# St. Swithin repotting and leaf color questions



## orchideya (Sep 30, 2013)

I wanted to repot my 4-growth St. Swithin, but spot where rizhomes attached rotted through and plant divided itself into two parts:







When I untangled all the roots, removing rotted parts, I got two separate plants:






I potted them into plastic pots with bark mix:






And now have some questions:

1. I expected the largest fan (in the round pot) to bloom soon, it is attached to the old growth that bloomed previously, so it would be the next. Did this division cancelled the blooming and plant needs to put more growth or could it still bloom like this?

2. Do the leaves look too light? Plants live on the south east window with lots of direct sun from the sunrise to about 1 pm. I glued the "frosted glass" window film on it so the plants don't burn, but it is still very bright. I have there Lady Isabel and sanderianum seedling too and they all have leaves of this lime-green color. Is it bad?

Thanks a lot for your help.


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## Justin (Sep 30, 2013)

Nice plant(s)! The big growth should flower next, probably after you see a start, which should be any time now. 

IMO they are grown *just slightly too bright. You have the leaves at a good color to get the plants to bloom, but i generally like to keep mine a little more green than that. Same for the Lady Isabels...but definitely too bright for sanderianum. At the least you should create more shade for the sand.

One other note, the bark looks a little too big. The roots look very healthy with white growing tips, however, so i assume you water frequently with such coarse mix.

All around nice growing. That's a nice healthy SS.


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## orchideya (Sep 30, 2013)

Thank you Justin! I will work on shading it a bit more. This huge window was a great place to bloom vandas before I moved them into orchid tank with T5s. Now I am filling windowsill with multies but it looks like it is too bright for them. I am thinking about buying one BS roth to go there too. Does it have the same light requirements?
Thanks again.


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## Justin (Sep 30, 2013)

roths would grow great in there. go for it!


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## goldenrose (Sep 30, 2013)

Mighty fine lookin' SS! 
Can you move the plants back away from the glass? That's a way to reduce light levels, 6" would probably do it. Do you use epsom salts on a regular basis?


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## orchideya (Sep 30, 2013)

Justin said:


> roths would grow great in there. go for it!


Thanks, I will definitely get one .



goldenrose said:


> Mighty fine lookin' SS!
> Can you move the plants back away from the glass? That's a way to reduce light levels, 6" would probably do it. Do you use epsom salts on a regular basis?



No, there is no space on the sill to move them back more. The window is high, spans through two floors, so it covers quite large area with bright light.
I only use 20-20-20 all purpose fertilizer at quarter strength.
I didn't know I have to use epsom salts . How should I use them and where do you get them?
Thanks a lot.


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## ALToronto (Sep 30, 2013)

You can buy epsom salts at a drug store or Dollarama. You'll pay less at Dollarama, and make sure you get unscented, plain white salt. If you're using Plant Prod 20-20-20, you also need to add calcium. I have some calcium nitrate from work, but I have no idea where you'd go to buy a small quantity of it.

You should switch to a hydroponic fertilizer; those have minerals that soil plant fertilizers don't have. Or contact me next time you come to Toronto, and I'll hook you up with a dime bag of K-Lite. :evil:


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## orchideya (Sep 30, 2013)

Thank you Alla! Going to find these salts today.
Googled K-Lite and got bunch of links for downloading some codec , then figured to add "fertilizer" to search.
Where did you find it in Canada? or it is allowed to import chemicals?
If you have some extra that you don't mind selling - please let me know.
Poor my paphs, how did they grow without all this stuff.


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## ALToronto (Sep 30, 2013)

I bought a 2 lb jar from Ray. I make a concentrate using 33 g in a litre of water, and it lasts me over 4 months, so I figure I have a 10 year supply. Lots to spare. 

I imported the fertilizer through my company, so it was easy. Don't know if an individual would pay duty.


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## orchideya (Sep 30, 2013)

Great, thank you!


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