Phrag Betheva

[OrchidAnna]

I recently ordered a Phrag Betheva that arrived with no good roots. I unpotted it, cut off the dead roots and set it in a pot with LECA and a little water at the bottom, hoping it will re-root for me. Does anyone have other suggestions? It's only been a week or two so far and it doesn't seem to be declining as fast as it was before I intervened. I normally prefer organic medium, but I thought in this case LECA might be a little easier to monitor the amount of water it's getting. It's sitting on my kitchen counter near an east window.

 

[Linus_Cello]

I would suggest increasing the humidity and good air circulation. Some people might suggest moss as a top dressing. Also some folks will probably suggest some root hormone (kelp extract).

 

[abax]

I encourage rootless Phrags. in long fibered sphagnum moss. A window sill is an excellent
place for the Betheva. Good temp. fluctuation near the glass and
handy for watering. Now all you have to do is wait and hope. Good luck!

BTW, who sent you a rootless plant???

 

[OrchidAnna]

I'll try adding some rooting hormone and moss. Thanks!

This was from Seattle Orchid. I've had mixed luck from them. Some plants have been really nice, and others are... more like this. The random rescue plant they sent with the order was actually in better shape than this one.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Honestly, Seattle is about the worst orchid vendor in the USA. Besides the inconsistent plant quality (and rootless plants is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to the crap they'll send in my experience) they are notorious for sending misidentified / mislabeled plants. Plus they don't take any responsibility for problems and will lie to you directly when confronted about it. Anyway, I'm done ranting.

As for your Phrag, what I have success with is to pot them up in normal potting mix, perhaps with a bit of sphag on top if that suits you. Then I'll slide the pot and plant down into a bread bag, open end up. I make sure to keep water off the leaves, and typically leave the top open for air exchange. This is basically an inexpensive personal humidity tent for the plant (assuming it's small enough to fit in a bread bag and assuming you have bread bags available, but really any mostly transparent/translucent plastic bag will work).

I do usually give my recovery plants some kelp or superthrive type products, but I'm going to be honest and say that I'm not really convinced these types of product are the super stars they are sometimes presented as. So, if you don't already have them on hand, don't bother wasting money on them. You've already been screwed over once, no need to waste more money.

 

[OrchidAnna]

Honestly, Seattle is about the worst orchid vendor in the USA. Besides the inconsistent plant quality (and rootless plants is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to the crap they'll send in my experience) they are notorious for sending misidentified / mislabeled plants. Plus they don't take any responsibility for problems and will lie to you directly when confronted about it. Anyway, I'm done ranting.

I can’t argue with anything you said about Seattle. They recently had a 40% off sale and I took a chance and ended up with this.

All the advice for this plant seems to be the same though. Pot it up, put it in a humid spot and wait to see if it recovers.
Thanks all!

 

[abax]

My advice for lifting your spirits in this situation is order a plant from Tom at
Fox Valley and make yourself happy. :>)

 

[paphfreak]

I recently added a new cool mist humidifier to my grow room. The phrags close to the output are sending out webs of roots. They look wet, but I watered this morning. I've only had the humidifier for 2-3 weeks.

 

[OrchidAnna]

I recently added a new cool mist humidifier to my grow room. The phrags close to the output are sending out webs of roots. They look wet, but I watered this morning. I've only had the humidifier for 2-3 weeks.

Nice! I put my rescue plant back in the grow tent, now fingers crossed I get roots like yours!

 

[vanda2020]

I am sorry to hear about your plant. I use to buy from Seattle Orchid, however they have gone down hill. If you look online they have a two star rating now. At one point they suddenly raised the shipping into the twenties this was before our national shipping went up. I wrote to them why the increase, that it made one not want to buy from them with such an increase. I was very nice in my email. They responded back nasty, and they blocked my account on their site with no explanation. Just for that one question. I, too, had been receiving low grade plants. I guess that is why I was questioning the high shipping for such sad little plants.