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I think I mentioned that fall 2020-spring 2021 has been the best phalaenopsis season I have ever had. I bought my first orchid in April 2017. This year a lot of my phals bloomed.
The first one to bloom last fall was either #37, Phal OX Happy Girl '1592' or #65, a NOID. I think it was #65; at the time I was so depressed that I didn't even take a picture of it. I think it started opening in November, then #37 opened soon after. It was the first one that I photographed. Anyway, the cool thing is that both of those orchids are in spike again! Very exciting. #37 still has last fall's spike on; originally it only had 3 blooms, then a month or so after blooming it started growing again and added more. It's not a huge spike but it's hanging in there. The new spike is already very thick, so I am hoping that means a really impressive display this time. The flush of hormones might make the other spike start blooming again.
#65's spike died sometime in January after the bloom was over. It had been repotted into moss shortly before blooming and all the roots had died, plus I wasn't too crazy about how it looked when it bloomed in my house (in the store it was darker in color and prettier) and so I decided to repot it in LECA and seramis, to see how it would do. I figured if it died I wouldn't be too upset, it was a very inexpensive mini. Well, it seems to be thriving in the new medium and it has a spike! So I am pleased.
Factors:
In 2019, I started to move all of my phals into sphagnum moss. As new phals came in and became ready for repot, I put them also in sphagnum. (I started out with Chilean sphagnum but it was awful, it compacted very easily and quickly, so I switched to NZ sphag, big improvement. The ones that came in bark or promix usually lost their roots but then did well in sphag afterward.
I think it was also in 2019 that I started adding Maxicrop seaweed powder to my watering mix, and the orchids loved it.
In late 2019, I started treating with antifungals once a month, and I kept doing this until late 2020. I should get back to it.
In (I think) early 2020, I stopped using time-release fertilizer. As I repotted each orchid, I would put a little piece of colored washi tape on the pot to signify that there was no time-release fertilizer in the pot. The plants that still had time-release fertilizer, I watered with plain water instead of fertilizer solution.
In 2020, we installed an RO system for drinking water, and I started using it for orchids. (Before I was using reclaimed water from the dehumidifiers, or distilled water, mixed with about 10% tap water.) I started using the RO water to mix up a fertilizer solution.
In 2020 I bought a TDS meter and a pH meter and, using the RO water, started monitoring the nutrients in my fertilizer solution AND also adjusting the pH. This was HUGE. I think the specific nutrients I use matter, but also just getting the pH right and knowing how much I was feeding, really helped.
I tinkered with this mix throughout 2020, adding new things one at a time, after seeing how the orchids reacted to the last addition. By late summer, it was pretty solid and I don't think I've made changes since then.
Here's what I use now. I don't add all of these every time I water, and right now I would say I am still watering with only water and chitosan about half the time.
Silica fertilizer
Chitosan
Jack's 7-5-6
CalMag
Maxicrop seaweed
Rapidstart rooting enhancer
ph Up to adjust pH.
In 2019 I bought an Advanced Nutrients product called "Nirvana" because it had alfalfa, humic acid, and some other things I
thought would benefit my plants. But I find it doesn't stay in solution very well so I don't use it very often. Maybe I should try watering just with that once a week, then with my other stuff the rest of the week.
Also in late 2020: some things happened that threw me into a deep depression and I basically stopped fertilizing for a few months, as well as under-watering them. I suspect the under-watering stress helped provoke the amazing blooms.
In non-phal news: my lone paphiopedilum also bloomed in the spring. It's finally growing some roots (I put it into a homemade self-watering pot in the winter and it seems to be working very well.)
Oncidesa Sweet Sugar 'Lemon Drop' is also in spike. Oncidium Sharry Baby 'Sweet Fragrance' has three spikes! Oncidium Heaven Scent 'Sweet Baby" bloomed at the beginning of summer, this was the first time this division has bloomed for me. It was a small spike but very encouraging.
The first one to bloom last fall was either #37, Phal OX Happy Girl '1592' or #65, a NOID. I think it was #65; at the time I was so depressed that I didn't even take a picture of it. I think it started opening in November, then #37 opened soon after. It was the first one that I photographed. Anyway, the cool thing is that both of those orchids are in spike again! Very exciting. #37 still has last fall's spike on; originally it only had 3 blooms, then a month or so after blooming it started growing again and added more. It's not a huge spike but it's hanging in there. The new spike is already very thick, so I am hoping that means a really impressive display this time. The flush of hormones might make the other spike start blooming again.
#65's spike died sometime in January after the bloom was over. It had been repotted into moss shortly before blooming and all the roots had died, plus I wasn't too crazy about how it looked when it bloomed in my house (in the store it was darker in color and prettier) and so I decided to repot it in LECA and seramis, to see how it would do. I figured if it died I wouldn't be too upset, it was a very inexpensive mini. Well, it seems to be thriving in the new medium and it has a spike! So I am pleased.
Factors:
In 2019, I started to move all of my phals into sphagnum moss. As new phals came in and became ready for repot, I put them also in sphagnum. (I started out with Chilean sphagnum but it was awful, it compacted very easily and quickly, so I switched to NZ sphag, big improvement. The ones that came in bark or promix usually lost their roots but then did well in sphag afterward.
I think it was also in 2019 that I started adding Maxicrop seaweed powder to my watering mix, and the orchids loved it.
In late 2019, I started treating with antifungals once a month, and I kept doing this until late 2020. I should get back to it.
In (I think) early 2020, I stopped using time-release fertilizer. As I repotted each orchid, I would put a little piece of colored washi tape on the pot to signify that there was no time-release fertilizer in the pot. The plants that still had time-release fertilizer, I watered with plain water instead of fertilizer solution.
In 2020, we installed an RO system for drinking water, and I started using it for orchids. (Before I was using reclaimed water from the dehumidifiers, or distilled water, mixed with about 10% tap water.) I started using the RO water to mix up a fertilizer solution.
In 2020 I bought a TDS meter and a pH meter and, using the RO water, started monitoring the nutrients in my fertilizer solution AND also adjusting the pH. This was HUGE. I think the specific nutrients I use matter, but also just getting the pH right and knowing how much I was feeding, really helped.
I tinkered with this mix throughout 2020, adding new things one at a time, after seeing how the orchids reacted to the last addition. By late summer, it was pretty solid and I don't think I've made changes since then.
Here's what I use now. I don't add all of these every time I water, and right now I would say I am still watering with only water and chitosan about half the time.
Silica fertilizer
Chitosan
Jack's 7-5-6
CalMag
Maxicrop seaweed
Rapidstart rooting enhancer
ph Up to adjust pH.
In 2019 I bought an Advanced Nutrients product called "Nirvana" because it had alfalfa, humic acid, and some other things I
thought would benefit my plants. But I find it doesn't stay in solution very well so I don't use it very often. Maybe I should try watering just with that once a week, then with my other stuff the rest of the week.
Also in late 2020: some things happened that threw me into a deep depression and I basically stopped fertilizing for a few months, as well as under-watering them. I suspect the under-watering stress helped provoke the amazing blooms.
In non-phal news: my lone paphiopedilum also bloomed in the spring. It's finally growing some roots (I put it into a homemade self-watering pot in the winter and it seems to be working very well.)
Oncidesa Sweet Sugar 'Lemon Drop' is also in spike. Oncidium Sharry Baby 'Sweet Fragrance' has three spikes! Oncidium Heaven Scent 'Sweet Baby" bloomed at the beginning of summer, this was the first time this division has bloomed for me. It was a small spike but very encouraging.
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