Help! Rescue phal all black

[Mercurianmad]

Hi everyone. I rescued this phal from my neighbor about a month ago. I’ve been watering regularly and fertilizing with FEED ME every week, 3/4 tsp for 1 gallon water, rinsing with water the day after, and skipping the fertilizer every fourth week. It’s next to my other phal that’s flowering and happy.

Today I pulled some of the medium back and noticed that despite reporting, watering when medium is dry, and fertilizing plus using an orchid probiotic solution every 21 days, the roots are black and I can’t see new ones. Plus their was some fuzz on some of them.

I’m when I repotted a month ago I trimmed some of the roots with sterilized scissors and lightly dusted the cut tips with a thin layer of cinnamon. Now I see there is so much black on the roots and near the base, I’m not sure how I can keep this plant healthy? I don’t want to stress it out too much. Should I leave it alone and just continue to care for it as I am?

[SouthPark]

Some orchid roots will have noticeable hair/fuzz which are actually part of the root.

Other kinds of fuzz could be fungal.

In any case, if there's fungal activity, and it doesn't go away even when the orchid roots and plant is dried for a while - then orchid growers will use some varieties of systematic fungicide recommended for orchids. Eg. cleary's 3336/thiomyl, agri-fos, aliette.

Ensure the orchid has suitable growing temperatures. So be aware of the temperature range --- or know the temperature range of the growing area.

And provide growing conditions that are not still-air.

Your pot drainage appears to be quite good, and the potting medium appears to be one that doesn't lead to stagnation (ie. ultra slow water movement - leading to oxygen starvation of roots).

If water drainage is good, and air-movement is good around the plant and the pot, then you don't need to wait for the medium to dry out between watering.

You can always just use a water spray nozzle to spray the media surface and roots ----- and apply just enough water to keep the media a little moist. Merely moist ----- not dripping or saturated wet.

Also - if fertiliser is too concentrated, then the salts can accumulate in the media and the roots - and that will also kill the roots. For this orchid, just allow it to recover first if it can - no need to add fertiliser. Also - once every 2 weeks or once every month should be fine for fertilising. The fertiliser is expected to stay in the media, so that the orchid roots can still get fertiliser whenever the media is moist/wet.

[aliceinwl]

I’d pot the plant so that it’s up against the side and you can see a root stub or two. Then, water by flushing as soon as the root goes silver. If you can direct the water stream so it hits the base of the plant, that seems to help too. It can take over a month of this before anything happens in terms of new root growth. Depending on your substrate when the roots are really shallow, you may find yourself watering more often.

I fertilize with about 1/2 to 1/4 teaspoon of the MSU Feed me from repotme per gallon every other week or two. It’s good to alternate with plain water to flush out any buildup.

[Ray]

I suggest never applying cinnamon to roots (foliage is OK); it is a powerful desiccant, so basically kills the root tips and prevents branching. In the future, you're better off just letting the wounds air dry for a day or two before repotting.

If you want to save the plant, you're going to need to get it to generate roots quickly to rescue it. This is the best way I've found to do that.

[Mercurianmad]

So I just got some systemic Agri-fos. The instructions talk about putting it in a sprayer. How do you guys use it? Should I drench the pot like soaking it in the fungicide? Or just pour it through the medium? I need to get this fuzz under control before the roots can get healthy, I think.

---------- Post added at 06:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

Then hopefully the kelpmaxx stuff will help the roots grow. All other factors seem set up now- aeration, watering, drainage, humidity tray. I just want this little guy to get healthy, although I’m not sure how new leaves are going to grow with the big leaf on top being so twisted over the plant...oh well. We’ll get there when we get there. Root health first.