Root Rot

[lostlingling64]

Hi!

I just joined today because I was looking on the web to see if I could somehow help my phal plant!

My phal is almost in the same condition as yours... =((
I got my phal from my boyfriend at the time..and being stupid, I thought to "fertilize the flowers" so that I would have seeds and grow them myself! This nearly killed my baby plant =( It was also probably because I didn't know how much to water it...

I ended up watering it too much because I treated it as a different species of orchids...and I was surprised to get root rot. Most of the stem perished. I cut off the dead roots and tried to dry it out first and occasionally watered it when i thought it needed water. The stem root is almost all gone...it has turned black. But even in my despair, I saw a new leaf growing!!! Eventually, new aerial roots grew (4 in total).

The leaves that my phal has been growing have been very small...a little less than half the size of the originals. I haven't repotted it yet though...I just water the aerial roots and let them dry out everyday. I don't know what's causing the stunted leaves though...however, I believe your plant will be fine! =)

[RosieC]

Hi lostlingling,

I've split your post into it's own thread because it's more likely to get seen that way, rather than on the end of an old 2007 thread. For those that want to help lostlingling is refering to the plant in this thread. Root rot in Phal NOIDs

[RosieC]

You say you have had new ariel roots grow, that sounds good and what you are doing to water those is good.

You might want to consider mounting it as those arial roots would do well on a mount.

The small leaves will be caused by the root loss, if a root system is not drawing in enough nutrients for large leaves the plant will grow smaller leaves until it can support them.

By the way, welcome to Orchid Board

[lostlingling64]

Thank you for everything you've done, Rosie!! I really appreciate it! =)

I do believe I need to find something to mount it on as well. I was also thinking about going out to buy some sphagnum moss and letting my orchid grow in it. Does this sound like a good idea?

Corina

[RosieC]

Personally I don't like growing in moss, but some people love it, it can depend a lot on your environment.

As you had problems with over-watering before it might be better to try bark rather than moss if you want to pot it. Or possible consider lecca/hydroton, this is clay beads which you use instead of bark or moss. You can then water as much as you want without much chance of over-watering, you might need to water more often than with bark but it's less often than with a mount. (Here I water about every 4 days in straight lecca, about every 7 days with bark).

There is also a method called Semi Hydroponic (S/H) talked about a lot here on Orchid Board, this uses lecca but with a permanent reservoir of water in the bottom. Take a look at the section on the forum discussing that if you are interested, but be aware that arial roots are likely to die off if put into that very wet condition so it's best to transfer as brand new roots appear. I used to grow some phals this way but my conditions are too cold as the technique causes cooling of the roots so needs a warm enough environment. I use the technique on Dendrobiums and Oncidiums though.