Phal with only one root left - needs saving

[LuizaG]

I recieved a phalaenopsis as a present and had no idea how to care for it and my flat does not have proper conditions for an orchid. It ended up with roten roots and wrinkled leafs and flowers started to fall also some little bugs inside the medium.

I got new medium (medium grade bark), soaked it for a couple of hours and got the plant out of the old medium. I cut off almost all roots as they were roted - only one longer, a very small new one and a part of one that had it's roten tip cut off were left. I cut off the spikes. Rinsed the roots, left them to dry out and planted in a pot of the same size in which I made lots of holes for ventilation. Most probably it needed a much smaller pot for only one long root left. I repoted it about 4 weeks ago, kept watering it properly since then about every 4 days. And since there is no place in the house for it it ended up on a south-east facing windowsill with the need to place a sheet of semiopaque baking paper in the window when the sun is up. Ventilation is present at all times as even when the windows are closed they dont close properly anyway. The little root grew a bit, the tip of the long root became green but they are growing sooo slow. Is that normal? The orchid also had a new leaf that started to wrinkle too but not as bad as the other. The leaf grew a bit to sart with but doesn't seem to get any bigger. I mist it every morning, not sure if that helps it with anything.

Reading the forum here I found out about liquid seaweed and bought some. I diluted it at third of the strenght recomended and watered with that the last watering. Also reading here I saw about rooting hormone and aplied a bit on the tips of the roots. Hope this is not a dissaster. Also to protect from any tempted bugs I sprayed a few days ago with a 1% solution of neem oil.

Not sure what else I could do besides finding a good fertiliser orientated for growts reather than flowering. Do you have any suggestions? Am I doing anything wrong as it seams to be stagnating? Would the green tips on the roots, even if they grow very slow, indicate that there is still hope?

Here are some photos:

Picasa Web Albums - ChristiLuiza - Orchid


Luiza