Saved a sad phal from Lowe's...now what?

[amandarenee]

Ok, so I haven't had my own orchids that long, but have done a lot of reading about caring for them (phals in particular). I recently purchased my first phal at the local grocery store that always has really nice plants and flowers. It's a wonderfully hardly little thing, probably 14" high with two big stalks covered in buds and blooms (with lots of branches!), and a third stalk working it's way up.

But while I was at Lowe's today grabbing some sphagnum moss and orchid fertilizer, I saw a few sad, half-dead phals on their 75% off shelf. "$3 for an orchid? Count me in!" I said to myself, and picked the one that looked most likely to recover. It was in a glazed pot, so first thing when I got home I pulled it, loosed the PACKED sphag, and re-potted it in an unglazed terracotta pot that the plant fit in to with very little wiggle room. The roots were still nice and healthy looking. Then I soaked the pot in water until the sphag was damp, and put in in my living room where the other phal lives, where there is plenty of bright indirect light.

I was wondering if I should fertilize it, or just leave the poor dear alone? It has one sad little stalk still attached (flowers long fallen off, so it will be a surprise when I get this guy to bloom again!), I planned on letting it dry out on it's own vs. risking introducing bacteria by cutting it off. The leaves are very dark green, thin, and wrinkled, but I have confidence it will make it if I care for it correctly. Any advice?

[BobInBonita]

With phals, dark green leaves usually mean they haven't been getting enough light. If it doesn't lighten up in a week or two where you have it, try to gradually move it to slightly brighter light.

The thin leave could be the same reason, but the wrinkled is much more troubling. Wrinkled leaves are not enough water being taken in - either because the media was very dry, or because there is a root issue.

I normally leave the spike in case of rebloom, but with the wrinkled leaves I would take it off. Just cut it with a clean sharp blade close to the base.

Weak (very dilute) fertilizer won't hurt anything.

You said the roots were healthy. Could you describe them? I'm still suspicious because of the wrinkled leaves.

[amandarenee]

They were still fairly plump, a light green color, some with white tips. That's what my healthy phal's roots look like, along with every other orchid I've encountered in person (except one that had nasty, rotten black ones :P). I assumed this was a healthy state for orchid roots?

It's obvious the poor thing wasn't getting enough water, the sphag moss it was in was bone dry. I assume this is the cause of the wrinkly leaves, since that's basic plant care knowledge. They aren't shriveled, just a bit limp and lackluster. Once I saw the roots I figured the plant was salvageable.

I'll cut the spike off today, and give it some fertilizer once it's ready to be watered again (usually every 2-3 days in my house, even in the winter). Thanks for the help.

[camille1585]

Looks like you were lucky and got a phal in bad shape from underwatering instead of overwatering! If the roots are as nice as they sound from your discription, then there's no reason for it to not make a full recovery. With regular watering you should see an improvement in the leaves within a few weeks. Keep in mind that sometimes dyhydrated leaves will never fully plump up again, so if in a few months they're still a bit limp and wrinkled it doesn't mean that you've done a bad job!