Phal Help Please -salvageable?

[Traci]

Thanks everyone. The leaf has more than doubled in size but no roots yet. I used a little more superthrive and sprayed the leaves really well and even the crown and then dried it off really well. I ordinarily would never water or spray there but running out of options. Don't know if just more patience is in order or not.

[Carolla]

Oh definitely, stay patient. If the leaves are growing, the roots will follow and the plant is trying to recover. Give it a chance - orchids just take forever.

[moniluhum]

Hi Traci. This is Monica. I live in New Orleans as well. Orchid Society convenes every 3rd Tues of the month. I have had two situations in which the phals had rotten roots. The first one had somewhat healthy leaves but rotten roots. I tried the sphagnum/bag method and the phal died anyway. The other had shriveled leaves and rotten roots. I decided to just repot it in orchiata/charcoal/and perlite and water only when the medium was dry. This is what it looks like. I grow it under artificial light. This may not help you, but since we live in the same area maybe this is another option. Glad to have a member that also live in New Orleans. Don't often go to meeting (schedule issues) but I hope to see you there sometime.

[ksriramkumar]

Concur with Carol. be patient and sure it would turn around.

[Traci]

Thank you Carol, Monica, and ksriramkumar. I looked at the little guy yesterday and he is getting a new leaf as well as TWO new roots! I am elated.
@ Monica, I do plan on going to the orchid meetings as my schedule allows. Goodness knows I have much to learn.
I now have a few more questions: How long to I keep the phal in the New Zealand Sphagnum? I don't want to shock it by putting in the bark, cork, hydroton mix too early. Also I am transitioning my orchids to the bark, hydroton, cork, perlite, spaghnum mixes. I watered one two days ago and already the sphagnum seems crunchy and the mix seems just about dry. Is this normal? When I use spaghnum I find the orchids stay wet much too long (can be over two weeks) so thought the bark mix would be better in this hot humid weather.

[Carolla]

First off, congrats that your orchid looks so much better! I'd say just leave it alone and keep doing what you are doing until its much recovered. No hurry!

As for the orchids in mixes... adjust the mix and the amount of sphagnum in the mix until the plants need watering at the rate you want to water. For me, where it is quite dry and I water infrequently, I use a fair amount of sphagnum to keep some moisture. I wouldn't want them to stay wet for two weeks though. Is the plant still damp down under a bit? That is what you are looking for. When they are dry down under an inch or so, then water.

I personally let mine dry out pretty well, then soak them. That may not be the best choice for everyone though. So much depends on your climate, humidity, temperatures, type of pot, etc. I'm pretty sure mine would do better with a bit more water and light than I give them, but they survive and most of them bloom at least every other year and that's enough for me to be happy.

[ksriramkumar]

Congrats on the recovery. Excellent advice from carol. allow phal to recover (grow healthy roots) and then we can decide to move to a suitable media.

[Traci]

My phal is continuing to look great. It has even bigger leaves and three roots now. One is growing into the pot but the other two are not. One is growing straight up and the other traveled the length of the pot and appears to be growing up the side of the pot instead of down into the pot. Should I cover that root with some spaghnum to try to get it to grow down or just let it grow up and over?

[Carolla]

I usually just let them do what they want, they are easily damaged if you mess with them. You can mist the roots daily though to give your plant more water. I've been told they will look to anchor the plant by spreading out, seems reasonable to me.

[Traci]

Thanks Carol. I guess that would be reasonable to me considering they would branch out On a tree in nature. I will let him do what he wants. He is still In a fish tank but I have taken the plastic wrap off of the top and now just mist the walls of the tank daily and make sure the moss I put at the bottom stays wet. I have him above the bottom on an inverted bowl in his own pot of moss.