Flower wilt after repot- novice orchid owner

[adp4502]

Hello! I repotted a phalaenopsis in bark after being purchased in sphagnum moss. There were many soggy, dead roots that I carefully removed. That was 2 weeks ago and 2 days ago all of the flowers wilted. Is this normal? I purchased the plant late March. Could this just be the end of its normal bloom cycle? I did a lot of research before repotting and tried to do everything properly! I used spring/drinking water as my water is softened.

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!

I think it was just the end of the bloom cycle - if you bought it in bloom, there is no way of knowing how long the flowers had been open. Also, if the roots were bad, the plant was weak and may not have been able to support the blooms for longer. So what you did was absolutely correct. With the new medium, the plant will grow new roots and very likely become healthy for you.

[adp4502]

Thank you very much! I felt so bad thinking I ruined it

[Roberta]

Actually, you very likely rescued it! Time to grow a new spike is probably about same time next year, so be patient! When it does rebloom, it will be much healthier.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by adp4502

Thank you very much! I felt so bad thinking I ruined it

You probably did ruin it heheheh.

But don't feel bad about it, as it wasn't intentional!

The nice thing is - I agree with Roberta ----- your actions of repotting and noticing soggy roots etc most likely saved your orchid. So - very well done there - as noticing issues and reacting appropriately in the best way you can - is very good.

Some details that could be helpful for growing are contained in some links below.

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[Roberta]

If an orchid that one has owned only for a couple of months has rotten roots, pretty much guaranteed that they were in bad shape at purchase time... orchids just don't react to conditions all that fast, positive or negative. And very large numbers of mass-produced Phals are potted in sphagnum that should have been replaced a year or two prior. (If the plants are in bloom, the vendor is basically selling flowers, most don't care what happens later)

[SouthPark]

Not sure what the time frames are for roots to become rotted --- as in 1 week, or 2 weeks, etc.

But definitely have to watch out for sphagnum getting too much water in it. Totally agree ------ the mass produced phals often come in sphagnum.

Also, I keep finding it ridiculous how sphagnum is spelled in this way, and spaghetti is spelled in that way.

[Roberta]

Serious root rotting likely develops over multiple months. (The bad sphag that a lot of Phals come potted in likely took a year or more to get that ugly) A few weeks is nothing in the life of an orchid - very few problems develop that fast.

[SouthPark]

You're probably right Roberta. Maybe it does take months for regular rot. I have read that other sorts of rot can take just days (a few days to be rotted) ----- but that's like disease/nasty bacterial sorts of rot.

[farley101]

First phal I ever bought was a clearance find and I had no idea about the inside clear pot or to make sure it dried out between watering. Just watered once a week with a little water as directed.

A few weeks later I discovered I could remove the inside pot and noticed the plant wasn't doing very good. The roots had been sitting in water for who knows how long and had all rotted. I'm sure the sphag it was in wasn't the best either, so that added to the issues.

I still have it, slowly coming back from no roots. It has grown 4 nice roots that I can see, but the leaves are kind of stuck in neutral. Still a work in progress!