I Can See Some Brown Mushy Looking Roots In My Phalaenopsis Orchid

[Kirstin]

My dad bought me an orchid about a year ago. It was one of those just add ice orchids. We knew nothing about orchids or how difficult they can be to care for.

A few days after I got it, all of the flowers ad dried and fallen off. I was so sad. Then two leaves started to tuen yellow and died so I had to pull them off. Research told me this happens normally and I was advised to repot. I repotted by soaking the roots then rinsing old potting mix off and replanted in a phaleanopsis bark mix recommended by many websites. This was about eight to nine months ago.

My phal has grown two new firm leaves and has a half inch new root started but when I fertilized it on Saturday, I noticed long brown mushy roots deep in the plant. The plant is in a clear pot and none of the roots look healthy except the new one.

I cannot see all the roots but I am afraid to repot again because idont want to damage the plant or the new root. Does anyone have advice. I am really trying to get it to bloom again but I don't think it can with these poor roots.

Please help me.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Hi Kirstin, welcome to the OB.

Orchids are a large group of plants, and therefore have a wide array of hardiness to different conditions. So just saying that orchids are difficult is in my opinion, too much of an over generalization.

Do I agree with your thoughts on how Phalaenopsis tend to be difficult to grow?

My answer would have to be yes, I do think that Phals tend to be a slightly difficult to grow orchid that in my opinion is not the most ideal for a complete newbie. I actually think there are hardier orchids to grow. But I also do think that Phals are not the most difficult orchids to grow either.

With that said, I understand your frustration.

You're actually not alone in this ordeal. Many people tend to have lots of issues concerning Phals for one reason or another.

However...

There are tons of info regarding their cultivation here on the OB in which you can do a search on.

You can also read these two threads from start to finish:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

and

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...t-orchids.html

Brown mushy roots = rotten dead roots.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I forgot to mention, I think it's best that you remove the plant from the pot and post a pic to see how bad the plant is, and consider repotting it. You've got nothing to lose.

It is common to have to down pot several times when the roots are badly damaged.

[Kirstin]

Thank you for your response! I should have been more clear. I understand what healthy roots look like and iknow mine are rotted but I guess aim wondering why cutting them off with sterilized scissors and repotting didn't solve the root problem in the first place.

My dad didn't know to check the root setup before he bought it and im pretty sure it started out with a poor root system. The leaves it already had were slightly crinkled and not as firm as the ones I have grown. It's just confusing because from the top, the plant is improving, leaves are remaining firm, new leaves grew and a new root has formed.

Did I do something wrong repotting? How far should I cut the dead roots to? My dad means everything to me and I have been trying to save this plant since he bought it for me.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Another thing...

I forgot to ask you how often you water your Phal and what your potting mix is.

[Kirstin]

I water and fee dthe orchid every Saturday... Or at least I try to. Smetimes it goes 10 to 12 days with no water but usually every week.

I use Better Gro phalaenopsis mix with coarse peat and I fertilize or feed my orchid with Better Gro orchid bloom booster water soluble food with 11-35-15 and it says it has no urea.

[Kirstin]

Oh and when I fertilize, I take the amount required in one month, divide it by four, and feed it one fourth the recommended fertilizer every week. I water it with cooler water but I don't know if that affects anything.

Also, I am trying to figure out how to take a pic and post it from my iPad.

[calypsoB]

Maybe you might want to try one without peat since it has high water retention? I also don't think that there is always a prescribed amout to feed an orchid because it varies from place to place and season to season. Mine seem happiest when getting a couple of sprays from a water bottle every couple of days and a soak once every couple of weeks. How is your light source?
These are just some things that I have worked through myself

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I only recommend cutting dead tissue. I don't recommend cutting into the living tissue of the roots, even if the cutters were sterilized.

If you sterilized the cutters and cut into living tissue, there will be a little bit of tissue death at the cut.

If the new leaves are looking better than the old leaves, that's good.

The bottom leaves that look bad will continue to do so until they are spent and fall off of the plant due to old age.

If there are new roots coming out, that's good too, that compensates for all the dead ones. You now have a better set of roots to work with.

Sometimes old roots will decline because they were once adapted to one kind of environment and when a drastic change in environment happens they cannot adjust and therefore die off. Or the roots may have been so badly damaged that they were not able to recover. If the plant is strong enough, it will make new roots to adjust to the new environment and/or replace the irreparably damaged roots.

Does this answer the questions you asked?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

And yeah, no peat in the mix, that's no good.

If you read the blog that "Sarawak Lens" wrote and looked at the pictures of the Phals growing in the wild, you'll get why peat is not good. It's a gas exchange thing, where the plant breathes through it's roots, and this is especially important because most Phals grow on trees.

The link to the blog is in the link to the second thread I posted for you in this thread.