Need help with my dying water culture phal orchid!

[Brooke_Orchids]

I have a mini phal orchid and noticed that one of its top leaves were wrinkling. It doesn’t have many roots so I tried water culture hearing that it helps suffering orchids get better. I put my phal in water culture and it just got worse! The other leaves got more wrinkly and limp but I don’t know what to do as I am a beginner orchid grower and the bark didn’t work. Please help me save my orchid I don’t know what to do!

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board.

Water culture doesn't work well, especially at the temperatures most people keep our houses. Phals are warm growing plants. Water culture tends to be a very poor way to rescue plants in bad shape unless it's very warm - like 80-85 degrees F.

Go to Forums in the left yellow menu. Pick Beginners. Near the top is a sticky thread, The Phal abuse stops here. You can read there how to rescue your orchid.

[estación seca]

Hi Brooke,

You've made three identical posts in three different threads. It would have been better had you just made one post in one thread. I've addressed your question in another thread. It is likely the moderators will consolidate your threads into just one.

[Brooke_Orchids]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board.

Water culture doesn't work well, especially at the temperatures most people keep our houses. Phals are warm growing plants. Water culture tends to be a very poor way to rescue plants in bad shape unless it's very warm - like 80-85 degrees F.

Go to Forums in the left yellow menu. Pick Beginners. Near the top is a sticky thread, The Phal abuse stops here. You can read there how to rescue your orchid.

Sorry I didn’t really know what I was doing or if anyone would even reply so I posted to a few forums. I didn’t find anything on phal abuse stops here. If I repot it, it’ll probably still have limp and wrinkly leaves. I still have no idea what to do, I guess I’m just not good with orchids thanks

[estación seca]

If you look to the left yellow menu, select Forums. Look for the Beginners forum. Near the top of that forum is a sticky thread, The Phal abuse stops here.

[LizB88]

Originally Posted by Brooke_Orchids

Sorry I didn’t really know what I was doing or if anyone would even reply so I posted to a few forums. I didn’t find anything on phal abuse stops here. If I repot it, it’ll probably still have limp and wrinkly leaves. I still have no idea what to do, I guess I’m just not good with orchids thanks

Welcome to Orchid Board!
Now don't get discouraged by not knowing, we have all being there. Do you have pictures of your plant? Also as stated before, there is a sticky note that it is very helpful in the care of phals.
My advice for your plan is to put it on of humid moss and maybe in a base, tide it to a flowering stick so it does not directly sit or lay on the moss and just keep the humidity up on it, keep it in a warm spot with indirect light, keep the crown dry and hope that will aid in producing roots. Now keep in mind that orchids are very slow to grow and even slow to die, but once they are on the way out it sometimes too late to do much about it, at least it has being my experience with phals.

When you go to forums, click on beginners, "the phal abuse stops here" is the 10th tread from the top.

And don't be afraid to get another orchid loosing some is part of the learning process.

[Brooke_Orchids]

Originally Posted by LizB88

Welcome to Orchid Board!
Now don't get discouraged by not knowing, we have all being there. Do you have pictures of your plant? Also as stated before, there is a sticky note that it is very helpful in the care of phals.
My advice for your plan is to put it on of humid moss and maybe in a base, tide it to a flowering stick so it does not directly sit or lay on the moss and just keep the humidity up on it, keep it in a warm spot with indirect light, keep the crown dry and hope that will aid in producing roots. Now keep in mind that orchids are very slow to grow and even slow to die, but once they are on the way out it sometimes too late to do much about it, at least it has being my experience with phals.

When you go to forums, click on beginners, "the phal abuse stops here" is the 10th tread from the top.

And don't be afraid to get another orchid loosing some is part of the learning process.

Wow thanks! I didn’t think I’d get noticed or get any help, I was just about to give up! I’ll definitely try the moss and yes I have pictures! The first one is what the top leaf looked like when it was potted in bark the rest of them is my orchid currently. Thanks again for all your help!

[Roberta]

Brooke -
First, Welcome. I combined posts and cleaned up the duplicates. So I think we're good here...

Those roots don't look all that bad to me. Do they turn green when they are wet? If so, it may just be underwatering. If they don't turn green, they may be not as good as they look in the photo in which case, follow the advice here, Either way, don't be alarmed if the leaves don't stiffen up.. they often don't. (Not like a houseplant or garden plant that perks up right away when watered) But if you give it the environment that it wants (humid if possible, and warm) with both air and moisture around the roots, it is very likely to put out a new leaf (that is nice and firm) and new roots. Be patient, though... the process may take several months. But at least form the photos, I'd suspect that it is quite save-able. You're getting good advice here.

[Ray]

None of those roots are actively growing, which suggests underwatering to me, as well.

Watering is probably the trickiest part of orchid culture for a new grower to understand, and many fall into the (myth) trap that orchids must dry out between waterings to avoid root rot, so end up keeping them entirely too dry. Water does not cause root rot.

[Brooke_Orchids]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Brooke -
First, Welcome. I combined posts and cleaned up the duplicates. So I think we're good here...

Those roots don't look all that bad to me. Do they turn green when they are wet? If so, it may just be underwatering. If they don't turn green, they may be not as good as they look in the photo in which case, follow the advice here, Either way, don't be alarmed if the leaves don't stiffen up.. they often don't. (Not like a houseplant or garden plant that perks up right away when watered) But if you give it the environment that it wants (humid if possible, and warm) with both air and moisture around the roots, it is very likely to put out a new leaf (that is nice and firm) and new roots. Be patient, though... the process may take several months. But at least form the photos, I'd suspect that it is quite save-able. You're getting good advice here.

The roots do turn green when wet. But if it’s getting moisture properly, I don’t understand why the leaves would get so wrinkly. I ordered sphagnum moss to see if that will help, I’ll put it back in bark until it arrives. I’ll be patient during the months and hope it gets better, thank you!

---------- Post added at 10:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

None of those roots are actively growing, which suggests underwatering to me, as well.

Watering is probably the trickiest part of orchid culture for a new grower to understand, and many fall into the (myth) trap that orchids must dry out between waterings to avoid root rot, so end up keeping them entirely too dry. Water does not cause root rot.

Maybe everything looks under watered because the roots are damaged and can’t get moisture? I just don’t know which roots are good and which ones are not, I’ll put it in moss