Mini Phal root help

[bil]

Originally Posted by NewbzOrchid

All it says on the site's website is that it's a good source of potassium and micro-elements. That's all. So I don't know if it's even what I need.


I might order some seaweed extract so that it can help my orchid. Only thing is what can I do in the mean time until it arrives?

Google First Rays. He has cold extracted kelp juice. His articles on fertilising are worth reading. I'm a great fan of his Klite fertiliser. If I told you what I had to pay to get it shipped to Europe, you would soil yourself. It more than trebled the price.

WTo minis, I hate what they do to them. They cut off their damn roots, pack them into eggcups and sell them.

I rip off all the moss, and plant them in fine bark, no bag or sphag. The three I bought las year are flowering well. This white one flowered all summer long, and when it stopped I repotted it into a larger pot only to find there was another spike coming. That's the spike on the right. It has been flowering for at least 3-4 months and still has unopened flowers. as well as two new spikes. At this rate it will be an all year flowerer.

[NewbzOrchid]

I have orchid bark media I could place the little orchid in, just I want to be able to keep a closer eye on the roots to see if they are growing or not. But until the seaweed arrives I could do that.

Currently I have the orchid in a plastic container with tons of air holes and some water in a little cup for humidity. However the two roots it does have looks like they are drying out and such. I did spray some orchid plant foot on the roots and leaves so hopefully that helps a bit.

[silken]

I wouldn't fertilize for now. Just spritz the roots each day with water until your seaweed arrives.

[NewbzOrchid]

What do I do if the last two remaining roots die? Will the phal eventually grow new roots? Would I still be able to place it in the seaweed extract once I receive it?

[estación seca]

The last two roots are unlikely to die. If they do, the plant can still be rerooted using the same methods people have suggested here.

Yes, it will very probably grow new roots and resume healthy growth.

Yes, once you receive the seaweed, soak the plant in it during a warm period of the day for 4-6 hours. Then let it dry, especially the crevice in the center of the new leaf, before night and cooler temperatures.

The warmer and more humid you can keep the plant, the better its chances and the faster it will recover. But the roots must still dry out between waterings.

[NewbzOrchid]

So I was able to purchase some seaweed liquid food locally even though I have some ordered and was wondering how should I use it on my poor little phal. It's Neptune's Harvest Seaweed Plant food. How much should I use and how long and often should I soak the orchid?

[NewbzOrchid]

So I ended up cutting off the last two remaining roots due to they looked rotten and I also cut off the bottom of the orchid to get all the brown looking rot off the base of the orchid. Unfortunately it is now down to two leaves. With the Neptune's Harvest Seaweed how much should I be using and how often should I be soaking it? I should I be placing ground cinnamon on the base of the orchid where it was freshly cut to prevent bacteria from growing and hopefully keeping it alive? I am still having it in a container with tons of air holes and around 80% humidity.

Can I save this little phal?

[estación seca]

It doesn't sound promising, but it's worth a shot. I didn't see the roots when you cut them off, but I am surprised they died. They were clearly alive and healthy in the photos you posted December 19. I don't know your level of experience, but I would be concerned you might be cutting off living roots. Have you seen enough living and dead orchid roots to know the difference? Roots like those wouldn't be expected to die this quickly unless they were kept very wet.

I wouldn't use cinnamon on roots or the base of a plant, only on cut leaf surfaces. It may damage roots. I would put just the plant base in the kelp solution for an hour or two, once a week or so. Keep it warm and humid in between soakings.

[NewbzOrchid]

Both roots were really dark and black where they connected to the orchid and one of them the spongy part of the root was off so it was just the thin wiry piece connecting to it.

Right now it's more of a science project to see if I can get the thing to come back. I was told that with the type of liquid seaweed I am using I should only put it in for a few minutes a day. Should I not then? How much water should I be using then? On the bottle it says 1 tablespoon per gallon of water but the orchid is so tiny where I have to hold it to make sure the crown doesn't get wet.

These were how the roots looked on December 20th.

[estación seca]

The remaining root pieces on Dec 20 look healthy.

I would wet the remaining roots and base of the plant once or more times a day, then let it get dry between wettings. You could do this by dipping the base of the plant into a shallow bowl of water and perhaps letting it sit there 15-60 minutes.

I doubt the seaweed would be useful more than once a week, so use water for most of the wettings. You don't have to mix up a full gallon of the seaweed, and you can store the diluted mixture in the refrigerator. The hormones are probably stable for at least a week if kept cold. Let the mixture warm up to ambient temperature before using it on your plant.

If your tap water is high in dissolved minerals it would be better to use reverse osmosis or purified water.

If the relative humidity is high the plant should absorb enough water with daily dips to maintain the leaves without further shriveling. It should sprout new roots as well. The higher you can keep the temperature around the plant, the faster it will respond, but I wouldn't aim for more than 85F / 30C.