Can this Cattleya with dried roots be saved?

[AEKass]

Hoping to get advice about how to save a Cattleya I just bought. I bought the Cattleya about a week ago at an orchid sale, and it's labeled as a "SLC Circle of Life." This is my first Cattleya, and all my other orchids are Phals.

It was in a plastic container with holes, but I couldn't see the roots at the time of purchase. I took the orchid out of the pot today to check it's root health and discovered nearly all of the roots are dried out! Most are white, but a few are brown. The brown ones do not feel mushy, but instead feel dried out and hollow. There were 1 or 2 roots that had a bit of a green hue. The photos are of the plant after I water it, so hopefully the green-ish roots are visible.

I'm not sure if it's possible to save this orchid, and would appreciate any advice!

[Ray]

Certainly it can be saved. That newest growth doesn't appear to have any roots yet, but they'll emerge.

Take a look at THIS.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Super easy way to handle that plant:

Option 1. Place the BARE roots into an empty terracotta clay pot. Don't worry about cutting any roots you think are dead. It is important that the roots not have any bark or other growing medium around them. Try to mist the roots once daily. That new growth will push out new roots in 2 or 3 months. If this sounds like harsh treatment, remember that in nature, Cattleyas grow bare root on trees.

Option 2. Tie something around the top of the plant (such as twine or string), around the base or a leaf where it joins a pseudobulb. Hang the plant up somewhere. Also mist the roots daily, like Option 1.

With either method, when roots a couple inches long have developed on that new growth, pot it in a coarse fast draining, fast drying potting medium. Cattleyas do best if they dry most of the way between watering. I have used everything from fir bark to rock to wine corks. My personal preference is to use terracotta pots for Cattleyas, or mount them.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by AEKass

discovered nearly all of the roots are dried out! Most are white, but a few are brown. The brown ones do not feel mushy, but instead feel dried out and hollow. There were 1 or 2 roots that had a bit of a green hue.

The orchid is expected to recover. To help it along ... the remaining roots should be kept moist - or touching media that is airy and moist - with gentle air-flow around the plant and through the pot. For me, I'd pop the base of the stem in a shallow and very good drainage pot with 10 to 15 mm size average diameter scoria for the potting media.

Medium light level. No direct sunlight. And - nice tropical temperature. And maintain gentle air-flow around the good drainage pot - with the airy media (eg. scoria or other suitable media). And maintain a watering schedule that keeps the media moist.

Some examples attached. If gentle moving air is maintained or your growing area is mostly not a still-air environment - and if the pot has lots of decent sized holes underneath ... then you can pretty much water as much as you like.

[AEKass]

Thank you all for the advice! I'll get started getting roots to re-grow.