An orchid photo essay
This is my new sad orchid, a jumbo flower phaleanopsis. I didn't need another white one, but it was in really sad shape. The plant was root bound, had root rot and looked like it had been dropped. The flower is 4 1/2 inches wide.
Closeup of the flower's center
This is how it looked, pre transplant. Note the severely packed in sphagnum moss.
After removing the outer layer of moss, I found...more moss, tightly packed among the over grown roots.
I removed the second layer and there was still more moss. You can see how root bound the plant was.
The strings are actually the center of the roots that rotted.
This was the only root that was still pretty healthy and it was aerial. Good, but the plant needs both roots in the planting medium and aerial roots to be happy.
This is the pot and all the moss that was in it.
Getting ready to transplant. From left to right I have fir bark, horticultural charcoal, perlite and peat moss. They will be mixed together to form the potting mixture.
One pot, filled a third of the way with the potting mix
One transplanted orchid, ready for its first shower.