Yikes! Root rot, why?!

[French323]

Hello, I'm new to the orchid caring community as I've recently bought two beautiful phalenopsis orchids.

I'm concerned with how they are potted (in peat moss), but more urgently I'm worried that I am either overwatering or have a flower that has come across a disease.

I have only had them a couple of weeks and I've been watering by soaking the medium thoroughly before letting it drain.
I've worried about this a bit as the peat moss seems to still hold a LOT of water, but I'd seen that process recommended online somewhere and went for it.

Attached are pictures of the affected roots and my new bloom that is withering.

Any suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks,
-Dave

[Ray]

That is sphagnum moss, not peat.

Epiphytic orchids are unique in that they do much of their respiratory gas exchange through their roots, rather than leaves, as it the case for terrestrial plants. The key to success, therefore, is to provide constant moisture without suffocating the roots.

As it is not advisable to repot a plant while it is in bloom, I suggest pulling the entire root mass and moss (as a unit) out of the flexible plastic pot, and simply placing it into the other one, having made sure there's good drainage.

Then, rather than soaking the moss, consider placing the pot in a tray, and add water to that. The moss will wick it up without becoming saturated.

Once the plant has gone out of bloom, you can consider repotting into a medium that is easier to manage.

[SaraJean]

It looks like you have it in an office. Is it the office building cold? These don’t like their roots to be cold and wet and since sphagnum holds on to moisture it can make the root ball colder than what it would be in bark. Just a thought.

[French323]

Ahhh, it seems my beginner ignorance is showing. Sphagnum moss, of course!
Appreciated for the advice everyone.

I have done exactly as you mentioned, Ray. The root mass is now sitting in the slightly larger external pot where it can get a bit more air.

I'll look to repot it as you say, after blooming is finished.

SaraJean, you are correct about the office environment. While understandably not the ideal orchid growing situation, they do seem to be holding up...aside from my over-eager watering practices.

The office is kept at a fairly constant 75 degrees, so I don't believe the cold is an issue in this case.

Taking this advice in, I'll aim to change up my watering strategy to a wicking-up one and hope that that helps moving forward.

Any advice on what to do about the blackened, mushy roots and how far back I should cut them away?
If they are a little black, should they be removed?

Thanks muchly!
-Dave

[SaraJean]

If it was me: I wouldn’t mess with cutting the black parts, that could end up damaging other things, causing more problems, giving myself a headache, ect.. I like to keep things simple. I would just keep that one more on the dry side. Only water it when you are certain the moss has fully dried out. If you do as Ray said, keep the orchid as is and just place the root ball in a different pot, it will dry out better.

[French323]

Thanks guys!

I'll update in a few weeks with how she's doing

-Dave

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

[Sharon's Sheepdogs]

For me, the most difficult thing I needed to learn to grow phals was when to water and when not to. I lost many phals due to root and crown rot. If the sphag is old, it will retain more water for a longer period of time which can easily lead to rot. After blooming, I would cut off any of the dead, black roots and pour some hydrogen peroxide on them. I would then repot with fresh New Zealand sphag which should first be soaked overnight. Since I had so many problems with rot when I first started growing phals, I squeeze most of the water out of the sphag before using. I then water my phals when the potting media is almost dry. If you find that the fresh sphag continues to hold too much water and you continue to have problems with root or crown rot, you can repot into a mixture of bark and sphag. This was what ultimately worked the best for me for the conditions I am able to grow my orchids in. Good luck!

[French323]

Thanks Sharon!

That's some excellent advice. I will definitely give that a try as soon as I've lost all of my blooms.

Unfortunately, the plant seems a bit distressed by all of this happening and is currently dropping its blooms regularly one at a time.

Any way to stop this? I haven't watered in the last couple of weeks but I wouldn't call the sphag completely dry yet.
Perhaps I just need to let it do its thing, drop it's blooms and then re-pot.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by French323

Unfortunately, the plant seems a bit distressed by all of this happening and is currently dropping its blooms regularly one at a time.

Any way to stop this? I haven't watered in the last couple of weeks but I wouldn't call the sphag completely dry yet.
Perhaps I just need to let it do its thing, drop it's blooms and then re-pot.

There is no way to stop the flowers/buds from dropping now that they have begun to do so.

Yes, you want this to run its course so that the plant can conserve energy. You may also help the plant out by speeding up the process by removing the flower spike.

(Note: Removing flower spikes for plants to conserve energy works for epiphytic orchids the best. For geophytic orchids with tuberoids, it doesn't work so well. The reason why is that the geophytic orchids had already expended a lot of its energy resources into initiating a flowering inflorescence, and this is right about the same time the old tuberoid is already producing a new tuberoid while the old tuberoid transfers whatever energy reserves it has left to the new tuberoid as the old tuberoid starts to die starting with the leaf/leaves.

Sympodial epiphytic orchids have a similar energy transfer mechanism except that it takes the old pseudobulb longer to die giving the plant additional energy resources if anything were to go wrong. Also, while some geophytic orchids have tuberoids, (whether stem or root tuberoid), that have photosynthetic capabilities, they are somewhat limited due to their subterranean growth habit. On the other hand, the epiphytic orchid's pseudobulbs are fully exposed to the air and light in the environment they grow in which gives them greater photosynthetic capabilities than a subterranean tuberoid.

Monopodial epiphytic orchids like Phalaenopsis retain their old leaves for quite a long time, and therefore if anything goes wrong, they can shed their flowers to avoid expending anymore energy but can still continue producing more energy to store up with their intact leaves.)