Unresponsive phal
 

Hello all, I am new here, have visited before looking for information but now I have a problem I'm not sure how to solve.

I bought a phalaenopsis Orchid in march and made the mistake of not repotting right away. I left it go until the end of may and found it had root rot and some kind of black coloring to the joints on the roots and bottom of the crown(I think it would be called the crown). I removed all the dead roots, left the ones that felt firm and repotted in bark. None of the roots had healthy tips, they were black and ragged. The leaves however were green and firm

Besides this plant, I have 4 other phals, all have shown some kind of growth activity since april and are still growing. Two were repotted at the same time I repotted the problem phal and did not seam bothered by the repotting. But now I am concerned, all my plants are working on new leaves and most have new roots, but not this one.

I repotted it again today, to get a good look at its roots, there seams to be no new rot, but no growth at all. One of the lower leaves has started to wrinkle and go soft, the other three are fine. I have been fertilizing all my phals the same (when I remember to do it) so I have not been treating this plant any different. It is getting sticky residue on the underside of the leaves that one of my other phals has, as I understand from reading the forms this means the phal is happy?

I am not sure what to do, or if I should just leave it alone. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

P.s. Will have photos later today... just have to fix them up a bit.

Some pictures of the roots would probably help.

If the roots are firm rather than hollow or mushy then they will be working for you plant however bad they look.

Sometimes they can sulk for quite a long time after having root problems, I have one that took over a year to show signs of recovery and it's still not fully recovered. They can easily have lower leaves wrinkle if the roots are not able to absorb enough water to support them. Don't worry about that too much, as long as you have a couple of leaves and some firm roots and can keep it alive that way then it will eventually get going and grow again.

Thanks RosieC, I was wondering if it may be in some kind of shock, now I have been handling it so much I probably will set it back more.

I think the plant will be a little wetter in it's new bark, I did not like how quickly the bark dried out, 3 days after watering there was no sign of water, but just in case I left it go another day. This time around I am pressure cooking my bark, soaking the bark 24 hours before use seams to have done nothing to better enable the bark to hold water.

I am worried about the black parts, is that just dead material or is it a fungus/bacteria that will cause the plant to rot again? and will it have a chance to take hold again if the plant is a little more moist?

Your phal is thriving. I wont worry too much or fuss too much...you cleaned it and removed the dead roots...root rot is dark almost black due to overwatering...You potted it already and you unpotted it again...let the media go dry...try watering once a week and thats gonna make it live...those phals are tanacious...it will be hard for you to kill it. But you will manage to kill it by overwatering and potting unpotting everyday you feel like it...
I went on a holiday for two weeks without watering my phals...they were still growing roots and leaves when I arrived...

If the black on the roots has not seemed to spread since the first time you repotted then I would not worry. I have some speckles of black on some of my roots. It's not a perfect situation but I don't worry too much when I know the orchid has had some problems. If it's not spreading and the roots are firm then it's best to keep the roots. When it's unpotted you might want to rinse with some listerine mouthwash in the water, then rinse again with plain water.

3 days is quite short for bark holding water. I prefer it being 7 days or less though. Sometimes a recovering phal does better if it's drying fast so you can water more often as phals like water as long as they also have air. However if you are more comfortable with it being towards the week rather than 3 days then it sounds like you are doing the right thing. You have to get the balance at the point both you and the plant are comfortable with.

I agree with Rosie. Plus the plant is still recovering from root rot. And it's nasty stressful on an orchid.

I believe the black parts could be debris but I don't know for sure.

You can always tell when to water when the roots turn a silvery color. I like to keep my chids in clear pots so I can see the roots inside.

Hi your phal looks good to me sounds like you repotted just in time :) if you had to remove alot of dead roots then you might need to consider using a smaller sized pot that way there wont be alot of excess medium staying wet too long encouragin more rot.. keep us updated on progress :)

How often you water depends on where in the US you are. Watering every 3 days seems like a lot to me. I only water once ever 7-10 days depending on how hot is is outside. But I also have mine potted in coconut husk chunks which holds more water longer.

I agree with Asher that it should be in a small pot to accomodate a much smaller root system. Clear pots help a lot when trying to see what's going on down below. You don't have to disturb the root system so often.

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice, I repotted the plant because I did not know what was going on and when the leaf started going limp I feared the worst.

Asher and Quiltergal, the pot in the picture is not the one I am using, I have a three inch pot with a few packing peanuts to eat up space at the bottom because it is a tall pot. I only used the one in the picture because it was the only thing that was sturdy enough to hold the plant up-right for pictures.

Every three days may seam like a lot but my apartment is really dry, if my fish tanks did not have lids I would lose about 1/4 of an inch a day. I think the bark is staring to break down another month or two and I should be down to 5 days. Don't know what it is about apartments, every house I have lived in has been fine but every apartment I have been in has been very dry.