It sat in water!!!! Help!

[StefH]

Hi there everyone!

I'm a new orchid owner. I bought my orchid in mid March; it is a phalaenopsis....nice deep pinkish purple colour that I love.

When I got the orchid, it was in full bloom. I did a lot of reading for "beginners" about how to grow orchids and keep them happy.

My orchid has been growing well, blooming, and producing more buds and flowers! I've been quite pleased with it!

And actually, the day I brought it home, I broke the tip of one of its two spikes off, along with the two buds were growing there. It has just recently started to grow a new spike out of the existing spike that was broken! So, I expect to see some new buds growing. Since I brought it home, the other spike has probably bloomed about 5 new flowers.

Sounds like a happy orchid, right?

Well, even though I read about only water 1/4 cup once a week, apparently that was too much for my orchid.

A few weeks ago, I noticed some mold (white fuzz) growing on the roots, and I thought, "Wow, maybe I shouldn't water it for a while."

So I didn't water it for about 2 weeks. It really didn't seem like the mold was very bad, but it wasn't getting any better either.

Tonight, I decided to do some reading about orchid root rot. This prompted me to take the plastic cup that it sits in out of the decorative pot and check out the roots more closely.

OH BOY! My orchid was sitting in a huge puddle of water. I know this isn't good!!! But I think I only watered the thing about 4 times since I bought it in mid March. Obviously it wasn't using/absorbing the water I was giving it.

Now, I don't know what to do. My roots aren't doing well. I have a lot of root rot. I did some reading about how to re-pot with new potting matter, so I now understand how to trim the "sick" roots and clean it up. But I'm afraid to do that and then lose my flowers and beautiful, healthy spikes.

So what do I do?

For tonight, since it's Sunday night, all the stores are closed, and I don't have fresh potting matter, I removed the plastic cup/pot from the decorative pot and put the orchid on a shallow dish where it can hopefully dry out.

PS the leaves are still really healthy as well!

What should I do? Repot to save the plant and lose the flowers (I hate to do this since the one spike is growing a new spike out of it)? Trim the spikes and put them in a vase on their own, repot and salvage the leaves and the rest of the plant?

Help?! Suggestions?

[Eyebabe]

Four waterings over a six week period is not alot of watering.

For your plant it is not so much the amount or frequency of water but the ability for the media to drain and become dry again.

If your plant remains too dry, the roots become damaged and cannot take up water or nutrition when you do decide to water.

Water is actually not "taken up" by orchid roots the way you are thinking the usual terrestrial plants do.

I would evaluate my root system.
To do this I would purchase some bark mix before removing the plant from the pot. If the current mix has degraded from sitting in water you will need to have it handy.
After you repot the plant, make sure you understand that your watering regimen should enable the plant to almost dry out before watering again.
The easiest way to do this is about once per week, immerse the plant/pot in water for about 10 minutes. Remove from the water and drain in the sink about 10-15 minutes before putting the plant back in its usual area.
I would not remove the blooms/spike unless the roots were really bad.

[StefH]

Ok, how bad is "bad" for bad roots?

And if I repot and trim the roots, will I lose my flowers/spikes?

[scy]

Also, I would make sure that your current pot has enough drainage holes for the water to flow through since you said that it was sitting in water. Sometimes stores will have orchids in decorative pots that aren't really suited for orchids.

If you repot in bark, you should presoak it overnight in hot water overnight. The next day, get rid of any bark that isn't floating, because it's waterlogged and will retain too much water. Rinse the bark you have left and you can use this for your repotting.

[StefH]

Well, it was a pot in a pot. The thin plastic pot that the orchid is actually planted in has lots of drainage. The ceramic decorative pot that it was sitting in definitely doesn't have enough drainage.

But I know all that.

What I'm trying to figure out is how bad is "bad" roots. When do I know when to sacrifice the flowers for the rest of the plant?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by StefH

Ok, how bad is "bad" for bad roots?

No one knows unless you post pics. You're telling us to guess "how bad it is", without a pic of your plant, when you don't even fully know what you're looking at - and the vague verbal descriptions given of your plant's condition only conveys that at this point in the game, you don't yet have the skills to discern what the important bits of information you are looking at are and which of those to verbally relay in order to give us any kind of meaningful details so that we can give you a proper assessment of the situation.

Do you happen to know what healthy living orchid roots look like?

