Hi OB, for this one, I need your advice!
 

Hello,
I hope everyone's well :)

I've managed to save some pretty dodgy phals over the last couple of years, but they've always had at least one root in the medium. Now I have one with only aerials left!

Some friends of mine have asked if I could try and save her (the plant is called Matilda) since she was a present from their daughter.

Upon inspection in the pot, all the roots were dead and all that's left are the aerials which you can see in the pictures. What I've done is fill a bowl with water, scunch up some J-cloths for better evaporation and stand the plant above it inside a clear pot. There is also just enough room to stand a larger pot on top for extra humidity. (Btw, I must stress that the roots are not in contact with the cloths even though it looks like it on the picture!)

Does this look like a reasonable set-up? I can't think of anything else to do and this is outside my area of experience to be honest! The aerials are turning green with misting, so they're obviously still able to take up water, so I figure I'll carry on doing that as well during the day (believe it or not, but it's around 26 degrees here at the moment!)

Thanks in advance for comments and suggestions :)

I dont seem anything wrong with the overall setup and idea. I might change the plastic bowl with a plastic bag so that they dont bend the leaves as much. If the leaves start to plump a bit (which hopefully they will) you might just snap/crack one. Honestly, it just looks like that plants was extremely underwatered, and given some TLC might perk right back up. Just keep an eye out for new root growth.
Given all the aerials, you might want to think about mounting it, but that's not my field of expertise. You might also be able to just lay the whole plant on new media, and stake it down a bit. Once roots grow they should grow right into the media, but you could also do this once you spot root growth in your current setup.

Thanks, yes, good point about the pot and the leaves. Just keep your fingers crossed I can coax some roots out. All mine are going mad in the root department at the moment so maybe this one will take the hint!

Some of those roots look like they are still growing, so I'd imagine if the leafs are still healthy enough, and can support the plant, it should perk up eventually. Some rooting hormone might not hurt either (KLN, etc). Good luck, and keep us posted.

It looks good! I just recently got a phal healthy doing something very similar -- it put out a couple little root nubbins in a few weeks.

Thanks for the support guys :) The hardest part so far was trying to explain to the 'parents' that it was going to heal in months not days! and yes, you can cont on updates (or if all goes wrong 'pleas'!)

I second the KLN idea. I would soak some sphagnum moss in a dilute solution and then clump it on the bottom of the phal where you would expect the roots to break out. Reapply when nearly dry. I've had luck with this method before (although always with at least 1 real root).

Good luck.

-J

IMHO... It has roots which Is good! the leaves are flacid... I doubt they will perk up alot... personally I would have potted it in medium putting those roots into it.... I also agree that a soak of KLN or other rooting hormone.. although it has roots..won't do any harm. You need to get it growing new leaves as well as roots. I'm sure it will be fine. An other idea, pot it up & cover top of pot/ leaves with the plastic bag to keep more humidity if you need to in your growing conditions.. just keep an eye on it so, you dont leave it too wet and get rot. Good luck! I think it is more than saveable!

Thanks Nenella :) The reason I didn't put it straight into a pot is that the root span of the aerials is 5-6 inches so that'd be a pretty big pot and I didn't want to run the risk of more rot. However, if I end up at a garden centre in the next few weeks (work's a tad hectic at the mo!), I'll try and get hold of one of the small shallow seed trays I have my pleiones in and then I might 'pot it' (since it won't be very deep and prone to holding moisture for a long time).

I've never used rooting hormone, so I may investigate that further as well, but it does have a tip of a new leaf showing in the crown. If I can coax that out (and maybe a root or two), I'll know I'm on the right track!

I feel a bit funny really - it's exciting because I've never had to look after one in this bad shape before but nerve-racking because it's not mine and I don't want to lose it. It's also worrying because I haven't lost one in my charge before so I really don't want to lose my 100% record!! :nailbite:

I have to agree with Nenella. I'd soak it in Hormex, KLN or Essential Plus or whatever you have over there for about 5 to 10 minutes and plant it up in bark and grow as you would any other Phal. I personally don't do well with sphag.

