Amazing, the more I watch, the more I learn from you!

Nice video format with the updates included 👌🏻

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Thankyou Ian! I appreciate your time taken watching them 🥰 Thankyou!

I love charcoal. It is very cheap here in the US and readily available without having to pay shipping and wait for it to arrive. I got a huge sack of hardwood charcoal that stands about waist high on me and about 2 feet wide for $20. It will last a really long time. It comes in really big chunks and I use a hammer to break them into the size that I want (yes, it’s messy and my hands need scrubbing when I’m done😊). I’ve been testing out summer blooming phals grown in just charcoal on the recommendation of Michael McCarthy since last October and it has been a success so far with good root and leaf growth and good blooming. I am growing my angrecums and neostylis in a mix of charcoal and lava rock and they love it. My environment and my watering habits have always led to a lot of root rot and my mission over the last 2 years have been to find media that would alleviate this problem. Especially for the summer blooming phals/species/primary hybrids that I’ve always killed with kindness. I’m thrilled to say that since I started experimenting with charcoal or a mix of charcoal and lava rock I am finally enjoying success! I use fairly big chunks of charcoal and lava rock, anywhere from 2.5-5.0 cm square. Smaller bits hold too much moisture with out enough air for my conditions. Bark and especially sphagnum have been completely unsuccessful for me in regard to summer blooming phals and many other orchid types. I do find that lava rock alone in my environment can stay too wet down in the pot and cause root rot, but if mixed with charcoal seems to be perfect. I need lots of airiness in my pots, except for super fine rooted orchids like oncidiums. I learned a lesson about buying ‘horticultural’ charcoal. I wanted bigger chunks, so searched all over the net and ended up finding them on ebay for $20 for a little bag (maybe a bit less than a gallon sized bag). Then Michael McCarthy explained there was no need to special order ‘horticultural’ charcoal, just to go to any store that sells hard wood charcoal for barbecue and get a big sack of it. That’s when I got the monster sack for $20. Boy did I feel like an idiot for having ordered that little bag for the same price. Well, live and learn. Thanks for your great videos! Always thought provoking and informative. Cheers!!

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Hi, thanks for the comment! Sorry for the delay in replying, I really appreciate the detail as I was also a little confused with the different charcoal types! I will have to give charcoal a go based on your recommendation! I would like to pot my mums phals in something inorganic that will also be low maintenance for her, as bark stays too wet/ unaerated for her too in her environment- low air flow and cooler nights. I was looking at Horticultural charcoal but the price was crazy! Ill look into regular hardwood charcoal 🙂 Thankyou 💗

Love those crisp looking plants.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

🥰🥰🥰

As usual a great video and very informative. Looking forward to your next video

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jackie!

Love the format.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Trish 🥰

I am always so impressed with the quality and content of your videos- by far my favorite orchid channel on KZread

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Oh Noah, Thankyou, that means so much to me 🥰 thanks for watching as ever, I really appreciate it!

Once again love the video. Great info on when to and how to re pot the vanda type orchids. I have not yet have a vanda orchid but that is on my radar. Have a wonderful day and looking forward to seeing these in bloom.

Can't wait to see the blooms 🌷🌼🌻

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Thankyou Sue 🥰

So interesting to see your ren monachica root tips, mine are super pink!!! The whole growing tip. It will be fun to see if their blooms look the same down the road! Thanks for another great video.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Love your Ruby root tips! So pretty! I hope I get some aerial roots so I can see the colour better 🥰 Thankyou Melissa, I really appreciate all your comments and help!

@MelissaWalker82

3 жыл бұрын

The Orchid Room pink tips for all! They’re fun although also a little odd to look at 😂 Aw my pleasure and thank YOU for all the techniques and tips that have really improved how I grow orchids. I’m sure I’m not the only one. :)

You've inspired me to try inorganic media. I potted my first few today with a pebble top layer. Looking forward to seeing how they do. Enjoying these videos with updates!

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

I have everything crossed for you! 🤞Trying out new methods can only make us better orchid growers in the long run- as we learn what works best for our plants in our environments 🙂 Wishing you the very best of luck for a smooth transition! 💗

@NicoleDeanna

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheOrchidRoom thank you!!

13:30 Based on my very limited experience with Angraecums (I have a very young A. leonis) I can agree. It used to shrivel up when I had it in chunky bark and once I added Sphagnum moss to the mix it really started to take off. Two to three years till flowering size according Schwerter... Let's see. I really like this format by the way. Sometimes waiting for the updates is so hard haha.

Fantastic format. Love this kind of updates. I always wonder what happens after the repotting.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Thankyou! 🥰 How is your Aerides getting on? Maybe too soon to tell but I'm keen to hear your experiences! 🙂

@drchanolmsted

3 жыл бұрын

The Orchid Room it is doing so well! Thick new roots shooting out. So hoping it will flower for me this year.

Helpful 👍

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Helen 💗

Right now I am just using growstones, lava rock, pumice and charcoal. I use charcoal with all my orchids.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Yay inorganic 🙂 Love the reusable nature and therefore sustainability compared to dried sphagnum and bark. While I love Sphagnum, I did get a guilty conscience using it, since live sphagnum is one of the most efficient plants for carbon fixation, for the size. And then there is the yearly repot. Just not for me 🥰 Thanks for watching!

