Trash...or not to trash? - Orchid Board

piaffe97 · #1 06-08-2010, 07:36 PM

I've got 2 phal plants that I'm not sure are going to make it. Both were repotted after blooming because they were in damp and moldy smelling moss when I bought them. I changed over to store bought orchid mix with bark and charcoal. I feel like the roots are unhealthy and the plants themselves are dying. You can see how dark the leaves are on the first plant. I trimmed all the dead/blackened roots before repotting. Any suggestions/advice? (I only have a little moss on top of the bark material)

flhiker · #2 06-08-2010, 07:42 PM

The leaves look good to me. Are they wrinkling? Cutting away mushy, dried out and black root was a good idea. Water it a couple times a week and don't let any water remain in the leafs. As this could cause crown rot. Fertilize 1once a month. And it should be fine. I have had many come back looking much worse. Good luck

piaffe97 · #3 06-08-2010, 07:44 PM

Thank you. The leaves arent wrinkling, I'm just worried there arent enough healthy roots to support the plant. I read that a newly repotted plant shouldnt be watered as much....is that true?

johnblagg · #4 06-08-2010, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piaffe97

Thank you. The leaves arent wrinkling, I'm just worried there arent enough healthy roots to support the plant. I read that a newly repotted plant shouldnt be watered as much....is that true?

freshly repotted should be watered carefully for a while ....most often to avoid new rot starting and they do look pretty good still ..have paitience

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #5 06-08-2010, 07:51 PM

I wouldn't go overboard with watering a Phal that's already suffering from too much water to begin with. That's why the roots were rotting.

Another thing you might want to consider is to move them into smaller pots.

piaffe97 · #6 06-08-2010, 08:04 PM

Yes I thought about doing that....I'm a bit hesitant to move them again just because I'm so new at this.

Duane McDowell · #7 06-08-2010, 10:58 PM

"Not to trash!"
Leaves look good. If it were my plant, I'd take off the spike and move it into a little smaller pot (just large enough to hold all of the live roots) and I'd pot it just a little deeper. Many of the next roots will come from where the old leaf sheathes are, and if they can emerge into bark, so much the better. I would personally not use sphagnum on top of bark. I would either use bark OR sphagnum so that you can really get a feel for when it should be watered. The cool thing about fresh orchid medium is that it stays dryer by its very nature than older mix, so you don't have to fuss too much about "less" or "more" watering. Water the day before it is going to dry out. Experiment with it - you'll get the feel for it pretty quickly. If in doubt, insert a clean dry toothpick into one of the bottom drain holes of the pot, let it stay there for 10 secs or so, and then pull it out. If the toothpick is darkened, there's still water in the pot. If not, the pot is dry (and you should have watered yesterday). After a week or so of trial and error, you'll get it. Good luck!

RosieC · #8 06-09-2010, 07:59 AM

They look good to me.

From your picks it looks quite low light but that might just be the time of day you took them. They like quite a lot of light, just not direct light. I have mine in an east window behind a sheer curtain and they do well there.

I agree with the other advise you have had on the roots. I've sometimes repotted a phal a couple of times in succession when I was not happy with the roots after the first repot. The phals have thanked me for getting them in to smaller pots and I've found my stuggling ones really do like smaller pots. I would say it's worth repoting even if they have only just been repotted, if doing so gets them in to a place they are happier.

CTB · #9 06-09-2010, 08:05 AM

they look like they make a full recovery to me, give them a chance, I had one recover nicely with two roots one leaf

piaffe97 · #10 06-09-2010, 09:46 AM

All the advice is much appreciated! Duane-I went ahead and repotted into a smaller one and cut the stem down near the base. RosieC-I did have the plants in a lower light area because I also read that they should be kept there for a week after repotting, but I've moved them back to the east facing window. Now I'll just wait and see what happens! Wish me luck everyone