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  #1  
Old 10-26-2015, 02:33 PM
Julissa Julissa is offline
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Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?
Question Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?

Hello, I was wondering if a phalaenopsis orchid can burn out in the sense that it's producing a lot of roots and two new leaves at the same time edit: will cause her to exhaust herself and collapse.

A little back history of my orchid:
I got her on July 17, 2015 on discount from Lowe's (had 6 leaves). Potted in wood chips. I have never had any luck growing plants especially orchids but since I love orchids I decided to give orchid growing another try. Probably two to three weeks after, almost all her roots ended up rotting away. I cut off all the dead and dying roots with sterilized garden scissors leaving her with 3-4 roots. I repotted her in new bark medium . She lost another leaf soon after and noticed the root base located all the way at the bottom had gotten black.

So I treated her with Physan 20. I made a solution of one gallon of water with 1 tbps of Physan 20. I placed the whole orchid in the solution for 15 minutes while sterilizing garden scissors and an exacto-knife. After the 15 minute soak, I cut away the rest of the roots with the scissors, and with the exacto knife I cut away(shaved) as much of the black from the stem which started spreading up to the crown. I also removed the dead matter that had spread to the crown and then I placed her back into the solution for another 15 minutes. This helped stop the rot from spreading.

At this point, it is late August to early September. I have a three leaved orchid with no roots.
I went searching for methods of promoting root growth. I came across the "sphag and bag" and the hydroculture method. I didn't really understand hydroculture so I went with the sphag and bag method. I had placed the orchid with a moist ball of sphag and left her to be with no results except for another leaf falling. Then I came across a thread on Big leaf Orchids "Saving a rootless Phal" which mentioned submerging the whole orchid in fertilizer solution for a couple of minutes and then applying root hormones. So I looked up root growth promoter and found super thrive. I bought it, tried, but it didn't seems to do anything. Her two remaining leaves were still green so I kept searching.

So then I tried using the fertilizer solution MSU Feed Me! (tap water) liquid solution with KelpMax from Rays. I started dipping her everyday with 1 tbps of the fertilizer solution and 1 tbps of kelpmax in a one gallon solution for around 45 minutes. (This was in the last week of September).

I paced her in an empty 1.25 gal tank I had to keep moisture inside. I placed her on top of some moist sphag with the solution and a cup of water of the solution at the bottom of the tank to help create moisture. I also moved her to my desk where she gets lighting from the north and east side with temperature ranging from 74-76f (at night) to 80-82f (during the day). She is also around 3 feet away from my A/C but not directly in front.

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-12-2015_001-jpg
Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-desk_layout-jpg

During October 5-11 I stopped dipping her but left her in the tank with the fert/ kelp solution since I didn't see any progress but she was still green.

October 12, 2015:
I noticed she started sprouting a leaf. I assumed since the root base was badly damaged, she was growing a new leaf to make room for future root growth.

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-12-2015_009-jpg

October 14, 2015:
A root started sprouting

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-14-2015_004-jpg

October 17, 2015:
A second root started sprouting

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-17-2015_004-jpg

October 23, 2015:
two more roots started sprouting
There is also a little green dot where the dead base is. I'm not sure if it's a root since it isn't growing much.

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-25-2015_004-jpg
Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-23-2015_008-jpg

October 25, 2015:
I noticed the two oldest roots (1/4th of an inch long) started growing root hair (?)
Can someone take a look to make sure? I'm still scared it might be fungus.

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-26-2015_009-jpg

October 26, 2015:
A second new leaf is sprouting.

Can a Phal orchid Burn Out?-my_orchid_10-26-2015_001-jpg

Last edited by Julissa; 10-29-2015 at 02:02 PM..
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  #2  
Old 10-26-2015, 02:43 PM
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Leafmite Leafmite is offline
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From what I have observed in the plant kingdom, this type of behavior is perfectly normal when a plant's conditions are being met. Think about what happens in the spring....
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  #3  
Old 10-26-2015, 02:47 PM
Optimist Optimist is offline
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Quite a heroic effort! I do not know if the specific potions and elixirs are what caused the re-growth. Water and more sun with good drainage usually works wonders in the plant world.

As long as you are not at "terminal spike" I suppose you still have life in the orchid. I do not think they are very old when they get to Lowes. It does take a few years to get a spike from a plant coming back from a near-death experience like that. I would not count on anything this year or maybe even 2016. Orchids grow at an exceedingly slow rate. Getting a few leaves a year is usually considered impressive.
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  #4  
Old 10-26-2015, 02:49 PM
Julissa Julissa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafmite View Post
From what I have observed in the plant kingdom, this type of behavior is perfectly normal when a plant's conditions are being met. Think about what happens in the spring....
Ok I'm just a little worried since this is my first orchid that I have been able to save and seeing so much growth in such a short time span is making me feel uneasy.
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Old 10-26-2015, 02:53 PM
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It looks like it is on the road to recovery so give yourself a pat on the back instead of worrying.
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Old 10-26-2015, 02:54 PM
Julissa Julissa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Optimist View Post
Quite a heroic effort! I do not know if the specific potions and elixirs are what caused the re-growth. Water and more sun with good drainage usually works wonders in the plant world.

As long as you are not at "terminal spike" I suppose you still have life in the orchid. I do not think they are very old when they get to Lowes. It does take a few years to get a spike from a plant coming back from a near-death experience like that. I would not count on anything this year or maybe even 2016. Orchids grow at an exceedingly slow rate. Getting a few leaves a year is usually considered impressive.
I have some how managed to kill 7 orchids already so I was trying to do anything I could to keep this one alive. I'm just happy she hasn't died on me. I'm in no rush to see her bloom again. I prefer her getting her root system in place as well as maturing her leaves properly.

Which leads me to my next question. Will the second leaf stop growing since a new one is sprouting?
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Old 10-26-2015, 06:41 PM
LovePhals LovePhals is offline
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Really impressive recovery!!
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  #8  
Old 10-26-2015, 07:00 PM
Optimist Optimist is offline
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If the care (including near death experience) caused the enzymes that cause growth to switch off, then yes, it will stop growing. The leaf length of phals will often reflect their culture and care.

The goal is to have ever-increasing size, but often, if you go from the ideal conditions of the grower's greenhouse, to your place which may lack ideal orchid conditions, then the leaves will show that they are not getting the same care. (I am trying not to antrhopomophise here-- it is not like they are "angry" or anything), they just need to ration their food in different ways, and a short leaf is just as useful as a long one, in many ways.
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  #9  
Old 10-27-2015, 04:16 AM
ThePinkCucumber ThePinkCucumber is offline
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Of course it'll take quite a while before you get blooms, but well done, if you continue like this, you'll definitely get there
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Old 10-27-2015, 09:21 AM
Luizacft Luizacft is offline
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That was epic! There is a feeling each time we save a half dead orchid. I have 2 phals and 1 colmanara which are fighting for their lives!


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