Hello guys, new here, & unfortunately my first post is in the P&D section.
I ordered some Phals online from an orchid website, that at the moment I will not name. All of the others seem in good shape for the most part, spare a few half leaves, & few small holes in some leaves.
However, my Mannii which was the one that I paid the most for at $20, came in the worst shape of all the plants. I have no idea what is wrong with it & if it can even be saved. One reason I ordered it is that it was "blooming size", i'm sure the plant is in such terrible health it would be a long time before it would have energy to bloom.
Anyways, it was shipped in a potted small 3" container with bark. As seen by the pics it looks like it had some root rot going on. I took away some of the bad parts. You can see where the top half was rotted & only the string part is left, but goes down & turns into good root. Will new root grow around the string part where there was dead root that I removed?
Now the pain problem, the leaves. I'm new to orchids. Only other plants i've really grown have been Aloe Veras. I have bunches of those that do there own thing with little care. I also have started taking care of some carnivorous plants as well. I haven't ever really dealt with plant problems. The one leaf is about half mushy & has white spots which appear almost inside of the leaf itself. The other large top leaf on the other side also has developed a small mush spot with white spots inside the leaf. You can see it on img2191. What is this stuff, what happened, & what can I do to try to save this plant. Should I cut off the bad leaf? What about the spot on the other leaf?
From reading, most people state that mushy leaves are from overwatering, also that would explain root rot, but this one was planted in bark, all others were in spag moss & seemed fine. One other one did have some slight root rot in spag moss. Not sure how this plant would be that overwatered in bark.
I replanted it today right when I got it. A mix of Orchiata pine bark, Hydroton, Cork chips, & a little bit of spag moss mixed in. This is what i'm going to use for all my Phals. Soaked media & watered plant with some Quantum Orchid mix. Plan to fertilize on next watering in 5-7 days with MSU fert. I keep the plants in a room 65-70F with a ceiling fan on low for good air circulation. Plants are planted in containers seen here. I drill holes in the outer clear pot to allow air to flow through.
Any help at all to save this guy would be helpful.
Ok since I can't display images, I uploaded the pics to my album under my profile. Please check there for them.