Repotted phal - Orchid Board

groundpounder17 · #1 08-09-2010, 03:56 PM

My phal madonna that I just repotted a month ago got knocked over during watering. I ended up rinsing some bark mix and repotting the plant. This all happened on Saturday and by this morning, Monday, the leaves have begun to wilt. It had just got over the shock of the first repotting when this happened. Should I place this plant in a shaded area for about 7-10 days?

I also noticed that my phal gigantea has brown, shriveled root all the was to the base of the plant. I just repotted this plant about a month ago as well. This is very discouraging.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #2 08-09-2010, 08:01 PM

I would check the Phal gigantea for any kind of other root damage.

A pic would also help.

The other Phal should be okay if there're no other problems.

groundpounder17 · #3 08-10-2010, 12:08 AM

I couldn't get a pick this evening but I'll try to get one tomorrow. I did a little more inspecting and it appears that I have about 3-4 roots that brown, shriveled, and dead but has good new root growth. I would estimate 30-40% dead roots, this is a very small plant. I have been very careful with this plant and aside from som mechanical damage has green, pliable leaves. I use a medium bark mix but I have some s/h media & pots ordered from Ray. I was going to wait on a repot but if I need to I will. I use distilled water, fertilize weakly/weekly with MSU formula, and have plant in a south facing window that has some shading.

Should I attempt to cut and extract the dead roots and apply cinnamon? Should I wait for my s/h material to arrive and repot? Keep in mind that my plant was delivered and repotted on 7/8/10.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #4 08-10-2010, 12:34 AM

Okay...

So you've had the Phal gigantea for about a month, am I right?

If so, then that's plenty of time for damage to happen.

How often do you water?

What's the humidity like?

groundpounder17 · #5 08-10-2010, 12:51 AM

I've it for a month. I've been watering about every 5 days on average. The humidity ouside has been 60-90% so sitting in my windowsill I would say close to 50%. The temps here have been reaching the 100s but my house only gets to about 77 degrees, but I would assume warmer temps near the window. The past watering I used a physan/water mix at 2 tsp/gallon.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #6 08-10-2010, 01:15 AM

Was there a reason for the Physan20?

The reason I say this, is that I'm very weary of using chemicals on a plant's root system. Other people may have their own opinions on the matter, but me specifically - I don't recommend using Physan on a plant's roots.

With that said. There could still be other factors involved with the roots rotting.

How big is the plant?

How big is the pot?

groundpounder17 · #7 08-10-2010, 11:59 PM

I had some black spotting on a psychopsis that I received with this plant and I had some poor looking roots on this plant. I wanted to be sure to rid my plant of any fungus that could be present. Here is some pics. Sorry but for some reason my pictures taken with my Iphone always rotate on here.

The plant is not very big. I believe that is a 4.25" pot. Looks to me like about 4 dead roots all the way to the base of the plant where the root attaches. Several of the other roots appear healthy. Should I just trim the roots while it is planted or should I just repot? If I repot I think I will go s/h. I should have my goodies in from firstrays around Thursday. I really don't know if I should shock the plant again so soon after just repotting a month ago.

jrodpad · #8 08-11-2010, 10:08 AM

GP17,

Can't really tell what's going on under the surface there, but phals are strong little buggers - I would repot. I don't know the first thing about s/h so I'll let others chime in on that one.

What I can say is that pot looks like it might be too big for that phal. If there's too much potting medium for the root mass then it might not dry out properly which could be the cause of the root rot. I would remove from the pot, trim the dead roots and then pot down to a pot that the root mass just fits into.

good luck!

- J

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #9 08-11-2010, 12:05 PM

The roots don't appear totally destroyed. But the pot may be too big. Have you considered going down in pot size for the Phal gigantea?

The pot only needs to be as large as teh root mass, not much larger.

groundpounder17 · #10 08-12-2010, 12:14 AM

I suppose that I am an "over potter". That is cited as one of the benefits of s/h is that it is hard to use too large a pot due to the wicking nature of Primeagra media. Do you think that pot size is likely the culprit? Any tips for repotting? I have some KLN rooting liquid, should I use that?