Orchid sitting in water root rot

[Mike Conowingo]

Hello all as the title states. We have an orchid I bought from Home Depot. We at some point over watered it and it has been sitting for some time in water. Yesterday,When I lifted the plant out there was smelly dark water. I then emptied the plant and material and began to trim the mushy rotten roots.

For growing medium i realize this will have some feedback. I went and got pine bark from standing dead on my property. I baked it in the oven at 275 for 3+ hours. After I broke it up into smaller pieces and boiled it for 20 mins. Flushed that with cold water and soaked for an hour. Replanted after drilling vent holes into plastic container. After I let it dry some and replanted I made a very lite fertilizer mix.

Today we set the plant outside under a bench out of the sun and I just brought it back in and took some pictures. I will continue to monitor and look for problems with the plant and the growing medium. Should I let it completely dry out or keep it damp. Right now the top 1/3 layer is dry and bottom 2/3 seems damp.

I don't have any pics of before tonight to show damage . I tried to upload pictures but seems something went wrong.

Any advice for picture uploading? Thanks for any and all advice
Mike

[estación seca]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Frequently people need to post 5 messages before they can post photos. Photo instructions are here: From the left yellow menu choose Forums then About this forum. Near the top is a sticky thread on posting photos. OB runs on old software so it's not as easy to use as some.

Do you know what kind of an orchid it is? Look up photos of Phalaenopsis, Oncidium, Debrobium, Paphiopedilum and Cattleya orchids for a few hints. They have somewhat different care requirements. Some need shade and others more sun. They have different ideal temperature requirements.

What you have done so far is probably fine. We need to know what kind it is before offering more advice.

[Mike Conowingo]

The orchid is a Phalaenopsis. I have the original tag and states it is a mystique series.

From what I read it's is put through a process before it blooms to color it. Not sure if it's a dye they water it with or inject into the bud? The orchid should produce white flowers on the rest of its blooming cycles.

[Ray]

Mike, there are two concepts in play here.

One is mastering the ability to get water AND air to the root system. The other is the fact that roots "tailor" themselves to the environment they're in and cannot change once grown.

It sounds like your plant had roots that had been grown in an airier environment, then were submerged. They did not grow submerged, so suffocated, died and are now rotting.

Unlike the simple food coloring experiments we did in school, the dyed orchids are injected, not submerged.

[estación seca]

Phalaenopsis are warm-growing orchids that prefer full shade. They come from closer to the equator than Maryland, so for best flowering many people will extend winter days with electric lights to the 11-12 hour range. They prefer temperatures above 70 F / 21C, though they will tolerate somewhat cooler nights - especially if the following day is a lot warmer. People who keep their homes cool in winter often use heat mats to keep the Phals. warmer. Because they are epiphytes, growing on trees, their roots must have plenty of air at all times. The bark you made should work fine. Most people water them when almost dry. Their roots can stay moist during warm weather if there is plenty of air.

You can read a good sticky thread here about learning to grow Phals. From the left yellow menu select Forums then Beginners. Near the top look for The Phal. abuse stops here. Read through the first few pages of comments.

[Mike Conowingo]

Estación Seca and Ray thank you both for your time and explanation of the orchid.