Is my Phal dying? Air roots are shriveled and dry

[ravenmoon]

I recently pruned some black and mushy roots also some air roots that were dried. A week after I repotted my orchid it kinda just flopped over. I'm assuming it's because there aren't that many roots. Also, most of the air roots shriveled up and look extreme dry. I think they're dead, I'm not sure tho.


So my questions are, do I trim these air roots that look dead? And how do I repot my orchid without it flopping over?

[ravenmoon]

These are some pics

[Cntry]

Welcome to the board Ravenmoon, I would make sure the bark is not broken down and the roots don't smell funny or is mushy. If they seem to be ok the I would just carefully soak your orchid in a little water with the bark to get every thing wet. As the water makes some of your bark float I would carefully adjust the orchid in the pot to sit upright. You may need to stake it. Add a little more bark to the top if you need to. Make sure your pot has holes in so that all the extra water can drain out once you pickup the pot.

[Jenn4a]

When I got my NoID phal, on black Friday, the top roots either dried out or stopped growing. I believe it was the change in conditions; being exposed to cold dry air didn't make mine very happy.
Now that the humidity stays above 50% most of the time, but drops to 41 (I then mist the setup) the air roots stay green most of the time and look to be growing slowly.

If you just repotted this, a change in conditions can make a plant droopy, but so can poor roots.
If you think there's something wrong with the potted roots, I would check them and make sure there isn't an infection.
If there isn't an infection, and the roots are white and firm, go ahead and mist them. This phal looks thirsty.

What kind of water are you using? It looks like there's a little hard water on one the leaves. just curious
In the future, if you have low humidity you might want to spray the healthy air roots with water when they turn silvery white.. usually everyday to every 3 days.
How are you watering?It looks like only half of the medium it wet. You want to be sure to fully and evenly water the phal when the bottom roots turn white, around a week.
From my experience: Soaking means longer wait times.
Soaking the phal for 10-15 minutes means that it'll be longer until it needs more water (for me it's about 10 days with this method). If you water from the top, you should make sure the water runs out the bottom, and that you get the water evenly rinsed through the pot, (for me, this method of watering is needed every 6-7 days.)

[ravenmoon]

I actually use ice cubes because the hardware store where I work, every customer I've talked to who owns orchids always told me to use 3 ice cubes a week. What you see it's from me letting bottled water run through it. So it's from it dying out. But I'm going to try your method and soak it for 10-15 mins tomorrow.

I took the plant out of the medium to try and get it to stand up and it seems like all the roots are dried up. I took pics of it earlier. Also where the root meets the plant, it looks black. It's this something I should be worried about?

[gngrhill]

Those roots are definitely dehydrated. You can try soaking the roots in some water and see if any of them turn green. If they don't, you will have to pot it up, keep it moist (not wet ) and wait for it to grow new roots. The ones you call air roots don't appear to be air roots, but roots that were just on the surface so they dried out also. They should be buried when you repot. It is never a good idea to water with ice. It shocks the roots. Water either by the soaking method or watering the top of the medium until it runs out the bottom of the pot.

[ravenmoon]

Oh I didn't know they were roots and not air roots. ::embarrassed:: Well I soaked it twice yesterday for 10+ mins. I'm praying it will grow a healthy root and not die.

[Reeses]

Hi Ravenwood! In Ohio, where I live, there's actually a company that sells orchids that's called Just Add Ice, and they swear by the 3 ice cubes rule. The problem that I see with that is that while it might work in a nice, warm, humid greenhouse, those aren't normally the conditions in a house. So, in a dry house, 3 ice cubes per weeks isn't enough water. I would also be concerned about the temperature of the ice, since orchids are tropical, but I haven't definitively seen anything that says it's bad.

Your Phal's leave don't look wrinkly, so that's a good sign! I would keep up with gngrhill's advice on soaking the plant, or you can thoroughly run water through it in the sink. That personally works for me Best of luck!

[bil]

Originally Posted by ravenmoon

I actually use ice cubes because the hardware store where I work, every customer I've talked to who owns orchids always told me to use 3 ice cubes a week. What you see it's from me letting bottled water run through it. So it's from it dying out. But I'm going to try your method and soak it for 10-15 mins tomorrow.

I took the plant out of the medium to try and get it to stand up and it seems like all the roots are dried up. I took pics of it earlier. Also where the root meets the plant, it looks black. It's this something I should be worried about?

I have heard people be very negative about using ice cubes. It really isn't a good idea at all.

[Wyldwytch]

I use the 3 ice cube rule, but I melt them first, then check the potting medium the next day to see if anything else is needed.

Rose