Phalenopsis: All roots are brown but still flowering - is it time to repot?

[Agnes Fodor]

Hi,

I've read mixed views as to when to repot an unhealthy orchid. My findings suggest that I should wait until the flowers are gone however I cannot see any green roots only brown ones and it still has two flower buds! I'm not watering it however the plant is still very wet and has a funny smell that reminds me of mud. I believe it was exposed to too much water.

I got this phalaenopsis a gift the other day and keen to save it so any advice would be great!




Best,
Agnes

[Ray]

If you wait for the flowers to fail - and they will do so sooner than with a healthy plant - you are putting the plant at risk.

I would cut off the flower spike and put it in a vase to enjoys the flowers as long as possible, unpot-, clean up - and repot the plant into your preferred medium for phalaenopsis.

After doing so, keep it very warm, shady, and in maximum humidity until it puts down a decent root system.

[estación seca]

It is fine to repot Phalaenopsis with flowers. If the roots are healthy the flowers will not be affected.

In your situation you will be able to see the roots. If there are plenty of healthy roots, I would not cut off the flowers; just repot into new medium. But if there are few healthy roots, I would cut off the flowers.

[jkofferdahl]

Repot the plant and provide it with more humidity.

[JScott]

It's hard to tell from a picture, but the plants appears quite healthy. You can go ahead and repot it into your preferred growing medium (Phals don't mind being repotted in bloom), but when you unpot it, I think you might find that the roots are still plump and firm. If that is the case, just pot it and treat it in the manner the others have described, and you'll be golden.

---------- Post added at 08:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:46 PM ----------

Sometimes roots that have grown in the medium and have not been exposed to light will not be green, so the color isn't a perfect indicator of root health. You'll know if they are healthy if they are still firm.

[Agnes Fodor]

Thank you @all!

It's great to hear that it's ok to repot Phal with flowers! I read somewhere that orchids don't like to be disturbed during blooming however wasn't sure about Phal.

I agree, it doesn't seem like an unhealthy plant from the leafs - the roots however paint a different story; brown & almost transparent roots, couldn't spot any green parts through the pot.

Anyway, I'll repot the plant shortly and may leave the stems & flowers if there are any healthy roots hidden inside, wish me luck!

Many thanks,
Agnes

[Laticauda]

Agnes, do you have an update on this plant? How did everything look when you took it out of the pot?

[Agnes Fodor]

Hi Laticauda,

Thank you for asking, I've repotted the plant about two weeks ago. I could only find red roots apart from one little ~1cm dark green one but its end was dried out. I left the green one, removed all the rotten roots, interestingly I found three (2cm long) red roots. I kept the green one and a relatively healthy i.e. not rotten red one as they're not close to each other, did cut the flowers but not the stem as it still has a bud and if it dries out that would be an additional indication of the plant's health. The leaves seem to be still all green however some cracks appeared on these. I've been keeping it relatively moist since, watering twice a week. The plant is sitting in a moss & bark base and I'm also spraying it with orchid care. Basically the remaining roots are so small the plant is sitting in moss as the bark is the next layer below.

I'm wondering whether to cut the stem due to recent small cracks on the leaves - the plant lost an unhealthy leaf in the meantime but that was yellow already before repotting it, by now it's completely dried out. The stem, however, seems to be healthy and I try to keep moisturising the leaves upon watering however it may not get enough water through the leaves & little roots to keep these big leaves hydrated.

I can't see the development of new roots (if there's any) through the moss and don't want to disturb the plant any further by checking it.

So that's the status so far, any feedback would be more than welcome.

Agnes

[Laticauda]

Thanks for the update!
Personally, I would cut the bud off but leave the spike. My rationale for this is so the plant doesn't put any energy into the bud, taking away from root formation but at the same time givung the plant the option to reabsorb the resources put into the spike (water and nutrients) or if the plant is unable to recover by root growth it can decide to make a keiki.

Is there a way you can tent the plant so you don't have to keep the substrate so moist? I have the darndest time keeping moss from being over saturated, but maybe that's just me!

[Agnes Fodor]

Thanks Laticauda!

I left the spike, the bud is very small (~0.5 cm) & may cut it at some point just to be on the safe side.

The humidity is relatively high around here (55%+) however I'm thinking of giving the tent a try anyway. On the bright side, I just checked again and it seems the top level of the moss is not that moist even though I water it twice a week so hopefully over-watering won't be a problem - prior to watering, usually it's almost completely dry.

It's difficult to see what's going on with the plant as I can't see the roots however there are no new cracks on the leaves, the spike still seems to be healthy, no leaves lost since my last post so I just take these as good news for now.