Need help w/ phalaenopsis! mold? scales? bad roots?

[gngrhill]

As was mentioned by another post, the red on the leaf may show it was exposed to too much light, so maybe the brown spots may be sunburn. No harm there. the white stuff in the crown seems too small to be mealy bugs or scale and may be mites. Others can offer more help on getting rid of insects than I as I have not really had an insect problem. Once you get the ones on the plant cleared up, I would recommend a systemic to be sure they won't come back. Welcome to the addictive world of orchids

[MAR8D08]

I'm pretty new to orchids too, but I'd go ahead and repot. Better to save the entire plant and risk losing the blooms than to have him die. Having said that, phals seem to be pretty resilient, so if you wanted to wait until all the blooms have fallen you can. But if you do that you might be waiting weeks to months, in which time you could have further damage to your plant. The blooms are beautiful, by the way. Hope you can save him and watch him bloom next year

[Jenn4a]

QUICK UPDATE:

btw, thanks everyone. I'll post more later, but thought I'd write a little bit before bed.

I got some tweezers out and removed some of the medium. I accidentally broke off some small pieces of the roots, came off attached to the bark.

The buds are growing bigger though!

I got a mini fan that I moved by my phal, I think it's helping the moisture problem.

I sprayed some reverse osmosis water onto the top roots. They looked pretty dry, and the fan removes the exess water. I saw some patches of white.. Not sure how to describe it, but there were on the under side of some dry/dead roots.
I think my next move is to remove some of the broken, and dead roots, especially with the white fuzzy/spikey patches underneath. Some of the top roots feel like paper, while the alive dry ones turned green after I sprayed them.

Other than that the only thing I noticed was that there are new dry sides on the leaves.

I'll be back later. Just wanted to share the info.
I'll add some photos to my album later too.

[Jenn4a]

12/15/14

Okay, so overall I think my Phal is doing fine.
I will repot after the blooms are finished as long as the health doesn't decline.

The brown, soft, watery spots on the leaf have increased throughout the tip, (very slow changing)
I've been reading and think it may just be from the temperature shock. It was cold when I got it.
If it helps, when I place a flashlight underneath the leaf, I can see through the brown area, like oil on paper.

Some of the older flowers are shriveling up and droopy.
I've read that I should leave them alone and let them fall off.

The new flowers are smaller and take longer to open. Also buds are droopy..
I think it could be from temperature and letting the pot dry out too long.

I watered it yesterday, and the Saturday before.
when I watered yesterday, the roots closer to the bottom turned green, some right below the surface stayed gray/white, or slightly brown.

With the fan, (check out my setup) my phal seems to dry properly, and the fuzz has disappeared! The musty smell is only noticeable when I water. I still see what looks like spider webs in the right light, but not like before.

My phal shakes around and leans a lot in the pot but I think I fixed it by moving around the bark closer to the stake. *I ended up cutting some dying roots

I know with how much I write it seems like I'm really worried, but I am a detailed writer, I must include everything I think of. I'm sorry if that annoys anyone... I can't help it.

Thanks everyone!

[jmmehler]

I believe spider webs indicate mites, which are a form of spider. To add to your frustration, my buddy, Ronnie B. once told me that insecticides that kill some bugs, don't kill mites, and then the mites thrive, as the other bugs eat mites, or vice versa.

Blooms or not, consider getting some high quality (AAA to AAAAA) sphagnum moss, and repotting. Just dunk the whole pot completely under water, and after a few minutes, work the bark off of the roots.

Cut off any dead, broken, and 'hangin-by-a-thread' roots. Take a soft tooth brush and lightly go over the whole plant, tops, and bottoms of leaves, nooks and crannies. get some household plant bug spray, and spray everything.

Soak the sphagnum, and squeeze out the excess water. make a fist size ball and stick it under the roots so that they form around it. Place it in a clear pot, and pack more sphagnum around it till full. Top of of the sphagnum should be 3/8 to 1/2 inch from top. It is ok for the plant to be tilted. In fact, a tilted plant will hold less water in the crown.


Continue to lightly spray the insecticide every 3 or 4 days.

While it may sound radical, at least you will be completely done with the problem, and will now be able to enjoy a healthy plant, or just go out and buy another one.

Good luck