Please save my orchid?

[jennanotar]

Hi! I repotted and trimmed the dead roots and now the remaining roots are turning dry and brown and the leave are leathery/limp.

I have had this orchid for almost 10 years and am not sure what went wrong, maybe because i didnt sterilize the scissors or cut roots that should not have been cut?

What happened? Can she be saved? How?

[jennanotar]

Hi (i posted in the wrong thread before so posting again here)

Repotted my phal as i usually do, maybe a bit more haphazardly than normal...i didnt clean my scissors before, and cut roots some with light green still on the end.

Several days later I JUST noticed roots are drying and browning at the base and leaves are leathery limp.

Can someone please diagnose and prescribe? Is it infection? or root loss or something else?

Can she be saved? I have had her 10 years and would be so sad to lose her. Thank you so much in advance!

Jenna

[estación seca]

It looks pretty good. I don't cut any roots. New bark is very hard to moisten. When you water, consider letting the container sit in a tub of water for a few hours.

[estación seca]

I answered in the other thread.

It looks pretty good. I don't cut roots. New bark is hard to moisten. When you water consider sitting the pot in a container of water for a few hours.

[yug]

Looks dry, and that mix it is potted in does not appearl like it holds any moisture. I'd have mixed some sphagnum moss in with the bark. Of course you could water it 3 or 4 times a day, too. But leave no water in the crown over night!

[jennanotar]

okay, thank you, @estación seca and @yug. hopefully that will work. appreciated!

[Mountaineer370]

I'm not seeing anything to be concerned about in the pics. It's common for a Phal of that age to have its older top-most roots, the ones that are usually exposed to the air, become a little dry or even woody in texture as the plant matures, especially if your climate or the house where you keep it is low in humidity.

I can't tell from the pics, but it looks like you have it in a clear plastic pot that is inside an outer decorative pot. As long as that inner plastic pot has plenty of drainage, and you remove it from the outer pot when you water to allow it to drain, you can water generously. Your media looks to be chunky bark, which is going to need that generous watering, at least at first. I don't know what it was in before or whether this type of media is much of a change from what it was in, but as others have mentioned here, new bark dries out fairly quickly.

It is my habit when I water to also mist the exposed roots of any of my Phals that have them. Over the winter months, my house can be very low in humidity. Others here have disagreed about the benefits of misting roots, but I feel it has helped mine from becoming overly dry.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Mountaineer370]

I, too, just answered in the other thread. I didn't realize you cut roots that were still green. If the leaves started getting leathery and limp shortly after the repot, it's not taking up enough water, either because you're not watering the new media often enough, or possibly as a result of trauma from having live roots cut off. Unless you cut off a lot of roots, it should recover in time.

Water just before the media turns dry, or when the roots you can see through the sides of the plastic pot are turning from green to silver. Consider soaking as already suggested. Keep it in a warm location, in moderate light but not direct sunlight

[jennanotar]

Hmm okay. thanks for the review/advice! I had never seen the roots turn brown and dry at top. I was so scared

[jennanotar]

Hmm okay. thank you Cheri!