Help-Phals root rotting, leaves drooping

[Dragonar]

Hi,
I got my Phal on the 23rd dec, 10days ago, from mandai orchid garden, Singapore. It's quite well known but it's closing. Anyway, I think the Phal was in good condition when I bought it. It was in bloom but I had to cut the flower spike since it is very hard to take home, also to get a rebloom and maybe a keiki.
I then repotted it about 3 days later from bark to coal as I'm afraid of over watering it. When changing the medium, I had cut the roots as there were black parts between the roots. I then tried to sprinkle with cinnamon but then there were too many roots so I sort of made it into a paste and covered the whole root. I checked the next day seeing the roots still wet, I rinsed it off but it could only get most of it away. I then sprinked the whole root with cinnamon powder again(not paste).
I just checked again seeing the roots having mould so I had cut everything off, including part of the main root, leaving only a little of it. I then washed the cinnamon completely off and only sprinked cinnamon where the oepning of the roots are.
Is it possible to save it? I just removed a leaf as it was yellowing and the flower spike turned yellow too. Please reply ASAP.Thanks

[RosieC]

Hi Dragonar and welcome to Orchid Board.

I'm afraid Cinnamon is not good to use on roots. It is a desicant which means it dries the roots too much and can damage them. I made the same mistake when I was a newbie when I was trying to save a plant with poor roots and it caused a lot more problems. Only use cinamon on cuts in leaves or a very tiny amount dabed on cut ends of roots.

Saving it is going to be difficult as that phals is in a bad way. You have some tiny nubs of roots so there is a chance though.

What I would do is wash off any remaining cinnamon, then pot it up in the smallest pot you can find. That might need to be smaller than you have now, I sometimes use old food containers with holes cut in them. If they are so small that the plant tips over then rest it in an empty larger pot to help it stand up.

To recover one like this you really need to have such a small pot that the medium dries within a day or two. You can then water every couple of days without the roots rotting. I have found that fast drying and regular watering seems to suit orchids with only tiny roots as they can be kept well hydrated and well airated at the same time.

However... chances are very slim for this orchid. A few years back I had 4 orchids I bought with already rotting roots and they ended up like yours. I tried various methods on them, including the method I described above and none of them survived more than a month. The method above worked for me on one with a little more root than these which is why I advise it.

[RosieC]

Oh, another thing I wanted to say.

If the roots looked bad when you repotted after only 3 days, then the original rot was not your fault. Roots take longer to rot than 3 days.

Unfortunately flowers do not indicate a healthy plant and the poor root system must have been already a problem before you bought it... but it takes longer before it shows in the leaves or flowers.

[Dragonar]

Okie thanks

[CTB]

When shopping for orchids, I always look at the condition of the roots, even pulling a litttle spag. out if necessary. Welcome to the Orchid Board, hope this one mess up won't scare you off. We all have lost a few orchids with our good intentions. Each time learning a little more.