Phal a candidate for Semi-Hydro?
 

I've been thinking about trying semi-hydro for a couple of months now after reading through threads here on the matter. It seems that I may now have a candidate due to a long battle over the failing roots stemming from under-watering over the summer (2 1/2 months) when I was out of town. I had been thinking about re-potting already as the plant was no longer anchoring in the pot correctly. I finally stopped procrastinating after knocking it off the shelf while vacuuming (I think sub-consciously I knocked it off on purpose) unfortunately what I found was that almost the entire root structure was dry brittle hollowed out husks. As you can see in the photos I have 1 green aerial root and some firm dried brown roots. What you cannot see is that I have 2 brand new little root nubbins. In your opinion as this root system is already compromised and the phal is in active root growth, is this a candidate for semi-hydro? I have clay "hydro-balls" for terrariums I bought awhile back that I believe are the same as clay leca. I would also like to avoid sphag and bag as I have not had the best track record with that method. To top that off I will be traveling a couple days a week for the next 3 weeks so I will not be able to mist anything daily. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

uhhh, no. This needs to be sphagged and bagged immediately (or some other roots saving protocol). Since there are no roots, you'll be lucky for the plant to survive at all. Trying S/H on a non actively rooting plant is a potential death sentence, much less one with no roots at all.

It's better to set it in a fairly humid location (70% - 80% RH should suffice) with some air circulation and hope that it grows roots.

I concur with Jarad, and would try S/H on a healthier specimen.

3 weeks with no care is deadly to this plant....give it away to someone who can give it attention....no matter what culture you give this if you leave it again for 3 weeks: this will die....it is already dying as it is
*the best way for your plant at the moment is vase culture not S/H

I've got it in sphag and bag at the moment so we'll see what happens. I did pre-treat this time with physan 20 and there's no mold/fuzz after leaving it for 2 days, so I'm already doing better than my first 2 attempts at this. I think I'll put it on a seedling mat to get some additional heat at the roots as it gets cooler in my house at night. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Bud I did just adapted my set-up for vase culture as I didn't feel like the humidity was consistently staying higher with the initial sphag and bag set-up. I have a large inverted bell shaped candle jar that I think will do the job better although I don't know if the heat will help or not. I'm going to keep an eye over the next couple of days and adjust as needed for my environment. Thanks for the suggestion.

I had a phal that was doing terribly in sphag-n-bag and pretty well in vase culture which I then put in S/H even though it still had no roots, it actually did really well for a few weeks. The leaves perked up and it started to put out new roots.
Unfortunately I wanted to make sure it was getting enough moisture and saw that the top of the LECA was drying out, so I put some sphag on the top of the LECA to keep it moist and I must have put it too close to the plant because it developed crown rot and died, but it was my mistake and it certainly didn't dry out. I say go for it but I'm not as experienced as everyone else here.

Semi Hydro for phalaenopsis
 

I'd like to explain my semi-hydro system for Phalaenopsis that has worked well for a number of years. Prior to this I lost plants due to dehydration. Some of us miss watering for one reason or another!
So, I got some cylinder shaped clear plastic food storage containers from the supermarket, Drilled a couple of holes in the sides, about a half-inch up from the bottom (so after watering there would remain a water-reservoir).
Then I cut a slice of florists' foam about a quarter of an inch thick, shaped this into an oval shape which wedged into the bottom of the container at an angle. The angle allows for a water reservoir and an air reservoir. I then pot the phal with porous stones or clayball up to the top of the container. Some sphagnum moss or extra care may be required for the plant to grow roots down into the florists foam, but once it has, it has an almost permanent supply of moisture and nutrients.
I usually water once a week with a weak nutrient supply. But if I miss a few weeks they are okay.
This system also allows for some algae to grow around the florists foam. As I understand it, algae helps to fix nitrogen. The clear plastic allows the orchid roots to photosynthesize, as they do in nature.