Hi all, I'm a new member and thanks for all the great info I found! But first, let me make it known that neither of my thumbs are green.
I've had my phal for about a year now. I received it as a gift when it started to bloom. It bloomed very nicely for a number of months. I suppose it's currently in its resting period. Right now, it has 2 green leaves (about 4 to 5 inches long with one leaf slightly limp and has length-wise ridges) with a new third one that just sprouted a month ago. But the new leaf seems to have stopped growing. I just bought a Better-Gro Orchid food last week and I decided to soak it in the food-added water for a few hours (this was the first time I added food in the water). I used the full recommended amounted as labeled on the bag. When the limp leaf did not show any difference after a few days, I thought maybe it's a good idea to repot the plant (the medium came in a fine bark with a little bit of perlite).
So after doing research on how to repot, I took the phal out of the pot and saw it had LOTS of roots, some up to 6 or 7 inches long. However, 99% of the roots were brown and shriveled, and the rest had brown spots (looked like rot). So I cut off all the dead roots and all that's left is 4 roots the length of the end joint on my baby fingers. Also, some of the roots I cut off were brown on the outside, but when I cut it off, the cross section looked green with a slightly white center. I then throughly watered the the phal in its new medium with the same orchid food but at half strength.
I really want to know if what I did was the correct thing to do as well as what else I'm suppose to do now that my poor baby has almost no roots! I've heard of people using root hormone, but I'm really scared to shock the plant too much (which I'm afraid I might have already). Any advice on how to nurse my baby? And am I suppose to leave the paper sheath part (where the leaves grow out from) above or under the medium? I was watering it once a week as it gets pretty hot and dry in Southern Calif in the summer and once every other week in the winter. Is that too much or too little? I would feel really bad if I killed this plant and would probably shy away from getter another...
Oh Boy, Sad Phal
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