My mini phals keep loosing their roots to root rot

[lindasbabies]

I haven’t posted in awhile and I’m sorry for that but I’m having a problem with my two mini phals. They are potted in 3 inch plastic slotted pots, in bark from repotme.com. I’ve had one of them for a year, the other I got a few weeks ago and it has two flower spikes with beautiful blooms. I’ve been battling root rot with the first one ever since I got it. It will grow roots then they will rot then regrow them then they rot again. The second one I repotted as soon as I got it because it was in a moss plugg. I potted it in bark. It now has lost all it roots. What am I doing wrong?? This is so frustrating! My big phals are doing great. Thanks for any help you can give.

---------- Post added at 04:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:22 PM ----------

I keep them in a southern window. The temp is 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit on any given day and humidity is around 47%.

[Phalaenoptics]

Hi Linda!

I'm new here but I'm interested in this thread. As a beginner in the orchid hobby myself, I understand that there is lots of confusing information out there, especially when it comes to understanding what root rot actually is!

Could you post some pictures?

[lindasbabies]

I will try to in about an hour because I have Bible study right now.

[rbarata]

Photos would be great but something tells me that is not root rot but dying due to low humidity/underwatering.
Post some photos, please.

[lindasbabies]

Okay, going to post pictures now but it will take me a minute

[lindasbabies]

The first two pictures are of mini phal #1. The next 2 pics are of mini phal #2 which is in bloom and is my most recent purchase.

[lindasbabies]

I water these mini phals every 3 days and I soak them for several minutes then dump out the water. I also fertilize a couple times a month

[estación seca]

The first one looks fine. The second one has wrinkled older leaves and non-wrinkled newer leaves. That means it was badly dessicated before, but has been recovering. The roots don't look that bad. It's flowering, which again suggests the roots weren't that bad.

When you say the roots rotted, what did you see? Your plants don't look like plants with rotten roots.

[lindasbabies]

I already removed the dark mushy parts so you can’t see them but they were dark and mushy. That was several days ago and I’ve been watering them every 3 days because the one with the wrinkled leaves looked dehydrated but no matter how much I water it the leaves don’t look and better. Now the other one that looks fine still lost a lot of new roots from the last time I checked it several months ago.

---------- Post added at 12:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 AM ----------

The first one only has hair like roots that were left after I removed the dark mushy empty outside. It only has one good root under the potting media and two dried out air roots

---------- Post added at 12:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 AM ----------

For the second one, it does have some roots but they are dark and look like they are starting to rot and it doesn’t have any air roots.

---------- Post added at 12:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:20 AM ----------

The second one almost looks like some of the roots are drying out.

[camille1585]

For the second, recently purchased one, since it was in moss the roots may have already been on their way out depending on how it was watered before you bought it. How were the roots when you repotted it? Phals transitioning from sphag to bark generally need a higher watering frequency at first (not keeping them wet, but just slightly damper than usual), since they are used to more humid root conditions.

For the first one that you've had longer, you are either underwatering or overwatering. Given your watering frequency and northernly location/temps, I would guess overwatering, but slotted pots do dry out faster.

How large is your bark?
How do you determine when they need water?

Watering very frequently when leaves look dehydrated is counter productive and ultimately makes the problem worse since the substrate has no time to dry out and can rot the roots. Dehydrated/wrinkled Phal leaves don't bounce back quickly, it takes several weeks or months fro them to smooth out again and they often never completely return to their normal state.

The best course of action (in my experience) is to give them a long soak at each watering and then try to water when they need it (roots turning silver), which could be as little as once every 7-10 days at those temps.

You could also give them a boost by giving them higher humidity for a couple weeks/months, by placing them (potted) in a large clear bag or small aquarium, out of direct light. Phals react generally rather well to this treatment.