Aerial roots shriveling up and drying on my Phal

[Leafmite]

You have some nice, healthy roots, thankfully. I would get them out of that moss as it looks pretty much decayed. Your choice of medium will depend on your conditions. I live in Ohio where my climate changes quite drastic, depending on what is happening outside (and in Ohio, you never quite know). I like my orchids to be set up in a way that they dry out very quickly so that no matter what happens, the roots will be okay. However, if you live somewhere that stays warm, or that is usually sunny and dry, that probably won't be how you would want to grow your orchids.
I'm so glad that your roots are okay. Good luck!

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

lotis,
I took my phal out of the pot and took some pictures of the roots. Sorry for the poor picture quality, it was hard to snap photos on my phone holding the plant all at the same time. Most of the roots are plump and yellow, which I think is normal. A few definitely look like they have some rot on them. The whole thing looks wet because I just watered it today! Do you think these are fine, or do I need to make some changes, or repot? Thanks!

Huh... I heard as well that yellow roots aren't necessarily a bad thing, assuming they're plump and not flat and mushy. I have to reiterate that I'm not one of the more knowledgeable folks around here and I'm not familiar at all with the peanuts on the bottom. I do wonder how tight that moss is though and what the roots look like within because the roots on the bottom look good but I too see some rotted ones on the moss. I don't know the scale here but I'm also not familiar with how "short" the potting of the moss is. If I may GUESS (!!!), perhaps this has something to do with your issue. It could be that the roots in the moss are rotten, or mostly, & that your most viable roots are the ones on the bottom. In this case I would think that while it takes a week to dry the moss the roots below may be suffering. And if they are the only viable roots than therein lies your problem.

If this speculation of mine is correct than I think repotting it would be the way to go. Look up some of the repotting threads, James Mickelson has a nice little montage. I've used bark/moss mixture (mixed myself) to give the roots air while also holding a bit more moisture. I think your choice of medium depends entirely on your "environment". How often do you think you can maintain watering (with bark or even bark mixture you'll have to water a bit more often)? Is it pretty warm inside your place? What about upcoming summer temps? Lighting? Humidity?

I would wait and see what some others say, but you could also put the pot over a tray of water (don't let plant sit in standing water, put some decorative rocks even to stand up out of).

---------- Post added at 04:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:59 PM ----------

I'll add that I have some of my plants potted in less moss with clay pebbles filling more than a third of the bottom but I did this with plants that have "short" root systems (a Paph growing its second growth, so small/young plant & a young Phal for instance).

[mtorchid]

Notice uour roots at the bottom (that receive more air because of the styro peanuts) are healthy. Watering is tricky because moisture-needs change in different temps and growth cycles, best not to go by the calendar. I have a half dozen Phals in S/H (clay pellets) and they thrive. Aerial roots are in great shape perhaps because humidity wicking up through the pellets. I always had some interior root rot in traditional bark mix but never with clay. But, yes, DO repot it...soonish! ;-)