Phal Problems following emergency repotting - Orchid Board

mexicowpants · #1 06-06-2016, 03:08 PM

So, here's that giant Phal that I discovered bathing in 2 inches of water thanks to the over-zealous watering of my cleaning lady.

Following this incident, I decided it was best to repot, as it was in pretty tightly packed sphagnum, and a couple of visible roots were looking very black and mushy. I trimmed off the rotten roots (around 25% of the total root mass), treated the rest of the roots with a Captan solution, and repotted in coarse bark (pre-soaked). I left it without watering for a couple of days so the roots could dry out and any lesions caused by the repotting could heal over, then gave it a good soak (submerged for around 15 minutes), as the roots were looking very dry. I've since been misting the leaves and aerial roots 2 or 3 times daily, and submerging in water for 10 minutes or so every time the potted roots look dry.

This is how the plant looks now:

As you can see, the leaves look really wrinkly and dehydrated.

Here's the current condition of the roots:

The ones up near the top seem to be fine, but the darkened one down the bottom and the woody-looking ones running vertically are a little concerning.

Several of the blooms are wilting:

They've been like this for several days now, but the stems of the blooms are not drying, and the blooms are showing no signs of falling, they're just very floppy.

Other info: the plant is inside in a reasonably good amount of indirect light (other blooming Phals in the same area are doing fantastically). Humidity is on the low side (30%-ish) , hence the misting. Ventilation is very good.

What should I do? I'm worried that removing it from its pot again could be too much of a shock to it, but that blackened root down the bottom looks pretty ominous. Never had problems following repotting before... :eek:

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