which roots do i cut?ASAP!!

[aries23]

Hello all,

I finally decided to cut my phal spike all the way down to the base.( the last bloom opened the other day and only had two good other open flowers..doubt it would have bloomed more...didnt want to risk forcing just in case she was in really bad shape..so hopefully she'll reward me nicely!!

I am in the process of repotting her because the moss was i think moldy.

Well after cutting all the bad roots.. she has only 4 barely there good short roots!! yikes!!


I'm really scared she won't make it!! has really good leaves!! I really dont know how to pot her because her roots are so short .. the longest root is like a thumb finger long. I think ill have to pot her in like the smallest tera cotta pot i can find til she recovers.. wow this blows. the other roots that were good are three which i just trimmed back the mold to expose the green. I put some cinnamon powder as explained by Ray in his document.

I need some kind of help please!!

[camille1585]

Whatever you do, don't cut the yellow ones!! As long as they are still firm, they are fine. Only remove hollow or mushy roots. Phal roots can photosynthsize, so if they are exposed to light (like the roots visible through clear pots) they are green. Roots in the center of the pot get no light, so stay yellow. As for the pot sizr, use the smallest size the roots will fit it. Unless yours has lost many roots to rot, it should fit in the same size pot. If there are alot of roots, going up just one size is enough.

[cirillonb]

I recently had same problem. I decided (with no good background to support it) to gently and loosely wrap the crown-underground part-in long strand sphagnum then continued to pot as usual in my own mix of CHC: perlite:diatomite:charcoal. It seems to have perked up but too soon to tell if this was successful.
Nick