Hi Doc, I haven't had great experiences with anything in sphag so I'd agree with that. It's also what this little one was in before I cleaned it up, and I couldn't believe just how tightly it was packed in such a little pot! Since two of you have now said it, I'll definately look into to rooting hormone (starting with the ones you've mentioned) and see what I can get hold of round here :)

Hi guys, thought I'd give an update - I held off using rooting hormone as I wanted to see how it'd do on it's own first. So, I've been dunking the roots in pure water 4-5 times a day (unless I've been at work and then maybe 2-3 times a day!) with occaisional dunks in water mixed with a little splash of Orchid Ultra and Orchid focus grow.

Two of the old roots now have new bright green growth spurting out of them :)

The oldest leaf is half dead, but this is taking place very slowly, which is good. Ok, it's not good it's shrivelling up, but it's good that it's slow and not rapid!

Lastly, the new leaf (which was just a tip in the original pictures posted) has grown a bit too. Not a staggering amount, but the little phal is certainly putting in an effort :)

Looks like it might just pull through :)

Just a quick thought (my two cents so take it or leave it). Even a dying leaf takes energy from the plant as it is trying to repair it. As it is dying out already, you may want to let the plant use that energy for root and new leaf production by cutting it off now.

Again, just a thought. I do this all the time with my phal's if there is an issue going on and it seems to work.

Hi Paul, I never mind collecting peoples' :twocents:, it's one way to fill the piggy bank ;) When I first took charge of this one, I did take off the two lowest leaves which weren't in a position to contribute greatly to the cause (one was practically dead and the other was nearly at that point). I'll keep an eye on how things develop and keep in mind what you say :)

Since the roots are currently spread around horizontally (as they were ariels propped up by the pot edge) it does look an good candidate for mounting. However, I spoke to the 'parents' and I don't think they could fit mount care into their dialy lives! oh well, I'll get this little one back in a pot if it's the last thing I do!

Hi Jenny,

Re-potting orchids is not rocket science. You are making this far too complicated! :roll: You will have far more success with this plant in my opinion, if you gently compress the roots in your hand and carefully twist them into a 4" or 5" pot, whichever is smaller for the plant. Add the mix of your choice, pack down firmly, water and fertilize. The leaves will come back as soon as these roots start bringing moisture up to them, often in a week or two.

Arial roots easily convert to a pot in all my experience. If you think of what they would do in nature: they wander from the plant and when they find a natural bole in their tree, in they go. If you have ever had several plants together, the arial roots often will go from one pot to another.

:twocents:

CL

The roots look really nice to me.
Is there a new leaf growing from the crown? I thought I saw a shadow in Pic #3 that looked like one.
If so, then you are off to a running start.
Love your set up...learned a few things there as well :D

Thanks guys, yes, Eyebabe, there is a leaf coming up from the crown :)

@ Cym Ladye, yes, I've put phal ariels back in the pot during repotting before with no problems, so I understand your point. However, these ones really don't want to play and when I tried potting a couple of weeks ago, I snapped a couple so I stopped as I didn't want to cause more damage. I dare say that I am overcomplicating things, but this is probably due to the plant not actually being mine and so I want to make sure it lives! But, thanks for the advice and, once these new little roots take hold (maybe another week or so), I'll try and pot again and see what happens

When you do try and pot those aerial roots you're going to have to soak them for A LONG time to make them flexible so you don't break them! I once had to leave mine a good day and a half before they were flexible enough to pot & not break...
Good luck!

I agree with Nenella, Howard and CL. It's better off in a pot, and will recover faster. I have done what Nenella suggested and soaked the heck out of one before those roots limbered up enough to bend and go in the pot.

Ok, she's now potted. The best I could do was a larger pot than I would've liked, but I've reduced the volume of the pot on the inside before adding bark. Just goes to show, if you nag me enough, I'll give in ;)

:rofl: Nice job! What did you put in the middle?

I tried using another wee pot to stand on the inside (which is what's generally suggested). However, I couldn't get the drainage right when I tested it so I built a little mound of packing peanuts instead. One of the new little root tips found itself near the side of the pot as well, which is handy as I can keep an eye on it.