Partial root rot on Phalaenopsis after repotting

[Phaldenvan876]

Hi Everyone!

I am an Orchid beginner (I have a collection of 6) and new to the Orchid Board forum. So happy that there is a community like this so thanks in advance to you all.

I am worried, because I have a spectacular Phalaenopsis that I received about 3 weeks ago and it's not doing so well.

When I just received it, I realized it was potted with rocks only at the bottom and then A LOT of only sphagnum moss in the top half of the pot. The first time I watered it, I noticed how saturated and compact the moss was and it made me worry about root rot.

So I repotted it in a mixture of sphagnum moss, bark and small rocks. While repotting I noticed that there were quite a few roots already rotting. I cut them away and hoped for the best for the remaining roots.

Now this week the orchid took a big fall! It lost 2 leaves and took a serious hit to the stem, which became mushy. When it fell, the potting media fell out and I saw more rotting roots! It seems as if they are just dying off one by one!

I sprayed the mushy part of the stem with H2O2 3%, dried it and applied cinnamon to the open wounds. The roots that are now left confuse me because ALL of them are plump and firm in parts and rotten and mushy in parts. For eg. Rotten at the top, healthy from about a half an inch down to the end of the root. Or healthy for 3 inches, rotten for half an inch and then healthy to the end.

Does this mean that the healthy portions of roots are actually absorbing anything? Or anything from the rotten part to the end is useless? It has healthy aerial roots but I don't want to have to cut the potted roots all off and the leaves are showing signs of dehydration.

Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much!