Trying to save 4 Phalaenopsis - Looking for help

[RossellaNY]

Hello Everyone, this is Rossella from NYC.
This is my first post and my first orchids: 4 Phalaenopsis that are getting worse and worse. They were a present for Christmas, they came in good shape with a lot of green and healthy leaves and flowers but after one week I noticed that there were a lot of rotten roods so I took them off the pot, checked and cut everything was rotten or dry. One week later the situation didn't get better and there were other rotten roots so I decided to re-do everything again, this time changing also the bark with a new one and clean again the roots as better as possible. Today I noticed that in all 4 pots there was mold that killed almost the remaining roots. So now... I don't know what else do to!! Do you think is there any chance to save them?
For contest, my apartment is very dry and even with the humidifier the humidity is not higher than 30%. The apartment doesn’t have balconies and there are big windows on the south side.
Many thanks for anyone that can help.

[SADE2020]

Wow what a pity. I'll give you 3 options:

1sr. Try sit them in a vass with water not touching the water though and mist the roots everyday. I can see a free roots coming with 3 roots with 2cm could be report, better bark, avoid humid medium afterwards.

2nd. Wrap in sphagnum moos and keep them moist not dump. Carefully here because the moss could be tricky sometime and if does not dry fast creates more damage than good.

3rd. Place them in bark and mist the roots every day. The challenge is to keep them firm, maybe sitting on a site could work.

In anycase cut the flower spike to avoid waisting energy, and place them in a no too bright but light place and keep the root area going from "moist to air dry" in order to activate the grow.

Hope this help.

[Orchidtinkerer]

They are in a very poor state unfortunately.
They are certainly still in a salvageable state but it will take years to regrow the lost roots and the plants hardly have any places to produce new roots so it will be a very long mission if you choose it. The state they are in I don't think they would last potted so your only option is to spray them daily and keep them in a vase or cup or try semi hydro. Semi hydro in theory keeps the clay pebbles moist but not wet - in some climates the pebbles might still dry too much in which case a bit of moss or stones need to be added ontop but at least you won't have to look after them as much, just fill up the reservoir as it evaporates.

[aliceinwl]

They look healthy aside from the lack of roots. I suspect the roots that were removed were actually functional (just damaged). Even if roots have rotten sections, if it’s not complete mush, it can still work.

I’d buy some Kelpmax to stimulate rooting. Soak the plants in it overnight and repot them. Keep them warm (70+ Degrees Fahrenheit ), bright, and humid. Stake them so they don’t wiggle in the pots. To maintain humidity, place them pot and all in a clear sided covered container or in something like a clear plastic bag with a few holes for ventilation. Leave the spikes on, odds are the remaining buds will blast, but the plant can use the resources in the spike to power root regeneration.

If you decide not to go the Kelpmax route, you can still pot them up as described. I like to use a 5 parts bark, 1 part charcoal, and 1 part perlite for mine in clear plastic slotted pots, but there are lots of equally viable options. If you do decide to go the Kelpmax route, you can temporarily unpot them for the soak.

Based on the vegetative portions, these plants have potential to make a relatively quick recovery (3 months for initial root formation and possibly with a viable enough root system to leave the “humidity tent” in 6 months).

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

I bet you cut off live roots. What did they look like? I don't ever cut off roots because I usually can't be certain they're dead.

There is a great thread here for learning to grow Phals. From the left yellow menu choose Forums then Beginners. Look near the top for the sticky thread The Phal abuse stops here.

[spinrah]

My first time repotting an orchid I cut off a lot of viable roots. It can be hard to tell for a beginner, but usually they are fine unless they are complete mush. I’m still a beginner, but I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of it.. it took quite a few dead orchids though to learn... unfortunately.

[aliceinwl]

Me too! I butchered most of mine when I repotted for the first time. Orchids have a reputation for being delicate, but I’ve found hybrid Phalaenopsis in particular can be very resilient. I’ve had Phals in worse shape recover and bloom within two years.

[SouthPark]

This could be fish-tank case ...... or similar ..... such as having the plants inside a humidity tank, with a little bit of ventilation, and keeping the temperature nice and warm (but not so warm as to harm the plants). And put lots of wet sphagnum pots inside the tank. The plants can just stay bare-root in the tank ...... actually no-root .... since there are not much or no roots left on them at the moment.

Provide medium light levels (no direct sun etc). And can then see if the orchids will start growing new roots.

I agree about cutting off all the flower spikes. And allow the orchids to try sprout new roots.

[Orchidtinkerer]

More often than not a root is dead, not alive.

One can see the brownness on the stem where the rot reached. Stop trying to make people feel guilty about having cut off completely dead roots. Won't achieve anything as he can't glue the dead roots back on now can he.

Roots are very sensitive and once they become hollow they are dead. No ifs or buts or maybe or but no hollow = dead!

The rot already spread further than the roots as one can see on the picture.

[RossellaNY]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

I bet you cut off live roots. What did they look like? I don't ever cut off roots because I usually can't be certain they're dead.

Touching them, they were completely empty and covered only by a sort of squashy and broken brown/black film. At the first try, I just cut those but after one week also the others that had attached semi-rotten part, have completely rotted as well I'm sure that I did something wrong considering the actual situation. Just trying to save as much as possible now

---------- Post added at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------

Thanks all guys for the replies and suggestions. Everything is extremely helpful since I'm a beginner in the orchids world.

I read carefully all your suggestions and also different posts around the forum and the web. Actually, I'm quite scared to put the plant inside a closed clear plastic bag or use sphagnum moos because I'm worried to get again mold and don't be able to manage/recognize in time/correctly the situation.

Do you think guys that trying to put the plants over the bark and moist them daily is useless due the situation? I bought clear plastic saucers to put at the base of the clear plastic pot in case add water there could help. I have also some LECA pebbles that I was thinking add to the base of the pot to help humidity.
What do you think?

I feel also very sorry to cut the spikes since they seem "healthy" but I get your point and I'll do it if this can help.

This seems to me the manageable way for a beginner but not sure if could make sense or not here