More advice for my sick Phal - Should I cut off base of plant? - Orchid Board

RosieC · #1 09-07-2008, 10:21 AM

Ok, I have a sick Phal which is only still alive because of the help of you guys

But it is still sick

... briefly, I repotted in April (healthly roots then), it looked fine until July when I came home from one week away and 5 out of 9 leaves were severaly wilted and soon turned yellow and dropped off. In mid August I took a look at the roots and found there were hardly any healthy ones under the media. They did NOT seem rotten though... just hollow and dead.

Since then I've had it out of the media compleaty and I have been heavily misting the roots twice a day. It has 3-4 healthy arial roots coming from the top portion of the plant. 3 more short arial roots have developed since then and this morning I think I can see a 4th new bud of a root. Additionally a new leaf has started growing during this time. The plant has also got too much sun over the summer and has a strong red tint, I've since moved it into less light.

Should I remove the base of the plant?
In an article I read about re-potting it indicated that when a lot of leaves have been lost and there is a bare lower stem you could do this. Here is the link...
Repotting Your Orchids - Phalaenopsis - Orchids
I am tempted to want to do this because all the best roots are from the top of the plant and the lower section looks mostly dead. But the Phal is struggling anyway (the leaves showing signs of lack of water) and I'm not sure if the shock of doing this will be too much... or on the other hand will the removal of the dead section help it.

Here's some pics

(the brown dust is cinnomon as I've cut away some more dead roots today, also some of the roots are green having been recently sprayed with water)

I'm thinking of cutting the stem arround the red line I've drawn accross it. The roots I've put blue boxes arround are healthy arial roots which are either still growing or have grown in the last two weeks and are attached to the upper section. The ones with green boxes are new roots also on the upper section. The one with a red box is a long (10cm) old arial root connected to the lower section. This root has looked desicated since arround the time it was repotted in April and has not grown at all since then, but is still just about the healthiest on that lower section.

So what should I do? I would love some advice. (I obviously need to be VERY careful if I DO go ahead, not to damage the good roots close to the intended cut.