my first orchid surgery...now what?

[SShide77]

Hello,

I have been dreading/putting off repotting and performing 'surgery' on one of my phals because i suspected that it was terribly rotted and frankly, rotted roots gross me out. Anyways, i finally decided that I had to do it because waiting would just make it worse if they were rotted as badly as I had suspected. This phal was two plants in one. When i pulled each out, i found that one was BADLY rotted, the only viable roots were the ones that had grown above the media, The other, seemed to be almost unharmed. A few mushy root ends, which i had expected, but other than that the roots were all firm and either whitish or green, that is a sign of a healthy root, right? On the plant that was very rotted, i cut off all the roots besides the ones that had grown above the media, and poured hydrogen peroxide over the area where roots had been. I potted this one in a mixture of mostly sphagnum with a little bit of fir bark mixed in. Is the only thing I do now to wait? Is there anything I can do to help encourage root growth (besides using superthrive) What is the best thing for me to do for these plants? This phal is one of my favorites and would like to save it if at all possible.

Thanks!
Sarah

[patticake]

Hi! I would say to clean-cut any rot from the roots. Put the plant in a good draining mix of bark, etc. (like Schultze's) Keep an eye on it, and pray! Keep it in a good light source,(bright, indirect) And keep the soil moist, but not soggy! Good luck!!

[kid a]

I second what patty says!

[orchid_girl]

Ditto on what Patti said!! It will take awwhile but it should recover.

[Tobi]

The reason I would go to bark as Patti suggested is that if you mix the sphag with bark,
watering can be tricky. The sphag will retain water longer than the bark and you might
base your watering on the bark not knowing how wet the sphag is around the roots. I
do use this mixture for certain orchids but I make sure the sphag is finely chopped and
evenly distributed with the other media in the mix.

[pikevi]

Further to what patticake and Tobi have suggested , I would probably say that water loss from the leaves should be minimized by increasing the humidity. I have had to rescue many Phals that were bought from stores. I use(d) polyethylene bags/sheets to retain moisture. They have done well.

Good luck.

[PhalPal]

Here is a great link for determining when you orchid needs water, regardless of what you have it planted in:
http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/orc...f-orchids.html