Yellow leaves on my phal

[tuvoc]

Sounds like you're on the right track. The cinnamon thing is mainly to treat open wounds on the plant itself, not the roots, so you're ok on that one. As for other plants in the same pot, for some vendors, I guess they think it makes the whole thing look more attractive for a quicker sale, but it does no good for either plant, especially the orchid. Orchids are always better on their own, I think.

Kim

[Zdenglan]

Hi,
glad your plants are getting better. That's a good start. I would advise you to go easy on the fertilizer for if the plant is stressed it will do it more harm than good. Careful watering, correct temperature range and excellent drainage should be enough to prevent any further rot. In time try using 1/4 strenght orchid fertilizer with higher N content.
Guessing that other plants potted together with the phals is just a marketting trick rather that good hort. practice. To start with, paphs are epiphytes and ivy is a terestrial plant requiring different cultural conditions. However it so hard to kill that it may as well grow even potted up with an orchid. I live in the UK and I have to say I have never seen anything like that.

[AThoele]

First, I want to thank you all for all your advice so far. Hopefully one day I'll have some wisdom to impart on orchid newbies!

Well, I have an update today and I'm afraid it's not good. Today, the bark I have the orchids in was finally dry so I was going to water them. I couldn't resist taking a look at the roots so I moved some of the bark around and it was not at all what I was hoping to see. First of all, both plants now have only one leaf each. The leaf on one of the plants is still green (and it's a lighter green than before which I think means it's getting a good amount of light?) but it's blackish around the edges. Is this normal? the other one, however, is totally yellow and almost see-through in places. It isn't loose though and doesn't seem like it's going to fall off anytime soon. Should I cut it or just let it go on its own? That plant has a new leaf coming in though.

Back to the roots...The plant with the yellow leaf only really had one good looking root. Now, that root has white stuff on it, which looks to me like mold! What can I do about this? The root is still firm and I really don't want this plant to lose its last decent root.

The other orchid had a couple of good roots before, but today they were no longer firm and the outside parts slid right off. Now it's left with only the white parts.

Sorry for the long message! I just don't know what I can do. Is it time to give up on trying to regrow them in bark and try the sphag-n-bag? What can I do about the mold, if that's what it is? I've attached some pictures below. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[kiki-do]

Hello,
You seem to have a serious case of rot going on there. If it were me, I would spray or gently rinse the root area only with regular (not minted) listerine or the generic form of listerine. Then, I would apply root hormone growth....do you have any? Then I would try moist moss around the base of the root system until I saw either signs of new roots or that it was an absolute goner. This could take quite a while, months. I've tried the spag & bag method before, but I've always lost it to mold. I have since used the moss (moistened but never soggy) only around the roots and kept the rest of the plant with good air flow. I have mounted mine also with pretty good results. But you need to have something to mount it on. Hope that helps.

[AThoele]

I don't have any root hormone, but I am going to the store today so I'll look for some. Is there a particular brand that you recommend?

[RosieC]

KLN or Superthrive are the ones often recomended here on Orchid Board.

I saw something someone had written here today which said that the powder ones are too concentrated for Orchids, so you should use a liquid one.

I've used KLN myself and seem to have had good results.

[annehylee]

Hi everyone!

AThoele, Congrats on the wedding!

Reading your posts is like a deja-vu for me, lol... When I first started growing phals, I had 2 that had root rot. One, I couldn't save but one I did save. My kleidoscoope phal, I could not save unfortunately. It started with the leaves going yellow and by the time I got the advice on OB to check the roots, it was a gonner. But my green phal is doing really really great. I didn't use any root hormones and there was only like 4 roots that was salvageable but it's growing new roots and leaves like crazy so it's good so far. So I am REALLY glad to hear that your orchid is doing really well.

Did you try the root hormones?

[AThoele]

I went out and got the rooting hormone (Superthrive) today and soaked the roots. I repotted both orchids in clay pots (they didn't have any clear pots at either of the stores I went to) with holes in the sides to give them some better air circulation. Hopefully they'll make it!

[AThoele]

Hi, all! I just wanted to give a quick update on these orchids. One pretty much completely rotted through so there was not anything more I could do. The other one, however, seems to be doing pretty well. A couple of days ago I noticed that it is pushing out two new leaves and at least one new root, all of which appear to be growing really quickly! I think it's going to make it!

Thanks for all your help! It wouldn't be doing well at all without all your advice!

[AThoele]

Hi, all! I just wanted to give a quick update on these orchids. One pretty much completely rotted through so there was nothing more I could do. The other one, however, seems to be doing pretty well. A couple of days ago I noticed that it is pushing out two new leaves and at least one new root, all of which appear to be growing really quickly! I think it's going to make it!

Thanks for all your help! It wouldn't be doing well at all without all your advice!