I have six healthy phals.
Is it a good idea to change the potting medium even if you're not changing the pot size? How often should the medium be changed? I don't want to do it more often than necessary. That stuff is pricey!
I use a combination of moss and bark chips.
thanks
This is the first I've heard about flushing (I'm pretty new at this). What should I be doing? Right now I water only when the medium feels dry. I use orchid fertilizer with ever watering.
The problem I have with the bucket method is that you can transfer pathogens from one plant to the next. If at all possible, flush with a hose, faucet or wand.
Diana
My thoughts are disease will travel in any case. On our hands, on our clothes and shoes, insects can pass viral and bacterial disease from plant to plant. We can move our plants around and unknowingly put a clean pot where a diseased plant sat the day before. To prevent contamination we would need to wear latex gloves and sterilize them between plants. Each plant would have a spot and never be moved from it. We would then still have bugs and insects to contend with. I've already found frogs on my plants when spending the summer outdoors. Cross contamination is very difficult to prevent.
I once worked in a hospital and known about contamination.
Your thoughts are correct, but just as in a hospital, why would you do something that you know is going to greatly increase the likelihood of spreading it?
Orchid roots are the most direct path into- and out of the plant, far more so that through the foliage we come in contact with (that's one reason foliar feeding is not very effective in them), and liquids are one of the best media for a pathogen transfer.
Sounds like good advice from the voice of experiance.
What about he use of Physan in the dunking bucket? Or would a monthly flushing be better?
It would take much much much longer to dump and sterilize and refill the pan after each orchid. I have a decent size collection. You may have more free time than I do. Sterilizing the soaking pan after each plant is only practical if one has few plants or plenty of free time.
I don't wear gloves but do wash my hands with an antibacterial soap between plants when repotting. Old potting media is composted for the vegetable garden.
If I don't change a pair I'll
Excellent, but not everyone an afford a bunch of sets of cutting tools.
You still have insects to contend with and in some rural places such as where I live, frogs going through the plants.
On the contrary, I think everyone *can* afford a few sets of cutting tools. If you buy orchids (no matter where and for what price), you can buy an extra clipper. You don't need to spend a fortune on tools. HD has adequate clippers for around $5.00. The very best? No. Do they get the job done? Most emphatically yes.
As far as insects and other beasts, we're in S. Florida and grow roughly 250 plants outside under screen year round. We are no strangers to bugs and frogs. We also have little lizards all over the place. Most bugs are harmless. The lizards and little froggies eat bugs. We all need to adapt to our own environmental conditions.
Look, what we've been discussing here is pretty standard, basic orchid care. Avoiding contamination is one of the first things growers talk about when teaching newbies tricks of the trade. But nobody can force you not to dunk, or reuse tools, etc. If you're determined to continue the bucket stuff, then you will, and I hope all goes well.
Diana
I suspect I have even less time than most....
In addition to running the orchid-related business, which takes up about
25-30 hours a week, I have a full-time job in the chemical industry, and my office is 50 miles west of here, so I am typically gone 11 or 12 hours daily, and that's when I'm not out-of-town.My point was that it is not a good idea to dunk plants, not that the dunk tank should be cleaned and refilled for each plant.
I believe in watering the top of the pot and letting it drain. Yes, water splashing from one plant to the next can spread pathogens, but not as easily as sharing the same bucket of water.
That is what empty cat litter buckets are for.
You have a ready supply and need to find a recycle use: 1. mix storage (each type in its own bucket and one of each combination you regularly use and pieces of bark or mounts.
I think that covers 2 months of buckets <grin> Maybe it took us longer to work up the supply. Oh yes. One with a small garden tray is the table next to the light stand so the sprayer is always handy and at the right height so I don't have to hold the tank up to spray.
Once in a while we use an inverted one as a stool. SuE
Here I agree but watering mine instead of soaking doesn't work. The water runs right through the chunks of medium and the phals start to shrivel.
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