paph with no good roots

[crittermom]

So I've started to look more closely at the orchids I got such a deal on, and at least one of the paphs (maybe two) has no good roots. They were all rotten and dead. The plants are wilty, but they don't look like the plants themselves are rotted. Is there any hope to get a paph to re-root? Any advice on how to do it? I sure hope I can get her growing again, because it should be a beautiful flower.
Thanks in advance!

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by crittermom

...at least one of the paphs (maybe two) has no good roots. They were all rotten and dead. ... Is there any hope to get a paph to re-root? Any advice on how to do it?

It's possible but difficult in my opinion and it depends on what kind of Paph it is. Some come back better than others.

It is important to learn why the roots rotted, otherwise you're likely to repeat the mistake. The common causes of rotten Paph roots:

Is the mix fresh? Phals like to be repotted and it's best to repot every year.
Have they dried out? Letting a Paph dry out can damage roots which then root when they're moist again.
Have they been over watered or sat in water? Paphs like to be gently and evenly moist, never soggy and never dry.

Personally I do not use the sphag and bag method for Paphs (some do with success though). I find the plant just rots in a bag. When I find a paph with no roots, or a paph that is wobbly in the pot (a sign of root loss) I immediately repot in the mix I normally use and try to pay careful atention to my culture.

[mayres]

I've gotten a couple of maudiae type paphs to reroot and they are now doing well - they had literally no roots at all. They lost their roots because of my early culture and not repotting early enough. On the other hand I have received a few paphs in the mail that were in terrible condition -slightly wilty and horrible roots - they did not do so well and didn't make it. I agree with Kevin - combination of which type of orchid it is and what caused it to get that way to start with and how far gone beyond just root loss - wilty leaves, etc. I've done well using coir on my rootless paphs but I'm sure other media types would potentially work well too. Good luck!

[crittermom]

The two that are in trouble are:
paph Angela (niveum x fairrieanum)
paph Eric Meng x Mod Maude

the paph Angela is wilty with no roots at all.
The eric meng is not wilty, actually has a bloom starting, and has 1 small root, the rest are all gone. There is one tiny growth on the roots that remain in the pot (like 1 cm tall) that looks okay. Should I put in coconut husk then? Should I maybe set up a small terrarium to up the humidity so they don't dry out? I want these to live sooo badly.

Thanks for the advice so far, and anyone else with advice, Please HELP!!

[dtje2000]

I will give you this as a last ditch alternative after you've exhausted everyone else's advice and your plant fails to respond... After I abused and lost a paph due to my own ignorance I tossed it into a flower bed and it was subsequently covered with a couple of inches of eucalyptus mulch last fall (keep in mind I'm in the Fort Lauderdale area of Florida). I completely forgot about it. While putzing about the yard yesterday I saw what I at first thought was volunteer "mother-in-law's tongue"...upon closer inspection I was flabbergasted to see it was the paph...and I mean it looks GREAT!!! I'm still in shock... Thus, the point: if you get to that moment of tossing it out, toss it somewhere shady and pile a couple of inches of eucalyptus mulch on it....then forget it till just before your first freeze...you may very well find you have something to bring inside! Good luck!

[LouisW]

Oh thats a good story dtje2000!

I read an article in Orchid Digest magazine a couple of months ago on getting Paphs to root. A couple used large perlite (1/2 to 3/4 in chunks), instead of LECA in SemiHydroponic. They did the experiment with forty or fifty Paphs and this method seemed to turn out really good results.

That said I dont think there is any magic method. Whatever you do, patience is going to be the most important ingredient. If it were me I might try this perlite method or i might just pot it up and make sure it doesn't dry. Keep it away from bright light, temp extremes and other stresses.

[crittermom]

I'm sorry, but what is LECA? I've never done semi/hyrdroponic, but if it might help, I would love to try. I'll try to read some threads on it. Thanks for that recommendation Louis, and if they look like there is no hope, I will definately try dtje2000's method (but where can you get eucalyptus mulch?)

[dtje2000]

crittermom, I got my mulch at Lowes...it's the mulch I use around the yard...I know that cypress mulch is routinely available and may work just as well. Some folks do not advocate buying cypress mulch because of conservation concerns; I just like the eucalyptus and have never heard anyone say it's a harvest issue. Avoid pine anything, though. I think pine may be a bit too acidic for orchid use.

[LouisW]

LECA is Light expanded clay aggregate. It is the little round clay balls usually used in hydroponic growing.

Ill reread the article and go into detail a little more when im done with finals this week.

[Plucky Purcell]

I have a paph that I've been trying to save for about 6 months now. Same story as yours, no roots at all when I finally noticed it. I have had good luck with sphag in a very small pot in side a my make-shift terraium which consists of a large tupperware on a heating pad with a piece of plastic wrap on top. Over the course of 4 months I was able to get 3 new growths and 7 new roots. Then I tried to shift it over to S/H and was succesful in rubbing off all the growing tips on the roots which then promptly rotted. So now it's back in sphag and showing signs of life again, two new root tips! I still hope to get it into S/H but well wait until the roots are much longer this time!

[mayres]

Check out this link for a little hope!
http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/gen...ots-yikes.html