Philanopsis can it be saved

[ALi-C]

Lol it's ok it's all interesting as until I found out about the stem dying I didn't know you couldn't get them blue lol but I've learnt a lot now and won't be buying any stem dyed orchids in the future. They are pretty in there natural colours

[Carolla]

One last thing, Ali - chances are the plant died from the conditions it was kept in before you got it, as they are notorious for not knowing how to care for orchids in most of the places that sell the inexpensive Phals. Be sure if you get one at a grocery store or big box store that its not sitting in water, has drainage, the leaves look good with none of them starting that rot at the base at the bottom. Over 90% of those will be sold stuffed in moss in a little plastic pot inside of one that doesn't drain - to re-pot pretty much immediately when you get them home is generally a good idea! As you know (or are learning) orchid roots need to breathe! Don't despair, I'm sure you will learn to soon save most of them anyway!

[ALi-C]

Yea it was from a store. I'm not sure if it was sat in water or not as it was bought for me. But repotting is going to be a good thing to do if I am unsure of its previous care. I normally buy from garden centres when I get for myself.
After this poor little orchid. I'm unsure if the mix I have my others in is the best for them it did say it was for philanopsis orchids but there's not much air around the roots so what is the best potting medium to use. And even tho I know it's best to repot after flowering has finished can they be repotted while the spikes are growing and while there in bloom????
They look ok they are growing new roots and leaves.

[Carolla]

If the media is compacted or small, be sure it is dry down inside before watering again. Perhaps you can post pictures to let us know just what you are using? I use a pretty open bark, packed firmly, and add in sphagnum moss to help retain moisture, as I live in a very dry climate and don't water as often as I probably should. Phals will usually tolerate re-potting while blooming, but don't be too quick, get plenty of (confusing!) advice, then determine what you think will work for you, in your situation. Is your climate dry? Damp? Do you water often, or only every week or two? Is there good air movement to dry them out? Bright or low light? Each situation is individual and you will have to experiment a bit to find what suits you personally. If you have several, you might try one of them potted differently than the others and see how it works for you. Watch for signs of trouble.

Also, orchids have the cool ability to grow roots that are suited to the environment they grow in, the roots will be physically different depending on moisture, media, etc. So, when you re-pot them, it is common for the old roots to slowly die off as the new, fresh media is different from the old, more broken down stuff. They will need to grow new roots. Some people re-pot Phals every year so the change is less drastic - they really are pretty tough in my experience. Mine are all out of whack, as I broke my arm badly just over a year ago and was really out of commission for a long time. I was a bit lazy before that and some are 2 - 3 years in the same pot/media. I'm going to try to get entirely caught up this winter, but I need to find more large pots with lots of drainage for some of them!

To encourage new roots, get some kelp based rooting stimulant, works great to put out a flush of new roots in a couple of weeks. I think I'll treat mine, then come back and re-pot just as soon as the new root tips start to show... not sure why I didn't think of that before!

[ALi-C]

O ok that's good. The media I I have doesn't seem right to me. When people talk about the media they use it sounds very Barry mine is very composty.



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This is what I currently have

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Barkie not Barry lol

[sciencegal]

It does look too "composty". If you put rotting roots in that it would be hard to dry them out between waterings which they need.

Here is what I do not only with phals with rotten roots but with any phal now. I do not put them in media. Here is Phal Sogo Yukidian. I bought it about 2 1/2 months ago. It had 3 spikes about 4" long. It was in a soft plastic pot in moss. The outside roots looked good. I took it out and put in this container the day it got here. Some of the roots in middle were white and quickly dried up. They looked like they were its "baby" roots. A few of the long roots were in the small amount of water at the bottom. They rotted at the ends so I removed them. I have been soaking all of the roots when it looks like they need it which at first was at least once a week. It just got a good soaking yesterday, the first in about 2 weeks and I probably could have waited another few days. The rest of the roots have gotten fat and very green. The spikes are now over a foot long and beginning to form buds.





This happens with all of the phals that I am growing this way - which is all of them. The healthy old roots and the new roots get very fat, deep green in color and hold water for a long time.

I made a deal with the big blue "W" store that I would buy all of the phals once the blossoms were dead if they would mark them down to 75% of their original price. I got about 12 minis that were $1.99 about a month ago and just got 11 standards for $2.50. They all had nice terra cotta outer pots so they were worth the price. I couldn't see having those pots thrown away which is what they would have done let alone a perfectly healthy orchid.

They are my guinea pigs for trying different ways of rescuing them by keeping them bare root. They had been sitting on a shelf for at least a month or more in soggy moss. They keep them in their cellophane wrapper so they do not have a chance to dry out, which in a way is good because they do not get dehydrated but the roots are pretty bad. I convinced the floral manager to not water them like she was thinking of doing.

The first attempt with the minis did not work too well. I tried keeping 1/4 of the roots in water right from the start. They were already infected, rotted more and infected the rest. I am now working to get new roots growing by keeping them bare root and soaking twice a week for overnight. New roots are popping out on most. This one has grown two new roots.




The newest batch of 11 I started out keeping them dry then soaking twice a week. While some of the roots are dying, they are keeping enough to stay hydrated. Once I get rid of the dying roots the healthy ones should perk up and they should start growing new ones and I hope to slowly wean them to partial water culture with 1/4 of the roots in water all of the time. If I had potted them up like I used to do the roots would continue to rot.

I think this is a good way to save them since I can see the roots, provide lots of air around the roots and only water when they look dry. I heard someone with experience say that that it's not that they like to have their roots dry between watering, it is that they need to dry out.

And, I do this if they are in bud or bloom. I got this phal in the mail 2 or 3 weeks ago. It had two open blossoms, lots of buds although several had blasted in the mail. I took it out of the moss the day it got here. All of the remaining buds have opened and the three spike branches still have growing tips so I should have it in bloom for a long time. It did not mind it at all, in fact the two open blossoms looked kind of beat up but are now full and healthy.



It takes a few months or more to begin to get healthy roots. Although I think the phal can grow this way forever, if I had some burning desire to bury the roots again I could and probably have better success than I used to have when I potted them but I have no reason to do that.

Orchid roots are beautiful. I like to see them.

[Carolla]

That's very interesting! I've had good luck using the Semi-Hydro methods for Phals that aren't thriving in my regular culture and would consider moving them all over - except some of mine are decades old and I have a terrible time finding ANY pots for them to grow in! I need some 10" to 12" pots for many of them. I do let mine dry out and I live in a dry climate, once they acclimate, they thrive.

Here is a picture of one of the big ones taking a soak in my sink... that's a couple of years old, need to take a new one! It doesn't fit in the sink any more...

[sciencegal]

If they are thriving in large pots like yours I wouldn't change a thing. The water culture is different from semi-hydro for one thing I don't have to buy the media and I think the roots get more air this way.

[Carolla]

Yes, agreed. I didn't make it clear that the Semi-Hydro is different from the water culture, its just the one I've been trying as an alternative and not necessarily the best one for Phals! In any case, I'm about to see if the local High School art teacher will teach me how to make pots for my orchids and let me fire them at the school, because its so darn hard to find them! Then I'll do a regular culture in those! I don't know where I'd find a vase big enough to try water culture with the big plants after all. I do think its an interesting concept and it obviously works well for you!