Miltonia - Browning of Root Ball

[Callie]

I think I might have killed this Miltonia and would like some help figuring out what I did so I can be sure not to make the same mistake again! Since there were two separate "root balls" I've repotted the one that shows very minimal of this brown "rot" and am hoping for the best.

Could this be due to overwatering? The problem is that the second root ball showed signs early on of pleating leaves which I read is due to lack of watering.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[philoserenus]

pleating doesnt always mean lack of watering. it just means the plant is not getting enough water somehow.

either (1) u dont give it enough water (aka. underwatering) or (2) the plant itself is unable to take up water (due to root loss). in ur case, i'm thinking the ladder--roots werent doing too well and then u just overwatered thinking u're not watering enough, which just furthered the prob.

savable or not, that i do not know. gonna need some other expert advice

[Phantasm]

The reason the leaves are pleated is that the roots are rotted, probably due to the potting mix breaking down. If the roots are just brown, they are most likely dead. I would get rid of the rotted portions of the plant, repot and give it fresh mix and keep evenly moist.

Miltonias require a lot of water so the mix breaks down quickly. They need annual repotting, otherwise they go downhill quickly.