Emergency orchid rescue - only air roots

[Kristyn'sOrchid]

Hello everyone!
I desperately require guidance about how to revive an orchid that only appears to have air roots left. The plant was given to my husband by his now deceased mother. After many years of caring for the plant, it has taken a sudden turn for the worst. It appears that the roots must have been over-watered recently and now only two roots are left - although they are not in a good condition (only one seems to not have rotted away). However, there are numerous air roots on the plants. The plant has only just finished flowering. Should I cut off all the old roots and stem and simply pot the aerial roots? I have the aerial roots soaking in water at the moment as they were quite withered and silver-grey in colour.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank-you all so much!

[wintergirl]

Roots are roots. Your plant looks good, in a way. You can mount it or put those roots back into some new bark. Depends on how you want to water it. If you killed the roots in the pot maybe you should mount it and just spray the roots once a day. (yes cut off the old mushy roots)

[ShadePlant]

I've never had success potting aerial roots. I find that at least for me the roots seem to be adapted to their environment ( in bark or outside) . If I bury air roots they die. I would just prop the plant up on some bark and lightly mist the aerial roots when they are dry and use some kelp max or Neptunes harvest to stimulate root growth hopefully down into your potting media. Definitely cut off the mushy roots.

[estación seca]

Our member Helene grows beautiful Phals in Norway. If you click on Members in the maroon menu above, then look for her, you can click on her name, then click on Statistics to find threads started by her.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Your plant has enough roots, but is dehydrated. Before repotting, I would hydrate those roots daily for several days, as follows:

Get a tall vase or something similar that those long roots will fit into.

When the roots are in the vase, fill the vase with water to the base of the plant (just below where leaves meet the roots). Soak the roots with just plain water for a half hour to an hour, and drain. Repeat this daily (or as often as possible) for a few weeks. This will plump up the roots. It will partially re-hydrate the leaves, though some wrinkles will remain.

After the daily soaking, you can re-pot normally. Use a pot and growing medium that works for you, or if you are unsure, use a plastic pot with good drainage holes, smallest pot that will fit the roots, and orchid bark as the potting medium.

Water your repotted orchid thoroughly at the sink each time you water (water flowing freely through the bark). Don't water again until the bark is almost dry (but not quite).

Getting you orchid to re-bloom sometimes requires a drop in average temperature. If possible, try to let your Phalaenopsis to experience a roughly 10 degree temperature drop for several weeks. Try to keep temperatures above 10 degrees C (50 F).

The above recommendations I have learned over the past 30 years from other orchid growers and from some trial and error on my own. This is what works for me.

Good luck.

[Helene]

Thanks, Estación Yeah- they are kinda beautiful, arent they

Your phal is dehydrated, as the other already has mentioned.
I would do pretty much the same, except the bag thing. I've tried that once, and all I get is trouble- too humid for my environment.

For an orchid like that- I would cut the bad roots, and find a glass/vase/container (doesnt need drainage) and put it in there for recovering. I would fill it with water and let it stay maybe an hour or a little less (sometimes more), then empty the vase for water. Maybe twice a day in the beginning.
When the plant seems to recover, (a week, maybe two), I would plant it with bark or something- in a pot with good drainage.

And then I do the same- I water thoroughly by the sink- one or two times a week.

Oh- another tip: if you buy orchid bark that's mixed- try to get the "dust" out before potting, I have experienced mixed bark being so full of dust, it all sinks to the bottom of the pot- making the last inch really wet and soggy. Had to repot.

If you want- let me know and I can put some photos in, both from vase or pots. Or you can search for my other threads, lol, I tend to put lots of photos in.

And last thing: if I can grow nice phalaenopsis in Norway- in a house with 30% humidity- everyone can do it😉
Keep it simple. You can water as often as you like, as long as the roots get a chance to try inbetween.
The vase thing during recovery is because I find it really easy to see how the plant is doing.



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[Kristyn'sOrchid]

Thank-you all for your wonderful advice.
I have hopefully followed your instructions (I have a week old baby so following instructions is a little difficult at the moment!). As you can see from my attached photo, I have now cut off all the original old potted roots as they were all mushy - even the two that remained in the photograph I first posted were mushy. I also cut off the stem that divided the old potted roots and the new aerial roots. Only the aerial roots now remain, and the leaves that are above the aerial roots. Unfortunately, the lovely flowering section also had to be cut off as it was at a bad angle for repotting the aerial roots.
The plant is currently soaking in water (1 hour), and I will do this for the next few days.
After that I will repot the plant as instructed. If the repotting does not appear to be going well, I hope I will be able to mount it on bark.
I am crossing my fingers that it survives.
Again, thank-you for taking the time to give your advice. It is greatly appreciated

[estación seca]

Congratulations on the new baby!

[gngrhill]

You have plenty of roots there, so if you can rehydrate it as shown above, it should do well for you once it's potted.