phalaenopsis grow slowly, store most of their reserves of starch/sugars in their leaves, and their roots rot easily. I want to dispel a myth here. There is no need to soak media for hours or days before use. Catts, vandas, laelias, phals, and many more species of orchids grow just fine in baskets and mounts where there is no media. We use media in pots so the plants don't fall over and to make watering more efficient. Ok. The dying leaf here is due to the fact that the roots have rotted and the plant is using up the water retained within the leaf because the roots can't supply the plant. The dark spots are bacterial/fungal in nature and have gotten a foothold on the plant because the plant is stressed and can't fight back in it's weakened state. The roots died because the moss held too much moisture and the plant slowly suffocated. Phals like to be watered and then left to dry before being watered again. They like warmth. And they like a breeze. Ok, now here is what you can do to help this plant survive. Take it out of the pot it is in and slowly, very carefully pull out all that ugly moss. I use tweezers and take it out a little at a time. Start at the bottom and slowly pull it out a bit at a time. Work from the bottom outside. You will find that after awhile you will see a second smaller more dense plug of moss inside which will be a little more difficult to pull apart. Patience grasshopper. Patience. You do not need to get every strand of moss out of the root ball. Just get as much as you can. Be careful of the live light colored roots. Once you have removed as much as you can start cutting off all the dead roots (live roots are firm when you squeeze them a little and rotted roots are soft and mushy when you squeeze). Use a razorblade or a pair of scizzors that have been dipped in alcohol or flamed on your stove top. Just flame it for 5 seconds or so. 200*f kills everything including virus. I dab on some powdered cinnamon on the cuts where the roots were cut off. I use a Q-tip for this task. It helps to cauterize the wound and keep bacteria/fungus from entering the vascular system. Now that you have cleaned this phal up you can pot it in the bark mix you showed us. Hold the phal in the pot with the remaining roots hanging down and put in a handful of mix. Tap the side of the pot to settle the mix. Put in more and repeat until the pot is full. Now the hard part. "DON'T WATER IT"!! That's right. Don't water it for at least a day. You can mist the leaves (undersides too)to help cool them but do not water the plant for at least a day. Let the wounds heal. The cut root ends will heal over in about a day and then you can water. Run water through the pot for a minute and then let drain be sure that no water is allowed to get into the crown of the plant as this will invariably cause your plant grief. It allows fungus to grow and kill the crown and the plant. Now don't water for a couple days then water again. As your mix starts retaining more and more moisture it will get heavier each time you water. When you lift it to put it in the sink to water it, feel how light it is. After you water it really well, feel the weight again. This is how you learn when to water. You used the stick method before. And look what happened. Some folks can determine when to water by this method. But through the years I have found that the human hand can feel the difference in weight more accurately. You've nearly killed this orchid with kindness and water. So now learn that more orchids are killed by over watering than by all other ways combined. They get sick because THEY ARE STRESSED. Orchids have lived with disease and disasters for millions of years and survive just fine as long as we don't kill them with kindness. Also don't fertilize for at least 6 months. Let this orchid heal before you try to get it to grow.
Last edited by james mickelso; 07-05-2013 at 07:36 PM..
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