan on buying either a rack or a terrarium to house them. It will be much easier to heat, light and keep adequate humidity in a terrarium, but for all i know, I may only have enough room for a small rack by the window.

Possibly elongated leaves. Lack of light?