Black spots on leaves, root health, and next steps

[Osmithy]

Hello everyone! This is my first post on what seems to be a vibrant and helpful forum. I have two orchids. One is a small purple Phal noid that my dad gave me 4 months ago. The other is an larger unknown species (I'm guessing Phal) that I found discarded on the street as my fiancé and I left a karaoke bar last weekend. Its flowers had been chopped off, and I felt sorry for it. Its leaves seem in good condition, though, so I think it could live on.

Here are pictures of the smaller one:

Roots front and back:


Here's the bigger one:

Should I be worried about these black spots on the underside of some of the leaves?

Roots from 3 angles:


The smaller one was in bloom with some buds 4 months ago, and has slowly bloomed and lost each of its flowers. It has one bud that's opening and one that's turning from green to purple. I was watering every week or so until about a month ago when I realized that whatever it's potted in retains moisture for several weeks. I stopped watering then and it's still moist. The larger one looks healthy aside from being chopped. It also feels moist. My questions for both plants are: do their roots look okay, and in general what should I do with them at this point in their lives so they stay healthy and re-bloom later?

Here's the fertilizer I was using every month on the smaller plant:

Cheers and thank you!!

[james mickelso]

Your orchids are phalaenopsis and are in good health. Curtailing your watering saved them from drowning. See my post here on 3-9 and 3-10 about repotting phals. You can repot using the moss you take off these plants. The secret is to take off the moss slowly and carefully so as not to do any damage to the roots. It's easy. The next secret is to pot them back into a good pot, everyone seems to like clear plastic pots that will just fit these roots. No bigger. Use the moss and "place" it in and around the roots. Put the plant in the pot with the leaf bases above the top of the pot a bit and place small wads of moss in and around the roots. Don't "pack" it in. Just place the small wads among and around the roots. Push it into the pot but loosely. That's the secret. Loosely. As you can see the moss stays wet for a long time when densely packed into the pot. Orchids like to breathe. There is no need to pack the moss in. Just place it loosely around the roots. Water when dry. Or when the moss is just a little damp. Good luck.

[Osmithy]

Awesome, many thanks for the quick reply. I'll repot as you suggest. I'm glad they are ok!

Also, should I cut off the stems at the crown for either plant, or just leave them as is?

[james mickelso]

I would cut the old spikes off where they emerge from the plant. Leave about an inch. This old spike can re-flower but that takes energy that the plant usually doesn't have. I opt to let it gather more energy and re-bloom later. Take a look at my post from 3-9 and 3-10.

[nofickenway]

Unfortunately, I cannot contribute much to the question on the black spots, but unless they spread i would not worry.

Otherwise those two plants look really healthy to me - the larger rescue looks slightly mistreated about the roots but none visible look rotted.

Good on you for saving the orhapned phal...I have done similar in rescuing some sicly phals from home depot - so far I havent lost any but two are still in critical condition while two others are actively growing leaves.

On repotting, I am sure Mr. Mickelson has more experience than I, but I would recommend considering using new potting medium - not moss; there are a number of great bark mixes that would be appropriate, I use fertilome with some sphagnum and perlite mixed in (those are not necessarily needed, but I like to).

I say so just out of the fact that, by starting with new medium you are guaranteed to know what is in the mix (i.e. fertilizer, LACK of disease or pathogens, etc.) and the repotting will presumably last longer.

my .02 cents

[Osmithy]

Thanks, both of you. I repotted both of them loosely in their original moss because I don't have anything else, but I'm planning to buy some new potting medium soon. I also clipped the larger one's stems to about 1 inch above the leaves when I repotted a couple days ago, and I'll probably do it to the smaller one today.

I very much appreciate your help!

[james mickelso]

Normally I would opt for new media too. But these plants were potted in this moss for awhile and didn't have anything horrible happen to them. So lacking an alternative, it is quite alright to repot them back into the media in which they have been growing. The secret is to not pack the moss into the pot but place wads of it around the roots just to stabilize them.

[Osmithy]

Ok, maybe I will leave them in their original media after all. They did seem fine, so it would be convenient to not have to order more.

[pattiannp]

I was also wondering if my (new) cymbidium with black spots was over watered.