I got my first angrecum didieri and sadly after transfer to semi hydro it lost most it's leave now only one leaf left, I so hoping it will survive and grow a new leaf now that spring is here.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

My didieri has synthic mixed with the LECA in self-watering. The didieri, as a miniature, loves loads of moisture. Mine does amazingly so maybe your climate is too dry for LECA alone with it? May be worth experimenting with top layers or other materials, assuming the roots are good.

@dancealiasable

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheOrchidRoom its very moist vut its a small seedling so maybe it will hopefully adapt and push out new growth. Seedlings. Tends to struggle the transition.

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Everyone has different experiences, I hope yours pulls through.

Oh no, I'm so sorry about the infestation! I'm always horrified to hear tales of sellers who sell orchids with problems like that. They're beautiful new orchids, though. I'll look forward to seeing them in bloom! You got me kind of interested in aerides there, but it seems like the nurseries I shop from don't really have many, with the exception of the Sedirea japonica (that counts, right?).

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

This was the best condition plant haul I have ever had... so of course it had mealy bugs lying in wait to try to ruin it 🤣 My luck! I hope you try Aerides, but a word of warning, they grow fast and even the compact ones can reach giant heights very quickly! Smaller than many Vandas width wise, they will get just as large in height, but quicker 🙂 Sedirea is now classed as phalaenopsis. I don't think it quite fits, but it fits Phalaenopsis better than it would aerides for sure (cooler, slower growing, miniature) 🙂

@karmiya-plays

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheOrchidRoom That's awful. Sorry I took so long to reply- I actually had my own orchid disaster. About two-three weeks ago, I found some tiny, tiny little bugs crawling around some of my orchids' roots. I had a disaster day of unpotting every single one, treating them with pesticide, and then potting them up in fresh media. I have a HUGE phobia of bugs, and work very hard to keep my home free of them, so that was a real trial for me. I figured it was my fault- I kept the orchids in the front of my apartment, in front of the bay window which looks out over the communal courtyard and GARDEN. On top of that, the lighting is bad, so I used a grow light... Bugs are attracted to light, mystery solved. So I also moved them to my guest room, which looks out over the carpark and has no greenery and better light, so no need for a grow light... And I started to feel better...only, this Wednesday, to find the bugs were back. I freaked out massively. I did determine that they must be some sort of mite, and the regular insecticide I used didn't kill them, just washed most off...so I bought a miticide and used that. Hopefully that will solve it, because if not, I might just dieeeeee. As said, I have a very extreme phobia of bugs. Honestly, if I can't keep the orchids free of them, I don't think I can keep the orchids. I'm amazed that I was even able to deal with this as I did- a few years ago, I wouldn't have been able to. I'll have to see if I can keep them clean in the future. My mum's two orchids were never treated with anything and went two years in our old house with no problems... I mean, orchids aren't just going to magically materialise bugs in their pots. If there are bugs, there's a method of entry which you've missed, you know? I'll have to see. Sorry for unloading that all on you- I guess I really needed to talk to someone about it! I really love my orchids and I want to keep them, but I also have to prioritise my mental health- bugs are almost always the triggers for breakdowns for me, and the fact that I've handled this at all is a sign of how much I've improved since moving to a colder region. I haven't even seen any of my orchids bloom yet! I'd hate to miss out on that. (Also, the sedirea/aerides quip was just a joke on reclassification. I think the sedirea japonica is as close to an aerides as I can get- big orchids intimidate me!)

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Oh no! Sorry to hear that! My pots are full of bugs, many good- springtails and predator mites are great for orchids 🙂 Springtails particularly will usually show up in pots. They're good guys though and eat decomposing material to clean up the pots- terrarium people actually buy springtail colonies just for this! Funnily enough I just made a video showing some predator mites so you may want to skip past that bit sorry! They are gross, and used to really disgust me, before I realised they eat thrip larvae! So now I love them 😆 Oh sorry! 💗 I totally missed that, I hate reclassification too and I always wondered why they named sedirea aerides backwards when they were so different!

@karmiya-plays

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheOrchidRoom Um. Bugs make me want to scratch my own arms off, so... I have to say, one frustration I have with this hobby is how blase so many people are about bugs! Bugs belong outside, far away from us, not in the house, and not in houseplants. I feel like entomophobia and arachnophobia really aren't taken seriously by many people? I've had extreme mental breakdowns in the past triggered by bugs, and yet so many people act like a phobia of them is just no big deal.

🙋‍♀️🧜‍♀️🥰

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

"so we've got two seed pods" 🤔 If they haven't been cut off, that can only mean one thing...

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Teehee 🥰 It's addictive!

@TheOrchidRoom

3 жыл бұрын

Orchidgarden mentioned you are the master of charcoal, and I know we talked about it before 🙂 Would you say any hardwood charcoal would do the same job? I was looking into the expensive Horticultural or biochar charcoal before putting it off!

@michaelmccarthy4077

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheOrchidRoom I buy the lump hardwood stuff you use for grilling, with no additives. The only thing is it needs to be broken up and the size then isn’t uniform. The horticultural stuff is uniform in size.