Orchid obsessed and constantly trying to evolve my urban world into a floral jungle. This is my orchid journey, complete with tips, tricks, mistakes and insights.
Hi, can anyone clarify if after leaving it dry overnight, put it back to distilled water? Or back to the tea solution? Please anyone could response to my question? I will really appreciate you forever! For helping my drying orchid 😣 God bless!
We miss you... Hope you are doing great in all your endeavors. It's been 2 years next month since your last video ... Any chance for an update? Sending lots of love 💖 from sunny 🌞 Arizona 🌵. Take care of yourself and each other 😷.
I just received my first one a week ago, and I love it! It's quite a young plant and potted in a very small (2 1/2") plastic pot that does have holes in the bottom but no slits on the sides. Because it is now late Spring (May) I am very tempted to transplant it into a 3" pot now. So it has all Summer to recover. Loved your presentation Michael! 😉😉
Michael, I have an orchid which has blooms coming out. But one of the leaves is turning yellow. I took the plant out of the potting medium to see what was happening. The roots are dying. What should I do?
Hi Michael. A friend sent me your video two years ago and it took me until three months ago to listen and apply your process to a badly failing orchid. My life is too busy or my plants are not enough of a priority. The tannin solution actually worked really really well, but most of the roots were so degenerated that they broke off during the process. However, one new one grew, but that is not enough to sustain the plant, obviously. The leaves looked really really healthy at the close of your process. I was reluctant to keep doing the tannin solution because too much water also is not good for orchids. But now we have one functioning root & the orchid is back in the wood chip “earth“ and not doing so well again. Perhaps I should take a picture. I’m reluctant to give up because it did so very well with your process. I don’t quite know how to add a picture in this medium. It’s quite a small plant. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL VIDEO, AND YOUR HELP SO FAR! Karen
Hi Michael! I am new to discovering your channel, and just wanted to say I have found you to be a breath of fresh air in the orchid community 😊 I have a question: I recently soaked my first Leca (about 20times, over 3 weeks to be safe!). I use Distilled water PH 5.5/5.8. My Leca (soaking in distilled water) reads as PH7 (30PPM). It reaches 7 almost instantly after changing the water. Would you recommend (to a newbie like myself) to lower my water PH below 5.5 to counteract this bump? I understand that orchids prefer 5.5-6.5 so I'm a bit scared to leave it, but also to go too low! 😅 Thanks-Also its great to see more LGBTQ+ representation (like me) in the hobby! 🙏🌈
Really appreciated this series, very informative! Would love to see how the distilled+fertiliser mix changes when in contact with bark,moss and leca mediums- and if it remains suitable in the pot over time. I currently use this method, with a bark/moss mix but am keen to try out leca-so would be good to see the difference!
Hi Michael! Thank you very much for the very informative videos! I would really like your advice on sth. I have one Phalaenopsis which hasn't bloomed or active grown in 2 years. The leaves were light green and yellowish. I decided to take the plunge and turn it to semi-hydroponics environment with LECA beads. I had seen some other videos first with the black tea method and started with that first. I am now on my 3rd day of the tea bag method and saw an active growth on my plant, which I thought to be dying. Should I continue with the conversion to semi-hydroponics method or should I do something else?
It looks to me like you're. Plants and Simi hydro just needed larger containers. And some non wicking pebbles on top to keep the moisture in. I have started transitioning my collection to Simi hydro. And then found your videos which is making me second guess myself. I guess well see!
I'm so glad I found your channel! I had started putting all of my new chids in to SH, mostly phals at this point, but I'm seriously giving it some thought. Yours is not the first channel I've seen, convert their collection over to conventional growing medium. I think I'm going to put two chids of the same kind into different mediums and see what happens. Wish me luck!
This doesn't just work for orchids. I had a sad, sad spider plant. It hated the soil it was in. Not sure what the nursery did to it but it was dying. I removed it from the pot, washed off all the dirt and put it in a bottle with water covering just the bottom 1/4-1/3 of the roots. It perked right up. It hated the moisture of the soil but loved this method. It's roots got so healthy and then after a few months I was able to move it to a pot with good fresh soil and it's doing so much better.
The leca itself has a pH of around 7 or higher. Mixing it with an acidic liquid will result in a pH that is somewhere in between. I let the leca sit in acidic water before using it initially so that it brings down the pH of the leca.
Excellent. A wealth of knowledge imparted to your community equipping us with the proper way to care for our orchids whilst understanding them. First time viewer and new sub.
By the way, sf600 instead of 1000. My vandas turned red under the 600, so think that’s the reason you’re oncidiums are torched. I nuked all of mine and so sad.😞
Michael, It’s been a year! How’s the work/life balance? It would be wonderful to hear how you’re green babies are doing! I recently had the 50+ meltdown, plus scale. Trying to recover and get the joy from seeing that new growth on the way! Totally understand if you’re still tired up but we’re waiting, when you’re ready to return! 😁
Good morning from Germany. B. Ruth Carpenter does have a scent, mine is flowering right now and around this time (9am) there's a definite scent which is like ground pepper with a tiny little bit of hyacinth. I am not sure if mornings are the only time the scent comes up. She does get the morning sun, so perhaps it's the combination of sunlight and morning hours. Think she had an even stronger scent a few days ago early afternoon but forgot to make a note of it so not exactly sure what time it was. Will try to update later
