Shriveled Leathery leaves on cattleyas

[Jkelee]

Should I trim off all brown, yucky roots? Even if that means not even leaving ONE root left on that plant?? Will an Orchid come back with NO ROOTS??

[Lagoon]

Yes I'm affraid so, take off all brownish black mushy roots.
Indeed they can come back with new roots & growth. Blooming however could take a couple of years with the right conditions. Alot of folks would just toss them out and buy new 'chids and start over again. Supt' to you

One thing you have on your side .... It's growing season, humidity is your best friend right now.

[cb977]

The mushy roots are doing nothing for the plant...and could cause more problems along the way. It's best to remove them...new roots can grow with the right measures.

[quiltergal]

If the roots are brown but not mushy and slimey leave them on. It's not unusual for roots to be anywhere from brown to tan and still be healthy. Rotted roots will always be mushy, hollow, or completely dessicated.

[Jkelee]

If I cut off ALL BROWN, soft roots, and NOT even one healthy root is on that plant. Should I repot it in it's normal type of media? Repot in Sphag moss? Or leave it out- open air?

Do you suggest I check every last orchid I have and cut off ALL Brown roots, even if it the LAST ROOT on the plant?? Or do I leave well enough Alone, if they look Healthy, and are not looking Like these Shriveled soft leathery things in my pictures??

[slipperfreak]

If they look healthy, leave them be. For those that aren't, yes remove EVERY dead root, even if it is the last one. I would say repotting in sphag would be your best bet for regrowing roots but maybe someone else has a better suggestion?

[Lagoon]

Rotten mushy roots are NO help to any orchid, So CUT OFF any and all unhealthy roots you see, it's really the best thing to do.
The longer your orchids take to set new roots down the more your leaves will become dry out ans shriveled up, which is why high humidity is important right now.

I would put them inside an aquarium topped with a lid, add sphag. moss to the bottom. Open it up atlease once per day to exchange air.

Or

Mount them and keep them open spray them once per day. Once they root you can pot them up if you wish.
Good luck

[gixrj18]

Cut off all dead tissue, mount on wood w/ a sphag moss cushion between plant and wood. Mist daily with a light mixture of bloom fertilizer and K-L-N. I would spray it with a fungicide, when you mount it. If it's not already too far gone, you should see new roots starting within 2-4 weeks.

[justatypn]

Originally Posted by gixrj18

I would take them out of the pot for a while, and just mist them without medium. You'll have to mist them once or twice a day, but you won't have to worry about over-watering while you're nursing back to health. Or just mount it on some wood, I've got a lot of bare-root Catts on wood, and they love it. But at least this way, you can see what is going on, until you get the hang of how much water it likes.

Jasen has great advise. Cattleya's love to be mounted, they love to stretch there roots and feel the air. This would be the best bet for either or over/under watering.

If you do decide to use sphagnum, you could definitely go the other way noting your conditions now being under-watered, subconsciously. I am not a big sphagnum when there is a watering discrepancies.

[Jkelee]

Thanks to everyone for ALL your advise on my huge problem!! I appreciate it all!! I will mount some and see how it goes! And I also tried the Sphag and Bag technique tonight too. I'll see how that works out. I don't think I can put a really unhealthy one with no good roots what so ever on a mount. No humidity there. That's why the worst one's are in ziplocks tonight. I pulled off only the velemen, of all the soft yucky roots, leaving just the actual wire-root for anchor purposes only. Some of those really sick ones that were in my early pics here, actually had some new roots coming out when I pulled them out of the pots. But they still had LOADS of soft yucky ones! I pulled of those bad ones and put them in the Bags with a silver dollar size of moist Sphag, in the corner. I will put some pics of the roots of these really sick ones up on here too.


Thanks for everyones' help!!