Two orchids in bad condition
 

I have two orchids in rough shape. One doesn't have any roots, the bottom half looks dried up, should I cut it off or peel the dead layer off? My other orchid has a few roots and seems to have a flower spike. Any tips for my orchids?

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Don't cut anything. If you can post a picture of the rootless one, it would help to diagnose and advise. The one with a few has hope... when you pot it up, I would suggest tying it to a wood barbecue skewer or other small stick, with the stick extending downward an inch or two below the roots, so that when you pot it you can make it stable - very important for growing new roots.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Both can survive with proper care. They are very dehydrated, but they don't have many roots. The trick will be to get them to form more roots. Here are three ways people rescue Phalaenopsis like this:

1. As Roberta mentioned, pot them in bark and stake them very securely, so they don't wobble at all. As they wobble the roots rub against the bark and get damaged. This makes them stop growing. Keep the plant in a warm and humid spot. It will make more roots. Dampen the short, stubby roots with a spray bottle every day, but don't get the bark too wet. High humidity is more important than wet bark. Eventually the roots will grow into the bark, and you can begin to water more.

2. Set the plant on top of some barely-damp sphagnum moss (not peat moss) in a jar, terrarium or very large plastic bag. Or on top of sphagnum in a very large pot with a plastic bag covering top. The sphagnum should not be wet enough that you can squeeze out any water. Its purpose is only to raise the humidity and encourage new root growth. If the moss is too wet, the plant will rot. Set the plant in bright shade in a warm spot. It will begin growing new roots. When they are a couple of inches long you can move it to a pot with medium.

3. Full water culture. Set the plant in a small glass or vase so just the roots, and not the leaves, are in the water. Keep the water level at this spot. The plant will grow new roots into the water. Some people grow Phals in full water culture all the time. Others pot them into new medium once they have new roots.

Good luck! And keep us up to date.

Wow. It'll be something to have those make it thru! I would also mist the roots (dampen them, not the bark like ES says) with a spray bottle that has Kelp Max in it. I recently saved a phal that I had (shamfully) neglected by that method. It was a full size phal, leaf span about a 7 or so inches, and it sent out a huge thick spike with gorgeous flowers on it. Almost too late I realized that it had flowered as a last ditch effort to reproduce, because I checked the root system, and it had one root!! One half dead root, all the rest were gone! I cut the spike off so that it could conserve energy, and repotted it in bark, misting it with the kelp max (can't say enough about kelp max!)and put it on a warming mat. Today that plant is a much smaller version of it's former self, but very healthy, with plump roots as well. Good luck! Bringing orchids back to happy is very fulfilling in my opinion :)