What to do when you messed up things 😂

[OpticAardvark74]

Hello!
About month ago, I've bought one phalaenopsis orchid that then was starting to blooms... Somewhere I read that when your orchid's roots turn silver, it's time for watering... Few weeks later, roots started to be brown at top, near corp of plant, but not squishy...Okay, it is probably started to rot, so, what now? Other strings of roots are fine, but a few are turning brown. Leaves seems fine, but flowers not so... There are some burgeons, but they don't blossom... What to do now, to go ahead with watering, to start, or to probably add some fertiliser?

[Paphluvr]

Water quality will sometimes turn the roots brown but not kill them. If they are still plump they are probably OK. If you've had the plant for a month the flower failure may be normal.

[WaterWitchin]

Welcome to Orchid Board. It almost sounds like you haven't watered it yet. If not, yes, start. Also your humidity may not be high enough. And you don't say what media it's in. Those are all questions to be answered before you get meaningful replies... otherwise it's just a guessing game.

I would also give friendly advice to edit your post and remove the strong language. This isn't the type of board to use it.

[Ray]

Adding fertilizer isn't going to fix anything.

[camille1585]

Welcome to orchidboard! Sorry that it's an orchid disaster which brought you here.

I've edited the title of the thread to remove the strong language since that can only be done by mods (and maybe forum supporters).

Like the others have said, more information about how you grow the plant is needed.

[Mountaineer370]

It's not all that unusual for some of the older roots at the top of a Phalaenopsis to become brown and/or a little hard and woody. But, without the additional information mentioned by a couple of others here, it's really hard for us to know what is going on with your particular plant. What type of material is it potted in? Did you repot it after you bought it? Does the pot have adequate drainage and air flow? How often have you been watering it since you got it? If it's the case that you have not watered it in the month since you got it, that could be a big part of the problem.

[Swimmingorchids]

Personally if it was me I would repot it in my own media.

Shops selling you an orchid will use the cheapest they can the orchid will survive in. Usually enough time for them to sell it without it rotting. Chances are without further action after buying the plant the roots will start to rot.

So what media do shops use?

-bark
-moss
-coconut fiber

All of these media will eventually promote rot although bark is the best and can last a couple of years.

what other media can be used? Perlite, charcoal, growstones, clay pebbles, volcanic rock, seramis.

These are very good media for preventing root rot - however there is a catch - they are very airy and dry out much faster than coconut fiber or moss so need to be watered much more frequently.

A good compromise is to use a moist media combined with an airy media so the most preferred is a mix of bark and perlite and maybe a tiny bit of moss for water retention.

If your plant is potted in bark, I would take out the bark, mix in some perlite and reuse that.

If in coconut fiber I would bin the lot and get some orchid bark from the shop.

As to the brown roots I would soak the roots in a preventative fungicidal soak made of hydrogen peroxide. You can buy 3% solutions at a pharmacy, dilute that down to 0.3% (so 1 part HP to 9 parts plain water).

The plant should most likely recover fine after that.

[aliceinwl]

There’s no need to do a peroxide soak: it damages the roots as much as, if not more than, any fungus.

Pictures and information about how you’re growing it would really help diagnose the issue or lack there of.