The Saddest Orchid Alive...or Dead? - Orchid Board

sealion · #1 03-17-2013, 08:37 AM

Hello all,

I have a phal. It is my first and only orchid. I neglected it pretty badly. It was in far too cold a temperature, exposed to too much sun at one point and too much water also. It had no growth for the last year and a half. It had about 8 leaves. I checked the roots and most of them were rotting or hollow. I cut most of them off. The bottom leaf had turned completely yellow. The next leaf was going spongy and watery at the base of the leaf. It wasn't looking good.

I had it suspended over wet orchid bark and was spraying it with Orchid Myst.

Long story short, the orchid ended up with 3 leaves and one and a half roots. Then 2 leaves and one root. The last 2 leaves started to shrivel and turn yellow and just last night...they came away from what is left of the orchid which is now just a dried up stump and one green root.

What can I say? Is there any hope? What can a green root do with a dried up stump? It's like the heart is still there but there's no brain to pump blood to.

What do you guys think? I was thinking of getting some keiki paste for the root in the hopes that it might sprout a baby but is that even possible? I'll try anything to bring it back to life and really, at this stage, I've not much left to lose!

I'd post pictures, but I'm new here

I can't wait to show you guys though, it's so abysmal, it's kinda funny and I want to hear what you all think. I've read threads about lots of dying orchids but none have been as bad as this sorry case, in my opinion :P

Rowangreen · #2 03-17-2013, 09:43 AM

If you've got time, read the 'The Phal Abuse Ends Here' thread: lots of info in there.

You said you had it suspended over moss? Does that mean the roots were bare? If so that would probably be quite good. It sounds though like maybe you were still managing to get it too wet! If you had it leaves up and were misting it lots then water resting in the crown/leaves could have caused them to rot. In nature phals hang sideways and down so water doesn't gather in the crown.

I'm also wondering if you overdid the fertilizer.

It's difficult to say if the orchid still has a chance without a photo, but probably not. There's a chance something will grow from the base if it's still alive, but not from the roots.

If you want to give it a little longer, then I'd try and get water just on the root, and let it dry and go silvery between waterings. I wouldn't use fertilizer every watering. If it does re-grow it's likely to be a year or two before it's healthy again.

sealion · #3 03-17-2013, 09:57 AM

Hi Rowangreen. Thanks for your reply.

I had it suspended over wet bark and the root was bare. But I was letting the root soak in water for some time every night because it made the root swell and gave me some hope. I'm pretty sure I excelerated the crown rot by doing that. This has all been in a matter of a few weeks. The crown is now light and dried up looking with no promise of life at all. Apart from the one green root, it looks very dead.

I've seen pictures of a keiki growing from the root of a Phal. I think that's probably my only hope, other than trying to encourage more root growth from the one remaining root.

Cym Ladye · #4 03-17-2013, 12:21 PM

Sealion,

We can get information from many sources as we start our orchid hobby but we learn best from experience, and some of it may not be successful. My advice is to hold a "farewell service" for your plant, thoroughly read the aforementioned sticky on Phals, buy a healthy new plant and do not replicate what you did with the first one.

Good Luck and welcome to the OB,

Cym Ladye

Ordphien · #5 03-17-2013, 02:40 PM

hmm...
One if my neglected phals that got stuck in a dark wet corner did this same thing..
It was down to 5 small roots.
I noticed it and moved it and decided, what the heck, and watered and fertilized along with the rest of my phals.
It's currently pushing out a basal keiki.
So there might be hope.
On the other hand phals are difficult to save.
I would do what cym lady said and purchase a nice healthy plant.

But keep the other one around and see if it surprises you

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Leafmite · #6 03-17-2013, 03:01 PM

I also vote for a new orchid. It will console you and now that you are learning how to care for them, it will thrive for you. Even better, you will enjoy pretty new blooms! Walmart will be getting rid of those dyed green phals now that St. Patty's day is over....

sealion · #7 03-17-2013, 04:39 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll try and accept that it is gone and get a new plant...but I won't throw it away just yet

My mother threw out an orchid a while back when the flowers fell off. She didn't know it could flower again. I brought it back into the house, cut most of the roots off as they were rotting, fed and watered it. It has thrived since! It grew lots of new roots, 2 new leaves and bloomed last year. It still has flowers on it right now!

I was hoping I could perform the same miracle on my own orchid

I'm interested to see what the root will do since it is supplying water and nutrients to pretty much nothing! I'll post pictures here when I can. It's pretty interesting looking.

sealion · #8 03-17-2013, 04:58 PM

Here we go. Some pictures of what I'm talking about

isurus79 · #9 03-17-2013, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sealion

Here we go. Some pictures of what I'm talking about

Oh ya, that's dead.

sealion · #10 03-17-2013, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isurus79

Oh ya, that's dead.

It sure looks like it! The crown, if you can still call it that, is all dried up. That one root is strange though. It'll probably just shrivel up from the top down to the tip.