Noid Phalaenopsis surgery - 2nd opinions sought

[bethmarie]

this phal is my first root rot victim. Sphagnum. bleh. My nemesis.
I removed all the completely rotted roots last week and let it dry in vase culture for the past 10 days or so, wetting the roots a couple of times.

I don't know whether the brown part of the stem needs to be cut back to green before repotting (or bagging if that's better). If that needs to go, she'll lose every root except the lone one with the green growing tip, growing out of the green part of the stem. I'm especially curious about losing the only long root remaining, the one that's lost an inch or two of velamen starting at the stem. Can a root survive missing some velamen?

Scrub in and help a novice out?

[Ray]

That "naked" part of the root is the stele, which contains the vascular bundle.

I would pot it up as-is, with no further surgical activity. I think you'll eventually lose that root with the exposed stele, but there is no sense removing it while it still has the tiniest bit of vitality, as it will help support the plant while it grows new roots, even if it can only so so for a short time.

[Silje]

Agree with Ray. No more cutting. That root is still alive and supports the plant.

By the way, this plant should be fine. From the look of it, there are enough roots here to get it through until it got some more, fresh one to use.

Good luck!

[james mickelso]

Yes, there is enough root left to bring this back. And enough warmth left in the late summer and fall.

[Bill U.]

I would agree with all of these other posts- I would leave the roots alone now and try to bring this back. Something that you might want to look into is some rooting hormone?

Ray might be someone who can really help you out on that one- take a look at this link on his website... https://www.firstrays.com/root_rot_recovery.htm

[NYCorchidman]

I would personally trim off some leaves not roots.
Your plant has some roots left, but not much. It's got quite a few leaves, some of which will eventually wrinkle, turn yellow and fall off. (more water lost through leaves than is absorbed through a few roots).
You can either let the plant do it on its own, or help it out.

I have one phal that was in a similar condition. It lost all the leaves but two. Then it started to grow more roots (lots of them) and two more leaves.
So it now has four leaves and lots of roots. I am hoping that it will produce a flower spike this coming fall.

[tucker85]

I think your root look good. I wouldn't cut anything. Just repot it.

[Wynn Dee13]

I wouldn't cut anything either. I would just repot it. I would not cut off leaves. If the plant needs to shed a few it will do it on its own. I think cutting leaves will stress it out and leaves provide food to the plant too. I have a Phal venosa i just got and it had a few roots that had no velamen on the top portion of the roots like yours does. They seemed to be still alive so I left them on and the plant is now putting out new roots. Good luck!

[bethmarie]

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experience. Hope to be answering some questions for folks on here one day soon, instead of just asking them

[Orquiadicto]

I had one that lost all the roots. So, before throwing it away, I wrapped the stem in sphagnum, soaked it in water with rooting hormone and hang it outside. I mist it several times a day (together with my mounted phals and bare root vandas) and I soak it once a week with fertilizer and superthrive (can't remember if I used the rooting more than once). Here is the result.



When the roots get bigger, I'll decide wether to mount it or pot it up.