Help with a rootless phalaenopsis

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As others mentioned, the leaves wrinkled and dropped off because the roots the plant has aren't sufficient to supply enough water to replace what evaporates from the leaves.

The plant can still recover and grow more roots if:
- It can take up enough water through the roots to support the existing leaves, roots and new root growth;
- You can minimize evaporation by keeping the humidity high enough around it;
- The dead parts of the plant don't start rotting.

Just touching a newly-developing root bud with your finger, or bumping it on a plastic pot or piece of bark, will kill the tip. This is why people are advising you not to move it around and not to unpot/repot.

Pick one spot for the plant and leave it there. Put it in bright shade. More light means more water demand. It will be better in less light than many Phals tolerate.

Ensure the humidity is high around it. Don't pick it up to look at it. You might bump the roots. Get the roots wet every day, but don't let them sit on wet medium. They may stay too wet and the dead parts might begin rotting.

It won't need fertilizer until new, strong roots are forming. Then use very dilute fertilizer at every watering or every other watering. Use something like 20-25 parts per million of nitrogen.

[GoldStar135]

Here are a couple of pics of my current setup-








So far I think the setup is working very well-perhaps even better than my old one (the humidity has gone up around 7%). The humidity stays above 81% and below 92%. The temperatures are the same as they were in the old setup (66*F at night to 82*F during the day). The fan inside is on 24/7. The light it's receiving in the shots is through a window facing west.

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I would not let sun shine on it for any length of time. It doesn't need that much light.

[HuniGems182]

I also used better gro with 5 phals, and 2 off them lost roots one by one after I repotted. They were healthy to begin with. It is quite strange. I keep one In a giant glass fish bowl type vase with a tad of water in the bottom, and the phal sits on rocks above. Once it grows roots I'll pot it up again

[Makiabra]

Yes, I did that to my phal, she looks ok.

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I don't know what you mean by Better Gro. They make a lot of different orchid mixes. Many of them are closer to house plant potting mix, and retain far too much water. Having standing water in the bottom of a vase filled with most Better Gro mixes would almost certainly rot the roots.

This is a good thread to learn about caring for Phalaenopsis:
The Phal abuse ends here.

[HuniGems182]

Bettergro is sold usually in Lowes or home depot, along with miracle grow orchid bark mix. I tried miracle grow before and the mix was infested with fungus gnats. Better group mix is much better but some phals seem to hate it. I had 3 transition quite well, but 2 of them just did not do well and lost roots. Makes ya wonder

[Dollythehun]

I also had trouble with Miracle Gro being almost silty. I recently switched to Repot me's AAA Imperial Gold mix. It isn't just NZSM, it has a little bark, cork, perlite and leca mixed in. My phals responded immediately and well. Just FYI.

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Phalaenopsis are not as easy to learn to grow as some other orchids, and I am in the minority thinking they are not good beginner orchids. But once you figure out a good combination of medium, pot and watering frequency for you to use, they become very easy.

People in different climates seem to succeed with different techniques. A large part of the issue is how often you can and do water. Large-chunk bark works very well for almost everybody, unless they can't check the wetness very often, and they let the plants stay dry too long. This is not a common problem, but it happens.

[flowerpower]

I don't agree that the orchid should be thrown away. If you are attached to it then look after it and it should be alright?

I have had loads of rootless phals and none died... six months from now they'll be ready to bloom and it will be like nothing ever happened. In fact, all the broken and old roots are gone and your new set are all shiny and new! The first leaves grow in tiny and the next set grow to a fairly normal size. When the roots grow in it will happen rapidly.

I keep mine in bright light or even under artificial light if available to speed this along. Some people say low light is best to avoid stressing it but I want the new roots as quickly as possible and give it bright light. It's controversial which is the correct way so just do what you think is best.

Sometimes we buy orchids that are more valuable/rare in poor condition and having the skills to turn them around can be quite handy. I like to experiment on growing my orchids in different ways and sometimes it goes great and sometimes it goes wrong. Sometimes overpotting or changing media can result in a rootless orchid quite quickly... not good, but not the end of the world either.

If I tossed out any orchid that had a poor root system or a hiccup along the way I wouldn't have many orchids left. I don't think there has ever been a time when every orchid in my collection is thriving or in great health. There is always an orchid or two struggling along but with a bit of patience it will be fine!!

I don't bother with incubators or bags - just put it in moss/semi hydro or even just put the base in a glass of water to just below the green part!!!!