Should I pitch the orchid and get another?

[Paul Mc]

OH MY! I promise you the roots did not look like this before. They were all light green in color. At least there are a few of these pretty roots left. I am assuming I need to cut off the brown roots as well as all of the reddish brown leaf growth.

Rinsing in Listerine now, then I'll cut and trim, dusting with cinnamon afterwards. I will also be buying the Physan 20!

[jenmonkey]

Wait, wait. Hold the phone. Why not let the Physan touch the roots? My Physan insert said to soak the entire plant. Crap!!! Did I just kill several of my orchids last week??

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't like to put Physan 20 on roots if possible. I personally had a bad experience. Leaves are okay.

Jenmonkey, depending on the concentration, you may not have damaged your plants. Just wait and see.

[jenmonkey]

Crap. The insert said that during repotting, you should soak the whole darn plant in a 1 tsp./gallon concentration and then pot in media that has been soaked in the Physan mix too. This was last week, they seem to be doing well so far, and one of my oncidiums that was in bud has started to bloom...

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but to bring it back around to the OP, I think we both could use some elaboration on the Physan treatment - is it just that the chemicals might burn sensitive roots, or does it contribute to rot?

Thanks as alway Philip. Your knowledge is indispensable.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Burn sensitive roots.

[Paul Mc]

I wanted to say thank you again to everyone who helped me with my issue. It has been a few weeks now, and while the orchid looks very sad - I do have some happy news. I see a new shoot of leaves coming up! YIPPEEE!!! I am hoping it will continue to get better and grow back into the beautiful plant it was before all of this happened!

Thanks guys!