HELP!!! I think my orchid's sick!

[Eyebabe]

Definitely cut the spikes off with a sterile razor blade down as far as you can, preferably at least one inch into good healthy tissue.
Your leaves look wilted as well which indicates a root problem...you should probably repot into a fresh media and treat with some Physan 20 which is a broad spectrum anti-fungal/anti-bacterial.

[Dillymint]

Hi Rosie - thanks for all your help with this.
I'll cut the yucky parts off now.
It always had 2 spikes until about a year ago when one shrivelled up so I cut it off.
I will cut the main spike off as you've advised - do I cut it right down to the bottom where it comes out from the leaves (the crown??).
Also, would now be a good time to repot it into proper orchid compost, or will cutting and repotting at the same time be too much of a shock for it?
Many thanks!

[RosieC]

Anyway, on the health of the Phal it's self, I would say it does look very limp and dehydrated.

Dehydration occurs when the plant cannot get enough water BUT that does NOT mean you should water it more. Dehydration is as likely (or actually more likely in climates like the UK) to be caused by over watering which leads to root rot, than by underwatering.

I will come back to my earlier question which you may have missed while concentrating on the mushy spike... has it been repotted since you got it. If not then it is WAY overdue to be repotted and you may find that the roots have deteriorated as a result.

You want to get some high quality bark mix. I would NOT recomend the stuff from the garden center or other local store (unless you happen to be close to a specialist orchid nursary). I have found that this can be already decayed before you get it (due to the low turn-over at regular stores) and has actually been the cause of root loss in some of my Phals. I use www.orchidaccesories.com which sells good high quality products. In my experience it is worth the postage cost to get the good quality stuff.

If you have had this a long time it is unlikely you have root rot due to overwatering, but it is possible. I would perhaps be inclined to take a look at the roots, ease the media/roots out the pot then as you have not yet got replacement medium repot in the existing stuff (that is unless you notice it smells in which case you may be better off leaving it bare root for a while.

If the roots are firm then they are good. If they are hollow/mushy they are bad. Just because you can see good roots on the outside of the pot, they may be the only ones, so you want to check inside.

You want to remove the bad ones and just leave the good ones. If that means there are not many left then let us know and we can advise what to do next. It might help to take pics of what the roots are like so we can give the best advice.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Please check the roots. I think there may be root rot happening. Are the roots really as large as the pot you have it in?

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Dillymint

Hi Rosie - thanks for all your help with this.
I'll cut the yucky parts off now.
It always had 2 spikes until about a year ago when one shrivelled up so I cut it off.
I will cut the main spike off as you've advised - do I cut it right down to the bottom where it comes out from the leaves (the crown??).
Also, would now be a good time to repot it into proper orchid compost, or will cutting and repotting at the same time be too much of a shock for it?
Many thanks!

Usually I would cut the spikes a lot sooner than you have, 7 years is a long time. I actually cut most of mine back as soon as the first flowers fade, but others here prefer to leave them a while. I think cutting it back all the way will help this recover (as close to the bottom as possible without damaging the leaves). If you choose to leave it then at least cut back in to the healthy part of the stem below that rot to ensure none of it is left. As I said above use cinnamon to dab on the cut (the stuff you put in cooking) and as Eyebabe said you should use a sterile cutting tool.

[RosieC]

I'm probably going to end up overwhelming you with information, so once you have the spike sorted come back an re-read so you don't miss other tips from both me and others. Also some of it you may already know... after all this guy has already lived a long while for you (longer than I've had any of mine).

Anyway, there were a couple of more things I wanted to mention.

1) As Philip has said... what is your pot size. When you repot (and yes I DO recomend repotting ASAP... just see my advise above about quality medium) you want to use a pot which is just big enough for the good roots. If it is too big the medium will stay damp too long, which can also lead to rot.

2) Do you fertilise. If yes, do you flush. If you have had the plant a long time and don't fertilise it may be getting weak due to lack of nutrition. If you have been fertilising but don't flush it may have got a build up of nutrient salts in the medium which can then poison the roots. What you should be doing is fertilising 'Weekly weakly' and then once a month give a good flush through the medium with lots of water to rince out all the fertiliser salts which have built up.

3. How do you water. How do you decide when to water next. You should water with plenty of water at a time BUT make sure it is not left standing in water for more than a few minutes. Make sure it drains thoroughly after watering. If you have a clear pot you can tell when to water again by the colour of the roots. Silvery means dry green means wet. Otherwise people use things like wooden skewers to test if the medium low down is wet or dry, or learn to judge by the weight of the pot. It is NOT a good idea to just water on a set schedule (especially with the very hot dry weather in the UK recently as mine have needed a lot more water during that).

[Dillymint]

Thanks everyone. Will follow your advise re. sterile cutting tool and cinnamon.
I've never repotted this orchid, and having just taken it out of the pot, my money's on root rot. Even I can see they're in an awful state, and several have stayed behind in the pot.
There seems to be 4 short roots with bright green tips that appear OK. The rest are either dry and shrivelled, or soft and mushy. 2 have a black fury coating.
I'll cut off all the nasty roots and just leave the good ones. As one good root is coming off a manky one, I'll be left with 3 decent roots - will this be enough?
Photo attached

[RosieC]

Yes it is enough Leave the two top silvery ones even if they don't have green tips, then you have the three with green tips.

Your plant might suffer while it recovers from the loss of root... but the green tips are a very good sign and I reckon this guy can survive.

[Dillymint]

Thanks ever so much Rosie and eveyone. This orchid is very special to me and I really appreciate your time and advice in trying to get it back to health. Many, many thanks :-)

[RosieC]

If you do get media from the website I recomended above, get some of his 8cm pots (you will have to get 10 unfortunately but seeing as you can pay a quid+ per pot in garden centers and he charges a couple of quid for 10 it's worth getting.

The 8cm will probably even be overkill for the amount of root you have left, but you will want it to be in a smaller pot than it's in now. I have one or two phals with bad roots in his 7cm pots but those are very very tiny.

If you can't get the top two roots (the ones without green tips) in the pot then don't worry and leave them as arial roots, you are better to get a smaller size for the other three then go too big.

Small pots seems to really work for me. I kept trying other methods such as packing out the pot with packing peanuts, or other inert medium and it just didn't seem to work (although others here have had success doing that). I've had several which lost roots when put in the low qualtity medium from my local garden center (as I mentioned above) and they didn't really get going again until this year when every one went in the smallest pot I could get it's roots in... now every one of them has masses of new root & leaf growth.

[Edit] forgot to say that the pot size needs to reflect the root mass, not the leaf size. If that causes problems with it overbalancing then use an outer cover pot which is bigger to help support it.[/Edit]