[bellc]

I've had a Phal for a few weeks that was doing well, except one leaf was crinkly and somewhat limp. It was potted in a tiny clear plastic pot (with drain slits) and then placed in a lava rock, presumably for decoration, with spagham moss around the top of the hole to cover the opening. I'm new to orchids and didn't know it was inside this tiny clear plastic pot.

My neighbor came over the other night who has some limited experience with orchids. She took the tiny pot out of the lava rock and decided the clear plastic pot was way too small (it was half the size of my other clear pots not in lava rock containers). She gently removed the orchid from the pot and began to perform "gentle surgery" without my permission...she started snipping off dead roots and getting rid of "garbage" in the potting medium. The "garbage" looked like dried moss and some other fibrous materials (she threw this away).

After she did this, she placed the Phal back in its pot, but it clearly didn't have enough bark, so the next day I had no choice but to go to the store and buy the only orchid mix they had, which is 100% fir bark. I also purchased a small terra cotta orchid pot with slits on the side and bottom. I wet the fir bark, placed some in the terra cotta pot, and gently placed the orchid in the 100% fir bark medium, surrounding it with the remainder of the dampened bark. It's a dainty Phal and didn't have an elaborate root system remaining after she cut off the ?dead? roots, so it seems to just be "resting" in the medium for now. Is 100% fir bark medium sufficient? I can't press it down any firmer without risk of harming it.

Somehow I feel the plant is doomed now...although it looks fine so far. It's only been one day. Is it sure to die? How soon will I know if it will be okay? There are still three or four buds left to open and all the flowers look fine, but it has only been one day.