Please take a look at my leaves

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Des

Rosie here in SA my plants actually stand in saucers of water and have been for a few years now, I am still waiting for the roots to rot!
I will say this again it is not water that rots the roots but a buildup of salts and bacteria in the media which in turn turns the media into a sludge at the bottom of the pot depriving the root system of vital oxygen supplies
The build-up of salts is usually caused by over fertilization and too little water going through the pot to flush out salt build up (under watering)

I agree with you on it not being water which rots the roots. But in more humid enviroments the constant moisture in the medium causes it to break down quicker and the bacteria to build up and then they rot. Here in the UK the medium (bark in my case) is only just dry after a week (sometimes not even then) and you get rot quite quickly if you don't allow the medium to dry completely on a regular basis.

Flushing with pure water on a regular basis is a really good thing to remember. Here we are advised to flush with clear water about once a month and that keeps it clear quite well.

It just shows how much your enviroment and what medium you use can make a huge difference.

[kiki-do]

Wow, that looked exactly like my phal a while back. When I asked my orchid guru where I buy most of my orchids, he said it lacked a certain nutrient (I think he said magnesium) and to add a little epsom salts to water and water it once in a while with that until I see some significant changes. And it worked. It's still got some of that in the leaves, but it's done a 80% improvement. Don't overdo with the epsoms salts, though. Just once in a while. Hope that helps.

[bleweyz39]

Thanks all for the input. Ill try some of it!!