Opinions on These Two Phals Roots

[Jenna09]

Both of these Phals came from the same store, both gifted to me and exactly the same flowers.

They both came in a coarse bark that had severely decomposed by the time the flowers had died off (the one had flowers since March). The one had some odd spongy type cushion material in the middle of it (looked like a piece of pumpernickel bread) which I removed.

I am not sure on either of their roots. The one has started to grow a new leaf and the other I have left it's spikes on because they haven't started to "die" yet.

I have repotted them in some medium/coarse bark orchid mixture.

Should I just leave them with their roots all as is? or go back in and remove anything? I know roots can look iffy but still be ok.

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jenna

The first 4 pics are of the orchid with the new leaf growth out of the medium and into the new medium and the 5th & 6th pictures are of the one with the spikes still intact.

[aliceinwl]

The roots look "ugly" but relatively healthy. I don't think any cutting is necessary. I think you made a good call leaving them intact.

[mobelle]

I'd trim off any rotten/dead roots.

[Roberta]

I vote with aliceinwl . Let it grow some more new, really good roots before you consider surgery - a root with rotted velamin (the spongy outside coating) can still hydrate the plant (and help keep it steady in the pot), and it is not always easy to see that is a truly bad root and what is just an ugly one. Getting those roots into an open, fresh medium that admits air is the critical thing right now.

[Jenna09]

I ended up repotting both into new fresh medium, I am not confident enough yet at determining what is truly rotten/dead and what is still possibly supplying life to the plant. Quite a few of the icky looking roots still had green spots of life to them.

I appreciate the advice and I hope both orchids do well.

Thanks
Jenna

[aliceinwl]

So far all of the “icky” roots I’ve left intact after re-potting have slowly died. But, while they’re dying they’re still doing their job, by the time they’re completely dead the plant has usually started to push new healthy roots.

When I’ve cut such roots it’s usually triggered bud blast if the plant was in flower and/or limp drooping leaves. These plants eventually recovered fully, but I think I really set them back. I’ve become much more conservative when trimming roots :-)