Need Help from the pros

[butterfly79]

Hello All,

I am new here but not new to Orchids. I have tried keeping orchids a few times with no success. After a few attempts I decided to actually learn orchid care.
I purchased a beautiful white phal from a nursery. It was going awesome, leaves were gorgeous, roots were beautiful. Now after the flowers dropped I decided to repot because it was potted in sphagnum which I read contributed to root rot. After removing any dead roots, cleaning the roots up I repotted the white phal in orchid mix in a plastic pot with holes in the bottom for drainage.
Here is the issue, after doing this the leaves started going yellow, which fell off. I looked at the roots and they are empty feeling and not green. The remaining leaves are still green but one is wrinkling. The orchid mix has a moldy like smell and even had some green look on some pieces.
Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?

[RosieC]

Hi Butterfly and welcome to Orchid Board

It could be as simple as getting the wrong orchid mix. Either poor quality or for the wrong type of orchid.

I made the same mistake with my first orchid. It grew wonderfully for 2 years and I had ventured to buy two more... when I decided to repot and then it went downhill fast (good news is I managed to save it with the help of the guys here and it has just put out it's first spike since then).

I just could not understand what I had done wrong for a long time, and when my second two started to follow it after they were repotted I was convinced I was missing some vital step in repotting, you may even find posts here on the OB archives where I was asking... "what on earth am I doing wrong".

Anyway, the problem was the orchid mix, I am certian of that now. It was from a local garden center and it was too degraded before I even started. The problem is that it has often sat arround a long time in a garden center and even when new, the ones they sell in garden centers are usually too dense for Phals as garden centers do not distinguish between the best medium for differnet types of orchids.

From your description of the medium smelling, I am 99% certain you have the same problem.

I now only use orchid mix from reputable orchid sellers (or reputable orchid accessory sellers) and I've not had a problem since. They tend to sell different mixes for different orchids and are much better qualtiy. You want to make sure bark for Phals is all distinguishable pieces of bark... nothing broken down and almost soil like. The size you use can vary, but it should always be an airy and 'pieces' not 'grains'.

[butterfly79]

wow, thank you so much. i had a feeling that the mix could be the issue because I used it on another orchid prior with the same issue. I was very upset because I really didn't want to lose this orchid. Is there anyway to save the orchid at this point?
Can you recommend a website I could order a good mix from?

[RosieC]

But for now, what do you do to save this orchid.

First you need to keep it out of the medium. Remove hollow or mushy roots and see what you have left.

If you have even a small amount of good root (firm root, does not matter about the colour) then it may well be salvageable.

While you get some new medium keep it 'bare root', but you will have to water it every day, or maybe several times a day. When they are bare root you can pretty much water as often as the roots start to dry even slightly and it will not rot (because the air can get to the roots).

I don't know the best place to get medium in Canada, but repotme.com in the USA is meant to be a good one from what I've heard. (I'm in the UK so you don't want to order from my supplier).

Take some pics of the roots that are left and let us take a look to advise you further. If they are too far gone it might be a difficult job to save, if you have even a few it should be possible, but it may depend the effort you want to go to, or whether you would rather just start with a new one and learn from this mistake. Personally I don't give up until something is completely dead, but others will prefer to just 'cut their losses'.

[RosieC]

Ah, looks like I was anticipating/answering your further question while you were writing it

[butterfly79]

Ok, I have removed all the mix. The roots are bad, this is what is left after one week. They are hollow. The leaves are still green and same with the stem? i have no issue trying to save this if it can be saved. I am home right now so I have all the time in the world.

I took a picture of a piece of the bark, you can clearly see the green stuff on it which looks like mold to me. I am very upset about the condition after I worked so hard on this orchid, I even made a humidity tray for it!

[RosieC]

Yeah, that bark looks bad

Ah there any good roots, or are they all hollow. It's difficult to tell from the pic.

[butterfly79]

All the roots are hollow. Is there anything that can be done to spike new roots or is this one done?

[trdyl]

If you want to save it, it is possible. Or start over it is up to you. If you wish to save it cut off the spike and all the dead roots and try water culture. There are several posts about this on OB. If you can add a liquid rooting hormone. It would help. The one I use is Superthrive but also Dynagrow K-L-N is another popular one.

Many people recommend sphag-in-a bag. I have not had success with it.

Another alternative to the usual organic potting media is LECA (Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate) which does not decay.

I use Semi-Hydroponics(S/H) for the way that I grow my Cattleyas and phalaenopsis which uses the LECA. But you can use LECA like you would a bark based media as well.

If you would like to know more about S/H here is a very good link:

Semi-hydroponics Orchid Plants T5 Lighting

[Zoi2]

I would cut the flower spike and try water culture to promote root growth.
Joann