Desperate to save mature Phal orchid

[camille1585]

Hi Ellzeena, I would follow Ray's advice, that procedure can work quite well to save rootless or nearly rootless Phals. I've done it minus the Kelpmax, and with love and lots of patience the plant eventually puts out new roots. Ray answers your question about watering: whenever the medium gets dry. The plastic bag is to maintain humidity around the plant to limit water loss from the leaves. You want to slow the plant's transpiration rate since it doesn't have the necessary roots to take up and replace the water leaving the plant.

The roots a plant puts out are all the same, it is us humans who call them air roots or not based on whether or not they grow into the medium. You can gently guide them into the pot as they grow.

The dead ancient stem can be cut, there's no harm in it. On old Phals I generally remove the section which has no live roots attached to it and leave everything above that point.

Please do try to take a photo. Even if you can't focus up close, a general photo of the plant will already speak a thousand words and help a lot.