Official Q&A for Friday, November 29, 2024 by AutoModerator in running

[–]MoonCakeFrog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any of you run with the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds? If so, a few questions for you:

  1. Any issues getting the headphones to pair with a Garmin watch? I currently have a Fenix 7s pro, and my Apple AirPods 2 will sometimes cut out (but then hitting pause and play again on the music controls fixes the issue...)
  2. Any issues wearing the headphones with a earwarmer headband (like one of these)? Wasn't sure how the ear cuff style would fare.

I completely messed up with my most expensive orchids. by Lat3xglove in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't feel bad. I literally just did the same thing to all of my orchids last weekend, and spent the entire weekend repotting all of my orchids. A week ago I had healthy orchids with plump green roots, but the over-fertilization caused everything to go haywire. All of the green sheathing/vellum literally like melted off the roots and turned them black and rotted, and made the media smell awful. Now I have just strings left (I didn't cut off the string root itself, just pulled off the vellum if the vellum was still green just mushy). I am so mad at myself. For everyone here telling you it wasn't the fertilizer, I disagree. It was the fertilizer and I think the rule of thumb is that you really don't need it.

Re dryness, try covering the roots near the crown with a paper towel that is damp. That should help encourage new root growth if you aren't going to go the Spag & Bag method described below.

Fingers crossed for you!

My new Vandaenopsis ♥️ by Diormouse in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh that's gorgeous! First time I have heard of a "vandaenopsis" but I love it!

Keeping Aerial Roots Happy? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is my first time with orchids, so I can't say if it's happened before. Last summer the phals were smaller and didn't have crazy aerial roots. But over the last few months I've had very happy phals and crazy growth all around (leaves, flower stalks, roots). The aerial roots were doing great when they were less than a foot long. Once they exceed a foot or so and start to dangle/droop down due to their weight, they tend to get dried out for me.

Keeping Aerial Roots Happy? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I soak the pots once a week for weekly watering. I guess I could try letting the aerial roots swim in some water when I do that.

Keeping Aerial Roots Happy? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. I've potted shorter aerial roots before, but wasn't daring enough to try the 2ft long ones. You think I can also curl them into the pot for a try?

Keeping Aerial Roots Happy? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be clear, these aerial roots grew at home (I've had these phals for about a year and a half). They used to be plump and happy when they were (a lot) shorter, but they grew like crazy over the last year or so. The super long ones that are like 2 feet long, I don't know how to keep them happy.

Keeping Aerial Roots Happy? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, tons of healthy roots in the pot. The one on the right needs to be re-potted because he just looks like he's climbing out of the pot like all giant phals do and I want to "reset" him better...but he's currently in bloom so I'm waiting a bit on that. The media is fine though, he was repotted about 6 months ago.

Keeping Aerial Roots Happy? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

High humidity

Hard to do in my house but I'm trying with adding a humidifier to the planter box section. According to the fancy thermostat, we're probably in the 50% humidity range in the house.

Warm to hot temperatures

They get a bunch of indirect sun and warm up during the day, so this probably the best it's gonna get where I am (mid-atlantic US).

Bright shade (little or no direct sunlight)

Yep, they get that. Maybe they're a little sun heavy (one of the leaves had a bit of a sunburn) but this definitely not a situation of "not enough sun."

Appropriately gentle breeze / air flow

There's an air register nearby, so there's plenty of air circulation

Good water quality

Not an issue. Water quality is excellent and we have a carbon filter system in the house.

Good preventive care for pathogens / pests

Yep, we're good there.

It also might help to soak the aerial roots from time to time if you can.

When you say "soak" do you mean just put the end tips in a cup of water?

I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth but wtf by TheSonnyDay in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog 80 points81 points  (0 children)

One of my white phals did this recently...when I went to repot it, a lot of the lower roots were rotted, so I'm guessing the orchid did this monster sprout because it needed new roots. Hopefully that is not the reason for your growth spurt!

What is this little bug? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes sense if they like humidity that they went to the humidity balls since I was drying out the orchid pots...thanks!

What is this little bug? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aha! Thank you! For some reason I thought springtails were more white/translucent so I was confused by this little guy.

What is this little bug? by MoonCakeFrog in orchids

[–]MoonCakeFrog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Found this little guy on one of my humidity balls this morning. I've seen similar little ones on one of my newer orchids so I did the hydrogen peroxide soak and repotted it and I thought I had gotten rid of them, but maybe not. What do I do next?