Mini Phal root help

[NewbzOrchid]

I am new to orchids and so I started off with a mini phal. Unfortunately I think due to the fact that I wasn't using room temperature water to water it, most of it's roots have rotted or died off. So now I'm currently trying to revive the little thing and have done a bit of digging on the Internet to find ways to keep it alive. Also I've read that phal's can be resilient and I hope that's the case for mine. Any help would be appreciated, I have some pictures of what I am currently doing with it.

I am currently trying the Sphag and Bag method however I have noticed that it looks like the only roots it has are slowly dying or that white stuff was forming on the roots and the stake so I have taken it out of the bag for now and am hoping to get more feedback on this. The setup I had for the sphag was a plastic dish with some white fish gravel which had been filled with some water, along with having the orchid itself attached to a stake with some sphagnum moss surrounding it in a plastic cup. Then the entire plant along with the plastic dish was placed in a Ziploc bag but not sealed completely. I also have a terrarium hygrometer placed inside the bag which showed it had 80% humidity. However I was unsure if the entire bag should be placed under a fluorescent bulb that I have my other plants under. Also I wasn't sure if I should be spraying the roots with water and such.

The orchid was placed in the bag for about a week or almost that and it still looks fairly healthy from what I can tell, however the two roots that it has doesn't.

I have looked at a few other methods for helping root production, like putting the orchid in a water culture, or placing the orchid in a pot full of sphagnum moss and keeping it moist. Unfortunately I don't have any sphagnum moss and am waiting for some that I ordered to arrive.

So is there any hope for saving my little phal? Also I hope this is the correct place for this. I'm hoping I did this correctly.

[estación seca]

The remaining roots look OK. The plant is highly likely to survive and grow. The warmer you keep it the faster it will recover.

You might have cut off some healthy roots. I don't know what you mean by white stuff on roots. Healthy phal roots turn green when they are wet, but also have white streaks on the surface that are easily visible against the green.

I don't think you need the stake.

Get some kelp extract to treat the roots. It contains rooting hormones. One treatment per month should be enough.

[silken]

I'm not a big fan of the sphag and bag method. I've tried it a few times and my roots always get moldy. The trick it to put it in the bag but not have the roots get wet. Just to give it that very humid environment since it has no roots to take up moisture. The few roots it has need to breathe too.

I am a big fan of seaweed (kelp) for promoting root growth. I would find some of that and give the roots a soak every day but only for 20 mins or so. Then maybe put it in a clear container with lots of air holes so it can get air but also stays quite humid. It doesn't need a lot of light right now and they are low light plants anyways. Just in a normal lit room but not necessary to be under lights.

I find the seaweed at hydroponics stores. Any brand seems to work.

[NewbzOrchid]

I think due to all the water and such the roots and stake were perhaps was white mold or something? I'm not sure where I can find seaweed for it, can I use an alternative instead?

So should I have anything else in the plastic container?

Would I be able to buy seaweed from the grocery store and would that work?

[silken]

I've never found it at a grocery store in Canada. Are you in a city or rural area? SuperThrive or K-L-N are sort of substitutes but if you can't find seaweed, then those are likely even harder to find. Have you already ordered the moss? May I ask your source? Maybe you could add on some seaweed to the order if they have it.

The container could have a little plastic dish of water to add humidity but the plant shouldn't be in it.

I agree, the stake is likely not serving a purpose anymore.

[estación seca]

You need to go to a hydroponics store and get some kelp extract. It is sold to promote root growth. It is not expensive.

If you've never been to a hydroponics store you will be quite surprised. I'm sure the hydroponics shops in Canada are not much different from the ones here, since the customers tend to grow the same crops.

[NewbzOrchid]

I ordered the moss from amazon and it's already shipped so it'd be too late to try and add it in.

I live in the city but due to not having a vehicle nor knowing of any hydroponic store even around here I wouldn't know where to even start nor even know if any are close to my area.


I may have found a hydroponic store that I might be able to try and get to. They only sell Acadie sea weed though, would that do? Also how often would I put the orchid in it, once a month or every day for 20 minutes?

[estación seca]

I'm not familiar with that product, but if you go to the company's Web site you can probably read about it. In your situation you would soak the plant for a few hours in a kelp solution and repeat every now and then.

[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?

[silken]

The Acadian seaweed sounds like it has the same hormones that most have. But I couldn't find a web page where it showed any for sale in a small container. Seems like more for crops. You should just be able to look in the yellow pages or Google hydroponics stores in your area and then call one and ask. It is usually not very expensive and in a small bottle of concentrated liquid or dry powder form. I think once a month isn't enough while the plant is struggling. Many people apply It every month or so on all their healthy plants with fertilizer. On one that is struggling, I would soak the roots in it at least every few days for a week or two. It depends if you start to see some growth or what happens. Don't soak the crown or you risk getting crown rot.

Before seaweed, SuperThrive etc. some people used to use sugar water to soak bare root plants to get them going. You could do that in a pinch, but I would be a bit worried about mould developing from the sugar. It used to be done in the 'olden days' tho.