Phalaenopsis roots yellowing after repotting

[brele]

Hi all,

I bought a mini phal from my local grocery store about 3 months ago. It suffered from bud blast once I brought it into my office, but I let the spikes die back and the leaves started growing like crazy. Since it was falling out of its pot and I had no way of knowing how long it had been in the chopped sphagnum moss, I thought this was a good time to re-pot it.

I bought a bag of phal media (a mix of bark, styrofoam and sphag) and a glazed pot with a drainage hole in the bottom and openings along the sides, soaked the media for 2 days and re-potted 3 days ago, making sure to remove the dead roots. The root system wasn't big, and the sphag was so compacted that I had a hard time getting it out of the plastic pot.

Last night I noticed a tiny bit of fuzzy, white mold on the remaining piece of a root I removed, and the other, formerly healthy roots are now yellow instead of their normal green. Is this cause for concern?

I'm worried that making the switch from sphag to bark was too stressful for my phal (since it did seem quite happy in the sphag) and I'm also now having a very difficult time telling when it needs watering.

Aside from giving it time to adjust, I'd appreciate any insights, thoughts and suggestions from those with experience!

[Call_Me_Bob]

not sure.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Onset of root rot.

Repotting and changing out of medium should've been done almost immediately.

Growing in sphag is usually very problematic for most people.

Also has something to do with how the orchids are found growing in the wild.

Do google search for images on Phals in the wild, or Phals in situ. You can also do a search on Flickr.

[RosieC]

Hi and welcome to Orchid Board

I would agree that it sounds like the onset of rot.

I have not had any luck when I've bought grocery store Phals in moss, even when i've tried repotting them imediately. These days I only buy from the grecery store if they are in bark, I just don't trust those in moss since the only phals I've ever had die are the four I bought in moss from the grocery store and none of them lasted long (all the grocery store ones in bark, and I have quite a few of them, are still fine and healthy).

I've also seen roots that looked green in the moss die very quickly when they went in to the bark... but another bought at the same time that I left in the moss died even quicker

But none of that helps you save this one. I think the best thing is to make sure it is in the smallest possible pot. It should be in one just big enough to hold the roots, if it is bigger you will find a problem with the bark not drying quickly enough. When I inherited one that already had root rot (had been potted by a relative in a massive pot and a medium which was far too dense), I found the ONLY way to get it to start rooting again was to have it in a teeny tiny pot (with an larger outer pot to stop it toppling over because the leaves were far too big for the tiny pot). This meant I could water regularly and it would dry really quickly, allowing plenty of air flow to the roots. The old roots still died but it put out new ones and is now doing quite well.

[brele]

RosieC,

Thanks for the excellent advice! As soon as I read your comment about pot size I realized I had put it in a pot that was much too big. I repotted over the weekend back into its original pot and it immediately looked better.

It's a small, clear plastic pot with three drainage holes in the bottom, so it should be able to air quite well and I can keep a close eye on the roots.

Thanks again!