Phal with brown roots - help for Newbie?

[cardigan33]

Sorry for adding another "help!" cry to the list, and many thanks in advance for any who might share their expertise.

I have a Phal that I bought about six weeks ago. Its once green roots have turned brown in many long sections inside the pot, while the roots above the surface are drying and splitting.

I have images on Flickr, if that helps, but can't link them here because I'm new to the forum. One can find them at oldbakehouse [dot] wordpress [dot] com, though, a site for my other hobby.

The orchid has been receiving good, diffuse morning light. Our house is cool but not cold, and it is dry amid the winter season. I'm wondering if I've been over-watering, among other possibilities... And if now I should repot and trim the damaged roots.

[Leafmite]

I always grew phals in lava rock/clay pots and watered often. If they were in anything else, I had trouble keeping them evenly moist. Some ideas of growing successfully with bark or moss include: shallow pot, small pot, net/basket pot, or using styrofoam peanuts in the middle and bottom.
I have a cool house, too. I gave most of my noID (no name, usually what is sold at big box stores) phals away to make space for other plants but I do have a phal equestris growing in small lava rock, basket pot.

---------- Post added at 04:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 PM ----------

Good luck!

[Abbie9]

How often do you water? Moss holds moisture better than other potting mediums, like bark mixes, so it's usually necessary to spread out your watering routine a bit more. With phals in sphagnum moss like this I usually wait until the moss completely dries out before watering again (at least a week). Is the moss really packed into the pot? If so, the roots are probably not getting much air movement, which would contributing to the browning. You could repot, either using a moss/bark mix, or just using moss but making sure it's not compressed into the pot too much so there is airflow. I wouldn't cut the roots unless they look a lot worse than what's in your photos. They look like they can be salvaged as long as you get them out of that constantly wet environment. They won't "un-brown" but they shouldn't rot further and at this point are still contributing to the health of the plant.

[cardigan33]

Thanks for the advice, it's a big help! I was watering once a week for the first month, and then started spacing it out slightly longer (but perhaps the damage was already done.) I have noticed moisture bubbles, looking almost like condensation on the inside of the pot many days after I've watered it, so maybe air movement is a problem.

I did pick up a net pot and an orchid mix of moss, sponge rock and granite (rePotme's classic Phal mix). Perhaps I'll replant, but leave the roots whole.

Many thanks for the help!

[Abbie9]

That sounds like a better mix. Once you get it out of the pot, if you do see roots that have no green left on them at all and are really brown/black, mushy or dried up, I'd get rid of them. But the roots in the photos just looked to be partially brown in the extra wet parts of the pot and still viable in other areas of the same root. It's hard to completely tell from a photo. As long as your plant hasn't started to show outwards signs of being effected by the roots (shriveled leaves, etc), I'd think they're not horrible.

Good thing you caught this before it got worse!

Also, make sure the pot you're using has drainage holes.

[cardigan33]

Okay, got it replanted in the new mix. The old one was simply moss, and it was quite dense and wet. I ditched that and trimmed some roots - once I got inside, there were some in pretty bad shape. It seemed a bit odd, actually, as there was one root that was brown, seriously cracked or split higher up and yet there were what seemed healthy green parts (a couple inches long) at the end. I trimmed the worst of the roots but left one like that which still seemed to have some good life going.

Fingers crossed.

Many thanks again for the speedy advice!

[Abbie9]

Sounds like you did it right! Good luck!