Aerial roots shriveling up and drying on my Phal

[Fuzzy]

Hello, I posted last week with newbie phal questions and I learned a lot from your answers and from reading the phal abuse board...thank you all. I realized I was making the mistake of overwatering my phal and I will not do that again. However, since letting the medium dry up a bit, I noticed that all the aerial roots on the phal are shriveling up and quickly dying off, including the several brand new small roots that were growing in. Is it because it's not humid enough here? Could it be because I'm not fertilizing (haven't bought orchid food yet, planning to order now)? If it's a humidity issue, is there anything I can do since it's pretty dry here? Or is it no big deal to let the aerial roots die off as long as the ones in the moss are healthy?

I'm attaching two pictures of the roots for comparison. The first picture is from last week with wet medium that was just watered 2 days before. The second picture is from today and I will be watering this orchid first thing tomorrow morning.

[HighSeas]

Even though the top (on the second picture) appears dry, how is it down deeper in the pot? It's hard to say but if there is any moistness in there, I wouldn't water it yet. That's just me.

I hate moss. It's never worked well for me except on mounts and then temporarily. I would yank him out of the pot and inspect the roots. Then repot in the same pot with bark. It dries out faster, allows more air to the root system and is much more forgiving should you overwater.

[Leafmite]

I am likely the only person on Orchid Board that cannot successfully use bark. I pot my phals in net/basket pots, the bottom half filled with lava rock or Styrofoam peanuts and the top with NZ sphagnum moss. You can gently bury the roots in the moss. In my set up, the moss can always be damp without fear of the roots rotting.

[mendoccino]

I guess it's something other than a low humidity issue. As you see there is vegetation other than your phal thriving. I guess they need more humidity at the roots than a phalaenopsis does (which is not a good thing in your case). The roots that are not shrivelled have strange colouring, are they soft?

I also have a problem with aerial roots, the plant grows and then abandons the tips (but not entire roots) when it sees it cannot maintain them any further. I think their growth is bounded with humidity in my living room.

I myself have never been successful at growing in moss; I mean those mini phals that they sell in pure moss. I'd empty the pot and see if it's good inside the moss, if it's not in spike or flowering nowadays.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Hello, I posted last week with newbie phal questions and I learned a lot from your answers and from reading the phal abuse board...thank you all. I realized I was making the mistake of overwatering my phal and I will not do that again. However, since letting the medium dry up a bit, I noticed that all the aerial roots on the phal are shriveling up and quickly dying off, including the several brand new small roots that were growing in. Is it because it's not humid enough here? Could it be because I'm not fertilizing (haven't bought orchid food yet, planning to order now)? If it's a humidity issue, is there anything I can do since it's pretty dry here? Or is it no big deal to let the aerial roots die off as long as the ones in the moss are healthy?

I'm attaching two pictures of the roots for comparison. The first picture is from last week with wet medium that was just watered 2 days before. The second picture is from today and I will be watering this orchid first thing tomorrow morning.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by HighSeas

Even though the top (on the second picture) appears dry, how is it down deeper in the pot? It's hard to say but if there is any moistness in there, I wouldn't water it yet. That's just me.

I hate moss. It's never worked well for me except on mounts and then temporarily. I would yank him out of the pot and inspect the roots. Then repot in the same pot with bark. It dries out faster, allows more air to the root system and is much more forgiving should you overwater.

High Seas,
This morning it felt pretty dry inside. That and given that it was 9 days since I last watered, I went ahead and watered today. The aerial roots are pretty much all dead at this point. I'm concerned about bark, since it seems to be very dry here (I've ordered a small humidity meter, so soon I'll find out exactly how dry), with bark I'm afraid the phal will dry out!

---------- Post added at 10:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Leafmite

I am likely the only person on Orchid Board that cannot successfully use bark. I pot my phals in net/basket pots, the bottom half filled with lava rock or Styrofoam peanuts and the top with NZ sphagnum moss. You can gently bury the roots in the moss. In my set up, the moss can always be damp without fear of the roots rotting.

Leafmite, my orchid's set up is very similar to what you are describing. It came in a plastic pot that is about 1/3 styrofoam peanuts and the rest is loosely packed sphagnum moss. At this point all the aerial roots look dead though.

