New roots or old ones that didn't get to grow?

[Tolis]

My friend who works for a supermarked that sells phals got this plant for free and gave it to me. There was no ID provided and I've never seen it in bloom. My friend believes it produces white blooms.

This is my hardest rescue as of yet. It's been sitting for at least 3 months in sphagnum moss, in this glass decorative pot with no drainage holes. It had just 3 air roots. One is growing from a spot that a spike would be expected and the other was long and bendy enough to carefully have it sit inside the sphagnum moss. It absored water in a short time frame, don't recall exactly how short though. Nothing weird about the 3rd one. It just lost it's oldest leaf which was about the same size as the other 2 big ones. The small leaves haven't grown at all since I got it and one of them is cracked. I have inveted a bag over it like Ray suggests in so many threads and I'm also using kelpak. It looks like it had an old spike cut off when blooms fell off.

Like the title says, are the growths circled in red new roots or "old-new" roots that failed to grow? both were covered by the recently lost leaf so I've no idea if they were there when I received the plant or not. , let this be a positive sign!

Thanks in advance!

PS. Hopefully I created this in the proper place. If not, moderators, feel free to move it accordingly. Sorry for any trouble.

PS2. Please forgive any mistakes in this text, I am not a native speaker.

[Ray]

It looks to me like the plant began to grow new roots, but conditions were improper to permit it to go on.

As far as my experience goes, they will not begin growing again.

[Tolis]

I started reading about new roots and was starting to feel good about it. Boom there goes a BUT!

That's what I was afraid it was.

Let's give it more time

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Tolis

I started reading about new roots and was starting to feel good about it. Boom there goes a BUT!

That's what I was afraid it was.

Let's give it more time

Patience, patience. Orchids do everything slowly. Progress is measured in months (even for relatively fast-growers like Phalaenopsis) not days or weeks. If one group of roots fails, it very likely will grow more, perhaps more adapted to its environment. Don't rush to change things, sit back and observe.

If you are tempted to mess with it, the solution is to buy some more, to divert your attention.

[Tolis]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Patience, patience.

I don't mind giving it a year if that's what it takes

Originally Posted by Roberta

Don't rush to change things, sit back and observe.

Nope. I am not changing anything. Just water it when I have to and keplak once a month or so.

Originally Posted by Roberta

If you are tempted to mess with it, the solution is to buy some more, to divert your attention.

Wait, you need a reason to buy more more plants?

All kidding aside, I am not buying more plants at the moment, maybe a schilleriana in about 2 months that it will be available to the nursery i deal with.

Here's the reasoning behind my decision: I've enough diversity to see what suits my conditions best. Hybdrids in sphagnum moss, hybrids in bark, phals recovering, etc. I am low on space and my house's orientation is not the best. Also, my house was chosen for a now complete study. Temperatures and humidity were measured for an entire year. I've asked for that data and I should receive it within the rest of the week. I think i'll buy a heating pad next.

[Tolis]

Update: I am losing another leaf but there's a new root coming! yay! it's coming from an area previously covered by the fallen leaf. Will post pictures when the 2nd leaf falls. I don't want to disturb the plant more than I have to.

[Roberta]

New root is good! You have it right, no disturbing, the plant is doing what it needs to do.

[Tolis]

Update #2: As expected we lost another leaf. As a result, I got to manipulate the root that had grown between the 2 leaves (marked with skye blue color) inside the moss. It did green up which should be good news. I am not sure it's worth trying to carefully tuck the other air root inside the moss. It's a lot stiffer than the other one. Also you can see the new root that's growing (marked with red color). I believe the 3rd big leaf is safe for now. Hopefully there's enough time left before colder weather kicks in for a couple more roots and/or a new leaf.

Back to exercising patience!

[Roberta]

Let the new root go where it wants to go... If it wants to be in the air, that is OK. But with fresh moss, its environment is friendly. Remember, orchids do everything sloooowwwly.

[Tolis]

update #3:

Plants have a mind of their own. I would bet good money on that new, healthy roots are needed, but a new leaf has grown instead. It's ~3cm long and ~2cm wide and looks very healthy. It grows steadily which should be a good sign. Looks like the plant needs to photosynthesize. The new root (left side of the stem) that sprouted a month or so ago hasn't grown much since the last update but it still is green. I believe the plant will make it.