If not, then here's a link:

http://www.aboutorchids.com/blog/wp-...oots_640px.jpg

Do you happen to know what dead orchid roots look like?

If not, then here's a link:

http://webspace.webring.com/people/l...id/cyms/B7.jpg

Originally Posted by StefH

And if I repot and trim the roots, will I lose my flowers/spikes?

Very likely, from the way your situation sounds, but without photos, it's difficult to say definitively. Again, I'm going to explain why I answered your query the way I did - I'm going off of your verbal description, when you're not even sure yourself of how bad the damage is.

Quite honestly, if a large portion of the roots are rotted out, it's not even a question of buds dropping from repotting; they could probably eventually all drop from the massive stress they've received from the root rot itself.

At this point flowers should be the last thing on your mind, if you have every intention of saving the plant.

A healthy, living plant will obviously re-bloom.

If your plant is deathly sick it doesn't need the burden of putting its energy into reproduction. A plant's flowers are its reproductive organs used for sex.

In other words, a deathly sick orchid that is left to produce flowers for the purposes of what may probably be a last ditch reproductive effort to propagate its genes, will most likely put a lot of its energy into saving itself through reproduction rather than using that energy into healing itself from the damage it had received. This last ditch reproductive effort is usually not a productive means for the plant to preserve itself as the odds of it succeeding in creating viable progeny that will survive the disaster are usually very low.

Why?

Because it takes anywhere between 6 months to 1 year for seed pods to mature depending on the type of Phal you have - should it take the route of sexual reproduction.

That is a lot of energy to expend, over a very long period of time when the plant is in trouble.

I'm stating the obvious, and I hate to say it, but a dead plant won't give you diddly squat.

Originally Posted by StefH

Well, it was in a pot. The thin plastic pot that the orchid is actually planted in has lots of drainage. The ceramic decorative pot that it was sitting in definitely doesn't have enough drainage.

Ok, but what kind of potting media is it in?

Does the potting media drain fast?

Originally Posted by StefH

What I'm trying to figure out is how bad is "bad" roots.

Either you find out by you posting a pic, or you have to do an extensive search on the OB for other people's photos. And there are tons of other people's photos of horribly damaged root systems on their Phals. You just gotta take the time and effort into finding them. The OB does have a search engine.

In my opinion, the easiest and fastest way for you to find out is if you posted pics of your plant in question.

Originally Posted by StefH

When do I know when to sacrifice the flowers for the rest of the plant?

I'm willing to bet you're gonna have to remove the spike whether you like it or not.

You can always put the cut flowers in a vase.

I highly recommend you read the sticky "The Phal abuse ends here."

Should you have any further specific questions feel free to ask.

[scy]

A photo would help. If the roots feel mushy and are brown, then they are dead. When you repot, you will need to trim those off with sterilized razor or scissors. It really depends on how much damage has been done to the roots.

[StefH]

You guys really aren't answering my questions. You're telling me stuff I already know.

What I'd like to know is if I trim all my rotten roots to save the plant, and replant it in new potting medium, will I lose my flowers?

Am I better off to lose the flowers and save the plant or can I afford to wait until the flowers are done before repotting?

Should I just let them dry out and see? Or replant right away?

[scy]

Originally Posted by StefH

You guys really aren't answering my questions. You're telling me stuff I already know.

What I'd like to know is if I trim all my rotten roots to save the plant, and replant it in new potting medium, will I lose my flowers?

Am I better off to lose the flowers and save the plant or can I afford to wait until the flowers are done before repotting?

Should I just let them dry out and see? Or replant right away?

1. There's a chance you could lose your flowers. No one can guarantee one way or another. It all depends on how much stress it's going through and how much damage has been done to the roots. No one can answer that for you, because there's not enough information given. You will know when you unpot and assess the damage.

2. I believe it is better to save the plant and lose the flowers, because you can nurse it back to health and have blooms in the future. No one can tell you if you should wait until the blooms are done because we don't know how much root damage there is. Cutting the spike will make the orchid focus on putting all of its energy into recovery instead of recovery AND blooming.

[StefH]

I can't examine the roots too closely right now since it's Sunday night and I don't have new potting medium at home with me right now with which to repot. I will have to completely pull the plant out of the pot to see how bad the roots are. And I don't want to do that until I have new bark.

If/when I do that, will it hurt my flowers?