Miltonia Questions Mainly root rot

[toshuff]

Hi every I'm really new to orchids and i have a few questions about my milt. bert field. I just re-potted my orchid but i noticed that a lot of the roots were rotten. So i decided to cut them off. After i was only left with maybe like 8-9 roots that were healthy. Is it going to be ok with having so little root system? This orchid is a pretty good size it has 3 psudo bulbs 1 new growing psudo bulb and its about 1foot and a half feet tall. The leaves right now looks healthy the leaves are a light green color and a flowering spike is growing on one of the psudo bulbs. If an orchid is growing a flowering spike does that mean its healthy?

[Roy]

Provided the new mix you potted the plant into retains a little moisture but drains very freely it should be ok. Any new roots the plant makes will only come from new growth, this alliance rarely if ever makes new roots from old bulbs. Use any fertilizer sparingly. A plant producing a spike doesn't always mean its healthy, a plant will produce a flower spike for reproduction purposes because it thinks its about to die.

[toshuff]

I just re- potted yesterday how long should i wait to water again?

[Roy]

Depends on what you potted it into. Look into the drain holes in the pot, if the mix is dry, water it, if appears damp wait another day then water it.

[toshuff]

I used a bark mix with New Zealand sphagnum moss, coco husk, coco peat, sponge rock,charcoal, tree fern fiber, and cork slabs for epiphytic plants. After my first watering should i wait couple weeks?

[Roy]

IMO, you have too many items in your basic mix. I would leave out the the Spag moss & coco peat & maybe the tree fern. The spag moss & coco peat will hold too much water the the coco husk.

[toshuff]

Ok ill try doing that. Its day 2 after i re-potted and my orchid still looks ok. But since there are only like 1 big root and many really tiny roots im having trouble stabilizing the plant without burring the new pseudo bulb. Is there anything i can do about that?

[Roy]

Put a stake in and tie the plant to it, just so it holds firmly. Not around the new growth though.
The plant should make roots easier this way, if a plant is moving about it won't put down roots because they may be damaged by the movement.
Once the plant is established the stake can be removed.

[toshuff]

K i just staked it today and it is a lot more stable. I just watered it today very lightly. Kind of paranoid now about watering lol. So to help ventilation i hooked up a wall fan right behind it. From now on should i water just a little every week?