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------

Originally Posted by mendoccino

I guess it's something other than a low humidity issue. As you see there is vegetation other than your phal thriving. I guess they need more humidity at the roots than a phalaenopsis does (which is not a good thing in your case). The roots that are not shrivelled have strange colouring, are they soft?

I also have a problem with aerial roots, the plant grows and then abandons the tips (but not entire roots) when it sees it cannot maintain them any further. I think their growth is bounded with humidity in my living room.

I myself have never been successful at growing in moss; I mean those mini phals that they sell in pure moss. I'd empty the pot and see if it's good inside the moss, if it's not in spike or flowering nowadays.

Mendoccino,
All the aerial roots are pretty much dead at this point. There is one strangely-colored root. I have a feeling they all rotted and then dried out and died.
The plant is flowering now, so I'm waiting to repot until it's done. The moss is packed loosely and at least 1/3 of the pot is styrofoam peanuts, so I hope the roots inside are ok (can't see them since the pot is not see-through).

[Leafmite]

I use pots that look like plastic baskets (very open and allowing excellent air-exchange) and set these pots in a plastic outer container to help keep the humidity around them. I water when the moss begins to get dry (within a day or two in my set up). Moss works well in the plastic basket pots, very shallow containers or when it is the top layer with rock or peanuts below.
If the roots look very dry, you might want to soak them for about a half-hour and see if any turn green (or at least white) and plump. If they don't, they might all be dead. This is how I water many of my orchids that are mounted or in straight lava rock.
Good luck!

[lotis146]

How did you determine to water every 9 days? It might be that it's drying out faster than you think, try the skewer trick (stick it carefully in center for a few minutes and pull out looking for moisture or lack of).

I've watched my aerial roots get pretty try too prior to the plant needing to be watered. In those cases I would just mist these surface roots themselves, which may be what you want to try. It may well be a humidity issue or even that you dry out sooner than you think.

Good luck with this.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by lotis146

How did you determine to water every 9 days? It might be that it's drying out faster than you think, try the skewer trick (stick it carefully in center for a few minutes and pull out looking for moisture or lack of).

I've watched my aerial roots get pretty try too prior to the plant needing to be watered. In those cases I would just mist these surface roots themselves, which may be what you want to try. It may well be a humidity issue or even that you dry out sooner than you think.

Good luck with this.

Lotis,
I was watering every 7 days before, and the moss wasn't drying all the way and there was quite a bit of moisture inside. So this time I waited 2 extra days. After watering (I also watered the roots thoroughly) a few of the roots plumped up, and some are just shriveled and dried or mushy, clearly dead. Should I remove the read roots? Are they harmful to the orchid? I also noticed that the two bottom (oldest) leaves are turning a bit leathery and developing wrinkles. What does this mean?

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Lotis,
I was watering every 7 days before, and the moss wasn't drying all the way and there was quite a bit of moisture inside. So this time I waited 2 extra days. After watering (I also watered the roots thoroughly) a few of the roots plumped up, and some are just shriveled and dried or mushy, clearly dead. Should I remove the read roots? Are they harmful to the orchid? I also noticed that the two bottom (oldest) leaves are turning a bit leathery and developing wrinkles. What does this mean?

I'm no expert myself but my understanding of wrinkled leaves is that the plant isn't get sufficient water due to either under-watering or root rot from over (rotted, dead roots of course won't be delivering water so to speak). It may be that you've got root problem down below since it sounds like it's getting enough water. Like someone else said I think you need to have a look at the roots (sorry can't recall if you've done that already). You should be able to take the plant out of the pot (carefully) without disturbing the root ball. Even from this simple act you might be able to see a number of roots & get a look at how compact the medium is.

I tried my hand a some box-store rescues and found one of them to be PACKED TIGHT with moss & was totally dry when I got it but wrinkled leaves. I watered it and flowers started dropping. I'm still battling to save this plant even though it might very well have no chance. I've repotted a couple of Phals while in flower and had mixed results (flowers kept, half flowers dropped, couple dropped...)

Take some pictures of the plant out of its pot, look at the roots. If the moss seems really tight you could pick some of it away gently with tweezers, loosening it up. Let us know what you find. Once you do this, if you have rotted roots than you will need to cut them off. I'm not sure about cutting the dead aerial roots at this point.

Good luck!

[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!