Phalaenopsis Roots Papery, Leaves Yellowing, Dropping

[Laneyzmom]

I’m new here and new to orchids. My daughter received an orchid as a gift. It’s doing very poorly. I repotted it back in September and it seemed to be doing OK until recently. The original planting medium was more of a mix of bark and moss than the new one. The new one was more bark. But I did keep the original material and added the bark mixture to it.

I didn’t know what to do when it started dropping leaves and read that I need to check out the root system. I took it out of its pot and found that the roots were dry and papery. There’s only 1 with any plumpness. There was no excess water, smell or anything to indicate root rot. I’ve been paranoid about over watering.

There was a post here from cherrypuff about root loss on 6/5/24 that I came across. But their issue was not the same as mine. But TMoney’s comment about attempting water culture seemed to make sense to me. Hoping this plant can come back. I’m open to other suggestions. Please help.

[estación seca]

Welcome!

First, a question. What are the day and night temperatures in your growing area?

[Laneyzmom]

It's winter in Michigan. Currently we're experiencing very cold weather. But our average temperatures are usually lows in the teens, highs in the mid 30s. Our home is kept at 72 degrees. We have a humidifier attached to our furnace. I have the orchid where it gets filtered light. I had it in our Florida room for a short period of time. That's when it started looking bad. Maybe too much light?

[Waterdog111]

What are the conditions in your Florida room,in comparison to where you have it now. Wherever you intend to try to keep it for some time will need to be comfortable for the plant first off and then left to recuperate , which will take a good bit of time. It has to have time to recover from any stress before it can rebuild itself. Just don’t overdo on treatment like cutting or anything which can stress it more.

[Laneyzmom]

The Florida room has full sun for parts of the day. I think moving it there was the beginning of it's demise. Probably too bright and hot. It's currently in the room I plan to keep it in. Diffused light away from drafts and heat.

I'm not planning to do any further cutting. I actually kept that at a minimum although I saw plenty on the internet stating to cut everything.

[FranningtonBear]

Originally Posted by Laneyzmom

I actually kept that at a minimum although I saw plenty on the internet stating to cut everything.

Yeah, careful what you read on the internet!

[WaterWitchin]

Around 65°F night to 70-85°F day is a safe and good range for a Phalaenopsis. Doubtful your Florida room played a part light-wise, unless it was in direct sunlight. Looks more to me like your paranoia of overwatering went too far. Leaves (as well as those papery roots) look dehydrated. Kudos for not cutting off all those papery roots.

New roots tailor themselves to their present surroundings. Only do that water culture if you want to try and leave it in water. If you want to grow in a bark medium, put it in the smallest pot that it will fit in with bark medium. Water it more often, but let it drain well. Try to keep humidity at least 60% around it. Water doesn't kill orchids. The problem is usually not enough air flow around the roots. So water, let drain, and when the "plump" root starts to look silvery, water again.

If you start to lose that "good" root, I would use some form of sphag and bag to attempt recovery. On the "search" bar at top of page search for that term.

[Laneyzmom]

Thank you for the information. I've got it back in water. The roots were very dry again after taking it out last night. I'm just going to see what happens over the next few days with it in the water. Then attempt to move it into a mixed medium of bark and sphag. Is there a particular sphag you would recommend.

[Waterdog111]

More pics might help, as you work with it, we can see the results. Sounds like your doing alright, I wouldnt put the roots all the way in the water. Just the bottom should work.
Not possible that you have any kelpak. It works wonders.

[Laneyzmom]

I've switched to Sphag and Bag. But I'm not sure there's much hope. But I'll try for awhile