Possible sign of salt burn on Phal?

[Roberta]

If you don't have air pockets in your medium, it may be great for the meter but it's very bad for the roots. Epiphytic orchids want "humid air", not "wet" around their roots. You need to have a more open medium. Water well, let it run through the pot, then let it dry for a few days. (Phals don't want to go bone dry, but should oscillate between "wet" and "a bit damp".) As the water evaporates, it is replaced by AIR... which is what the roots need. The wet-damp cycle should occur within a few days, so that you are watering something like twice a week to maintain that.

[Nicolasdperez]

All done. Surprisingly, there was minimal rotting and some active root growth. Only strange thing I could notice on the roots were some black spots. (Is that what salt burn damage appears as?) I potted it in charcoal I made, I have been having success with it so far so hopefully this goes well.

[Roberta]

The black spots on the roots are no big deal... those happen all the time.

Phals are not particularly salt-sensitive - they are fine even with rather hard water. Unless you're really over-doing the fertilizer, I would doubt that "salt burn" is the issue. (I know people who grow Phals just fine with water that has a TDS of 500 ppm or even more and a pH of around 8.5 - lots of calcium carbonate)

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Nicolasdperez

All done. Surprisingly, there was minimal rotting and some active root growth. Only strange thing I could notice on the roots were some black spots. (Is that what salt burn damage appears as?) I potted it in charcoal I made, I have been having success with it so far so hopefully this goes well.

Nico ----- charcoal will be just fine.

If you can get away with not using moss in your region, then there is the benefit of having a bit more certainty about what's happening in the media at various times.

In my tropical region here, humidity is generally ok ----- and I can get away with growing phals in volcanic rock/scoria. In my pic link here ----- all I have to do is to mainly put some water at some distance away from the plant (most of the time) ----- and there's enough moisture/humidity to allow the phal to grow nicely just like that. You can even see that some of the media is dry-looking closer-in toward the orchid. It doesn't necessarily need to be like that all the time. But - what I found is that ----- the phals have absolutely no trouble growing like that in the tropics here. The only thing I got to watch out for are spider mites.

I only provide relatively weak fertiliser and mag-cal once a month. Other growers have their own schedules, which also work nicely for them.

Help me save this root and stem rotted Phalaenopsis

[Nicolasdperez]

That’s what I figured. I had never seen them before so I was just making sure.

---------- Post added at 07:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 PM ----------

Thank you once again for your help

---------- Post added at 08:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:33 PM ----------

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Nico ----- charcoal will be just fine.

If you can get away with not using moss in your region, then there is the benefit of having a bit more certainty about what's happening in the media at various times.

In my tropical region here, humidity is generally ok ----- and I can get away with growing phals in volcanic rock/scoria. In my pic link here ----- all I have to do is to mainly put some water at some distance away from the plant (most of the time) ----- and there's enough moisture/humidity to allow the phal to grow nicely just like that. You can even see that some of the media is dry-looking closer-in toward the orchid. It doesn't necessarily need to be like that all the time. But - what I found is that ----- the phals have absolutely no trouble growing like that in the tropics here. The only thing I got to watch out for are spider mites.

I only provide relatively weak fertiliser and mag-cal once a month. Other growers have their own schedules, which also work nicely for them.

Help me save this root and stem rotted Phalaenopsis

Yes, I completely agree. I originally liked moss since I thought it would be convenient to not have to water so often. However, experience has shown me that it is just easier to have a well draining mix because as you said there is “more certainty about what’s happening”. My conditions may require me to water more often as they are more dry than yours, however I think it should work out just fine. Thank you for all of your input and advice

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I wouuldn't push the light. The first photos could be heat damage if it got any direct sun.

This hybrid is 75% Phal pulcherrima, which is a primarily terrestrial/lithophyte species which takes a lot more light that most Phals, with some populations growing in full sun. Bright indirect light, (and even short amounts of direct sun) should be fine for this hybrid.