my dad killed my Phal! no roots or leaves!

[kkellyy]

I went away for vacation and left my phal with my dad. Right before I left, I trimmed off a ton of rotted roots but it still had 3 stubby good ones that I wanted to grow. It had 2 stalks and the flowers were just starting to fall off after a very long bloom season. I was ok with that because I wanted it to put energy into growing roots instead.

I got it back 4 months later with no leaves, less 1 stalk, the other stalk is 2 feet high and still green, no flowers, no roots. This orchid is extremely sentimental to me because it really helped me get through my mom's death and I NEED to save it. I just don't know where to start with no roots or leaves. My dad said he put miracle gro in it while I was gone and got it to bloom again which made me so angry cause that's not what I wanted it to spend energy on.

[euplusia]

That's the way many of us started. I very soon killed my first windowsill Phalaenopsis by keeping the roots constantly wet. 4 months is a long time. Despite of your plant's sentimental value and sometimes incredible miracles of resurrection life is basically ephemeral.
I think that your daddy did his best.
Welcome to the board.

[plumania]

I think your dad meant well and he tried taking care of it best he knew. He is probably not very familiar with orchid growing and Phals are not the easiest to take care of. Furthermore, the fact you had to trim off many dead/ rotten roots before you left, may indicate plant was suffering already. Also could have gotten infected due to 'wounds' from trimming.
Infected or shocked /sick plants can still grow roots as a way of survival.
I hope you are not upset with your dad for not being able to care for it. 4 month is a long time for someone to babysit a plant they are not familiar with. And he even got it to bloom. He must have thought it is doing well since it bloomed.
May be try to disinfect the plant first and grow in a bit drier media.Be careful with the fertilizer. Plant may be too sensitive any ferts because it does not have good mature root growth yet. Or ,if you know someone who grows these plants, you may request they help you with it. Some nurseries will probably care for your plant for a small charge if you explain the situation.
If you know the name of this plant, may be get another one,just for insurance. It may not have same sentimental value but being the same thing, it will help.

[Ray]

Rather than dumping on Dad, I think you should also consider that you didn't leave a particularly healthy plant in his care in the first place, and the way you left it was setting him up for failure.

"Three stubby roots" is insufficient for an otherwise healthy plant, and leaving the flower stalks on it was a sure way to let the plant waste its energy reserves when it had little potential of taking up more.

I can also guarantee you that his application of Miracle-Gro did NOT cause the plant to bloom. In its weakened state, it was probably a last-ditch attempt to "carry on the gene pool", independent of his care.

I can think of two potential routes to take to attempt to save the plant: as the remaining flower spike is green, you might consider applying Keiki-Grow to a node in order to induce the growth of a clone, but frankly, from your description, it sounds like the plant may not have that much time.

The other method I would employ would be to immerse the entire remaining plant (don't remove anything - all green tissue is part of the plant's reserves) for about an hour in a solution of tepid water containing a pretty hefty dose of rooting hormone (10 ml/L KelpMax or 1 ml/L fresh K-L-N), then put it in a clear plastic bag with a wet paper towel (to raise humidity, not to be in contact with the plant) in a very warm (25°-35°C), shady location. If you can keep the remaining plant tissue from desiccating while the natural recovery processes - kick-started by the hormones - do their work, you have a real chance of success.

[Laserbeak]

If it's that important professional cloning may be your only choice.