Red Spots on Phal Exposed/Aerial Roots

[Jadedangel]

Hi everyone. I am a fairly new phal orchid owner, and have had my phal for about 5 months. In that time, the info I have come across this board while lurking has saved me countless times from the pitfalls from my inexperience, like root rot from overwatering, stem rot, wilted leaves, snow mold etc. But this time I cannot seem to find an answer for the issue I am having.*

Recently, i have notice some red spots on my plants exposed/aerial roots. At first, for weeks it was only on one root and since I never saw any movement, thought it was dust left from leca pellets I had repotted with a few months ago (even though I soaked and washed them beforehand). However, today I noticed it was now on multiple roots when I went to do a follow up peroxide treatment. Searching some things seem to indicate it could possibly be spider mites though my leaves don't have all of the damage as usually seen in the photos. I saw an old post from someone having a similar issue where someone mentioned it could possibly be a fungus, but didn't say what kind. I searched possible fungi that is similar to mine, and could only come up with rust as a potential diagnosis. Has anyone seen this issue before? And if so, do you know how I can stop it?

[Ray]

To me, it looks like those roots are dying, and decomposing. If they are the roots that were on the plant when it was moved into the LECA medium, and it has a decent "subterranean" root system, I'd not worry about it.

[Jadedangel]

Originally Posted by Ray

To me, it looks like those roots are dying, and decomposing. If they are the roots that were on the plant when it was moved into the LECA medium, and it has a decent "subterranean" root system, I'd not worry about it.

Thank you for your help. You were right, they were dying.

I checked on the phal this morning, and all those previously green roots were now black at the base. It seems the stem rot was more severe than I realized, and the subterranean roots were even worse. It seems besides overwatering, I also had an issue where I used too much sphag moss in between the leca (I was having over drying issues with leca alone) and it was choking the rots, keeping them waterlogged, and making them rot faster. I repotted it, even though I know its a lost cause as there were no real roots to save, but I couldn't bear not giving it one last chance. I plan on getting a new phal keeping in mind all the lessons I learned from my troubles with my first phal.

Thanks again for your help.

[estación seca]

The peroxide may have killed those roots. Don't use it on roots. If you accidentally splash some in your mouth or eye you will figure out what it does to roots.

[Jadedangel]

Originally Posted by estación seca

The peroxide may have killed those roots. Don't use it on roots. If you accidentally splash some in your mouth or eye you will figure out what it does to roots.

I don't think it was the peroxide that did it. The roots were getting moldy already which the reason I started using the peroxide in the first place. Plus the subterranean roots, which weren't touched by the peroxide spray, were completely rotten.