Struggling phal can't make up its mind

[lauraeli]

This one hasn't been doing well basically ever but one day I realized that even though I must have bought it in bloom, I have no idea which phal it is. Unlike every single one of my other phals.

Strangely, it resembles one which I really liked but was always sad about because I swear it died. Now, try as I may, I can't specifically remember that one dying. But I thought it was dead this whole time.

Anyway. The curiosity bug bit me hard and I have been babying this thing for the last six weeks-ish. It responded by putting out a new leaf. A small, pathetic leaf (shhh don't tell it), but one that was growing rather quickly up until it changed its mind and started growing from the base. I thought, yay new roots!

Nope.

As much as the lower growth looks like a root in the photo, it doesn't look at all like a root irl. It must be a keiki starting out. The upper growth better not be a flower spike but, sadly, I am convinced that it is.

Now, it does finally have a green bulge on the other side which will almost certainly be a root. I haven't given it any alcohol but, go home chid, you're drunk!

What kind of phal puts out a new leaf, a keiki, a flower spike, and a root in the same couple of months? Is this thing destined for the landfill or can it be saved?

[jkofferdahl]

There's a whole lot that could be going on here, some good and some not so good. I'll start with the worst-case scenario. Sometimes an orchid will do its best to throw a spike and bloom as a list-ditch effort to reproduce, essentially before it dies. That's always a possibility with a struggling plant. Both of the protruberances in your photo could be either keikis or flower stems; for the moment I'd ignore them.

That said, I don't think your orchid should die. I'm concerned about the roots. Other than the possible root coming from the back side in your photo I can't see anything. The pot the plant is in is one designed to transport a plant, the sphagnum holds a lot of moisture to keep it from drying our in shipment. Given the pot and medium in use, it's likely that the roots have developed some rot from excessive moisture, even though the moss looks dry in the pic. I'd suggest repotting in a terra cotta pot and using large chunk orchid bark. Between waterings the medium needs to dry completely, at which point you rewater.

Good luck!

[lauraeli]

The phal has maybe three good roots, enough to sustain it but but nothing impressive. The pot it is in is fine, it is a 3 inch slatted pot which my two minis are happy in. The sphagnum is fresh and dries out to be watered twice a week. The roots are not in a state of rot currently, it just doesn't have very many. Hopefully it will forget about the other growths and focus on roots! I've probably had this phal for a couple years now, I treat it the same as the others but really it has been in need of tlc for at least as far back as I can recall, and I'm not sure exactly how far that is. A year?

[lauraeli]

Just an update, I've pulled this chid from its pot, removed the medium and placed it in a hospital tank. It has been in there 4 or 5 days. Since then it has begun to sprout a new leaf. Two of the growths at the base have shriveled, one continues to grow, still unidentified. Unpotting it uncovered two other growths, one a new root starting, the other either a keiki or a flower spike. It has only two roots but is doing a lot of growing right now.

To sum it up, since I started babying it a couple months ago, it has sprouted 2 leaves, 4 spikes/keikis, and one root. Its in a hurry to do something but I'm not really sure what

[Orchid Whisperer]

Lower growth - definitely a root.
Upper growth - definitely a spike.

Not sure what you mean by hospital tank?

If it were mine, I'd put it in a small terracotta pot with bark and water a little more frequently.

[lauraeli]

The lower growths arent roots. The ones in the picture are/were either flower spikes or keikis but one has shriveled since the photo.

There is a root starting out on the other side, I pulled away part of the lower leaf sheath the other day to help it emerge.

Currently it has two keikis (most likely), a root, and a leaf growing.

This one has not done well in bark, it did not do well in 50/50 bark and sphagnum, it hasn't improved enough in just sphagnum. The only thing left to try is bare root.

This phal has been struggling so long that I can't even remember it when it was healthy. It is now basically living in a five gallon terrarium.

[lauraeli]

Here is a new picture of the lower growth from the first picture. As you can see, its not a root. Unfortunately.

[Roberta]

I would suggest, pot it up, water like you do the others, and just watch it. It could be trying "all of the above" to see what works, it wants to survive. Don't keep handling and disturbing it, to give it the best chance to live.

[lauraeli]

Potted up and cared for like the others, thats what I've been doing this whole time. It has only declined for the past year, or longer. Hence the thread.

It hadnt shown any improvement at all up until the past couple months, when I decided to start giving it special attention.

---------- Post added at 05:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:27 PM ----------

Ive never brought one back once it began to decline, but this one has been hanging on for quite a while even in such a sorry state, and it does seem to want to live. Hopefully I can bring it back to health by this time next year and have a better idea of how it likes to be treated.

[lauraeli]

Update, mystery phal is loving terrarium life. What are these fast moving white specks on the underside of the leaf? Probably not spider mites, too humid, and no webbing. Possibly benign? I don't have a magnifying glass