Update on moldy-then-rootless Phal from the summer
Background:
Bought a healthy Phal “Timothy Christopher” in May, my 6th orchid ever. Repotted from the original dense sphag in an opaque pot, to 3” slotted pot with Repotme Phalaenopsis mix. I probably kept it too moist with inadequate ventilation, and/or the media came with mold spores, as fuzzy balls of white/green mold soon took over the roots and many started dying in June.
I tried treating with 3% peroxide but it made the situation worse; more of the roots blackened and died until there were hardly any green roots left. (Incidentally, phals with healthier root systems seemed largely unaffected by the peroxide.)
I bought Ray’s Kelpmax and treated according to his directions, and stopped messing around with its potting situation. Staked it up using the spent flower spikes in bark+perlite and would occasionally dribble or squirt water in it when I watered my other phals, leaving it in a shady spot out of drafts.
In August (about 2 months post treatment), I noticed root eyes swelling. (Healthy phals seemed to get new root tips ~3 weeks after Kelpmax application). Four roots sprouted in October but didn’t seem to want to enter the media. I wrapped sphag around them and misted or squirted the moss every day or two.
Now, in mid-December, three of the four roots were long enough (and in the right direction), for me to soak them and gently bend them into the pot, which I filled with about equal parts small bark, sphagnum, and perlite, fluffily filled.
Already after just a few days, the previously wrinkled and floppy, leathery leaves have plumped up substantially and are turgid. I think it’ll make it!
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