Thank you all so much for your thorough advice and two cents! I feel a lot better informed about orchids now ^^
As some of you were wondering; I just have a bunch of cheap NoID phals collected or gifted (presumably mostly) from supermarkets or flower shops, with the exception of one which looks to be intergenera (it has broad, flat pseudobulbs with very long, slanting leafblades and small flowers shaped like a phal's). The phal struggling the most is a dwarf plant with dwarf flowers (is it called a colibri due to size or is that a specific subspecies?). All of its leaves have gone limp, its roots have dried out one by one until there were just 3 left and it hasn't seen new growth in over a year. The medium was renewed this spring and when the roots started drying out it has been given water increasingly often (but in smaller doses). Doesn't seem to have helped. It has now been stable for a month or two rather than continuing to deteriorate, though no sign of improvement yet.
I have to say though, since I've done all the reading on this forum and elsewhere, I have started
misting the orchids about 6 times a day with distilled water like I do with my ferns and carnivorous plants and most seem to be responding well. Aside from the dwarf they are doing significantly better. The problem is probably the climate - I live in a very dry climate and this year is particularly hot and dry, so they must be losing too much water despite being watered frequently and the more frequent watering with hard water may have also played them parts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)
As far as differentiating living roots from dead ones, I like to wet the root mass down thoroughly and do a pull test. If I gently pull on the roots and the velamen layer sloughs off leaving behind the stringy core, then I cut those, these are clearly dead. I leave any living roots alone.
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Oh yes, I have also noticed this. Thank you for putting that into context.
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