Continued problems with root rot on phal after repotting

[orchid_newbie_12]

I'm an orchid newbie so I thank you all for any help you can provide! Also, sorry for this initial story being long but I thought I should try to provide as much information as possible.

I bought a no ID phal from a big box store in November of last year and the flowers lasted through March of this year and the orchid seemed to be doing great! It came potted in a bark mixture in a clear draining pot and I watered thoroughly every week. Placed in a southern/western facing window with blinds because that's all I have in my TX apartment.

After the blooms fell off, I thought I should repot after having read that the big box orchids should be repotted after blooming. Looks like I was wrong and the orchid roots were very healthy and the media wasn't broken down, but I repotted also into another coarse bark mixture (mixed with charcoal and perlite). The orchid originally had two spikes so I cut one all the way back and the other halfway back hoping it would bloom again.

Then, a month later, the spike I left started to brown and I noticed a bunch of very very small white bugs (which I think were springtails) that I thought indicated rot. I unpotted and now almost all of the previously healthy roots were now rotting! I cut all of those off, leaving maybe 3 short 1 inch nubs and 2 long-ish roots which were mostly healthy but had some dark spots (but still firm so I didn't cut those parts off - hoping to save some roots for my poor orchid). I repotted in new mix in a smaller container (a very small plastic cup with holes in the bottom and slits cut in the sides). I up-ed the humidity by placing in a larger vase with water in the bottom but obviously not letting it sit in the water.

After awhile, the orchid lost 4 big leaves (it originally had 6), but started growing 2 new leaves. However, I haven't noticed any new roots, and when I look through the clear cup, I can see that the original roots are still rotting.

What do I do now? Should I repot again and essentially cut off the only roots the orchid has left?

Any advice would be much appreciated! It's my first orchid so it has a little sentimental value for me and I would love to be able to save it.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Are you watering once a week or are you watering more than once a week?

If you are watering more than once a week, how often are you watering?

Do you let the pot sit in water?

How big were the pots?

Did you pull any bark media off the roots when they were stuck onto them?

Do you have pics?

[camille1585]

If you managed to keep the plant in perfect health between november spring repotting, then you were doing good culture wise. Did you use the same pot, or put it in a larger one? Any other info you can give is great.

If there are more dead roots then cut them, they aren't doing the plant any good anyway. If only part of a root is dead, cut half an inch above the rotten part and seal the cut with powered cinnamon if you have some.

[orchid_newbie_12]

Thanks for the advice! When the orchid was healthy and immediately after the first repotting I was watering once a week. After it went into the smaller pot I had to water more often, once every 4 days or so (watered when the roots looked silvery). I did not let the pots sit in water, and I believe the original pot was 5 inch diameter or so. The first repot was into the same pot since I did cut a few roots, but it was kind of difficult to fit everything in and in hindsight I probably should have used a bigger pot. When I repotted after the orchid lost most of its roots, it went into a 3 inch diameter plastic cup (like the kind that come with office water coolers) with multiple holes and slits cut in. I did pull all bark media off of the roots.

[orchid_newbie_12]

I also did go ahead and take the plant out yesterday and realized that I was right and that it had lost pretty much all of the longer roots and now only has 3 stubs left. I did notice something bright green coming out of one of the roots... a new root maybe?!

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the roots when they were healthy, I only thought to take the pictures once I was having problems.

Pic 1: Healthy Orchid
Pic 2: After noticing droopy leaves and bugs in the media, unpotted and found this. I had already trimmed a lot of the roots, but there are still some rotted one left (like the brown one in the middle)
Pic 3: In the 3'' diameter small cup with slits cut in the side. I tried to preserve as much root as possible so if only a portion of the root was dead I cut away to the string but didn't cut through the string.
Pic 4: My set-up to increase humidity. Not pretty, I know.
Pic 5: Taken yesterday. Is the green thing a new root? Most of the long root on the right side was dead and I cut it away. Also lost the root that was attached by the string on the left side.
Pic 6: What's left. I removed all of the dead leaf tissue and as much black as I could. Dunked it in Physan 20 and now I have just 3 small nubs left plus a small section attached by a string.

[orchid_newbie_12]

I forgot one of the captions:
Pic 7 is the original cup cut in half to hold the remaining roots. I don't have anything smaller unfortunately, does it look very overpotted?

Do you think my poor orchid is going to make it?

I'm also curious if the dark edge on the new leaf is okay (see pic 7), and if there's anything I should do differently. I'm planning on also putting a clear plastic bag loosely over the whole set-up to try to make a mini-greenhouse.

[Magnus A]

For the black on picture 7 it is very hard to tell as the glare in the leaf mess things up. Are the area mushy or firm? if firm, no problem at this point, if mushy,you could have crown rot...

Fot the roots it seem that there are a new on it´s way but the picture is not perfect, I though can not se anything else looking like that.

To save it you need to disturb the roots as little as possibly, If you can find spagnum moss plant it firmly in that. But do not overwater, just keap the moss moist and let it dry before next moisturizing of the moss. Put a finger into the moss center just around the roots so you can feel the moist.

If you take spagnum and press out all water you can with your hands you will end up in the perfect moisturized spagnum. It should not be more water in it than that.

You also need to secure the plant in some way so it does not wobble. If not, the roots will constantly be disturbed and damage by the plants movement.
If no spagnum moss, plant in bark mix but make sure the plant is firmly secured in some way so the roots is not damage. Water as normal by letting it dry up in between watering.

Good luck