Help me not to kill this phal (and avoid stem rot?)

[Pollicino]

Hi!
I'm back asking for help again.
I've always been afraid of mini phals, they seem so frail...
However, around Christmas, I bought this guy at Ikea. I couldn't resist!
Unfortunately, I'm a little concerned about its health. There's some blackness around the lower leaves and a few days ago it dropped the second-to-last and the third-to-last buds. At the same time, the roots seem happy to me.
So here are my questions:

• what kind of soil is this? Peat? Should I repot it ASAP? Now I prefer to repot my phals *after a while*, once I'm sure they are growing new roots. But this time I can't understand what's going on with this guy
• the black spot around the lower leaves, is it stem beginning to rot?
• the lower leaf showing mechanical damage, should I remove it once I repot the phal?

Thank you so much!

[estación seca]

What are your temperatures? The potting material may be coconut fiber.

[Pollicino]

Originally Posted by estación seca

What are your temperatures? The potting material may be coconut fiber.

20-21° both day and night. Under artificial light. 9 hours photo period.

[Shadeflower]

yes all Ikea mini phals need to be removed from the peat plug asap.

Usually they have already done damage sitting in the shop but if you are lucky it won't be too bad and if you remove it now it will likely not kill it, just set it back while it regrows some roots.

Repot it in your media of choice, bark would be good. Keep the stem area exposed to air (before repotting with tweezers try to remove any dead leaf surrounding the stem to let it breathe and be exposed to air. That will stem any infection if there is one. These Ikea phals just suffer from overwatering every time so let it dry out a bit and keep watering it regularly. It should bounce back. I've got a couple myself, one is in much better condition than the other but I think I left mine in the peat too long, can't remember exactly but I do remember the roots looking terrible once I did (all nice and green looking on outside of pot and a black mess surrounding the stem)

[Pollicino]

Thank you!
Do you suggest applying a fungicide?
Or does it depend on what I find when I unpot it?

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by Pollicino

Thank you!
Do you suggest applying a fungicide?
Or does it depend on what I find when I unpot it?

Yes, it depends on what you find. I tend to never treat for something that isn't there. Just a repot should be sufficient at this point. Remember to presoak your new bark before making the switch. And it won't hurt this plant to be bare root for a day or two.

[Shadeflower]

take a pic of what you find. Most of the times letting it breathe and dry will help it tremendously. I haven't got that much experience using fungicide or which to use but it needs to come out of that plug, then you can evaluate how it looks once it's dried a bit.

[Pollicino]

Thank you, you're my orchid angels! Here I'm... with good news!





The roots are definitely not affected, I haven't cut out a single one, and I hope the intervention didn't.... upset the little guy here. Fingers crossed!

I only removed the older leaf, the broken one. I think that there were *two* spikes coming out from below it, ripping it open. However, one of these two spikes was cut, as I found only the stump. Another spike was also cut from the other side. Is this a common thing? They did so to make it produce more flowers on the "main" spike?

Regarding the blackness around the stem... I'm still concerned about this:






Will it lose another leaf?

Regarding the repotting, I like danger... and I was thinking of leaving it half-bare-rooted for a while... now it's sitting in an empty glass... I could just add some moss and wait to see...
I'm not eager to repot in my usual moss + bark mix, as I've run out of good bark. The one I was able to find is so low quality... that watering it is like trying to water the feathers of a goose

[Roberta]

Leaving it out of medium to dry a bit will do no harm and may do some good. Those roots look good. You'd want to let them dry to the point where they look silvery before watering again. Phals do like "humid air" rather than "wet".

[Shadeflower]

It looks in good shape.
Get some substrate. Keep the roots hydrated as they dry so spray regularly as they turn silvery. While it is flowering keep it well hydrated but yours is in much better condition than the ones I got. Should be no setback.