Help! Dying orchid?

[Christina]

Hi, I just replanted my phal 4 days ago because the media was really starting to deteriorate and i noticed some rotted roots. When i replanted, i did everything so carefully and precise. I used PHYSAN 20 to sterilize my appliances and area and even sprayed a little of it on the roots in whichi cut to prevent infection. I also used a little cinnamon also.

Well, I repotted it in sphagnum moss and used 3 styrofoam peanuts to place towards the interior of the plant. Now... my beautiful flowers are folding in on themselves and look like they are drying up and are weak.

Did i kill my plant?!! please help. Are there any precautions i should be taking after repotting... like should i keep him away from his normal sunny window?

please, i am really upset

[brookn]

Your bud have blasted likely due to a change in location (when you brought it home), and the repot. It happens, it's sad but it happens. Please remember that sphag takes a while to dry out, so don't overwater. Also make sure the sphag is not packed super tight around the roots. I use sphag on some of my Phals, and they love it. Other members here however hate it, because it can stay too moist, causing the roots to rot.

Here are a couple of links for you in case you have not seen them. I use the skewer method for sphag and it works well for me.

Skewer use for watering of orchids

AOS | Phalaenopsis

[mayres]

Good advice from brookn.
You most likely did nothing wrong. I find this a particulary difficult time to keep phal blooms nice for a long period of time due to ever changing temperature conditions - no air conditioning and temp flucts from approximately 60-100 where I live.
Most of these phals come from controlled environments and then when we put them in our homes they often loose their blooms in the aclimation period. Good air movement and raising the local humidity with pebble trays and doing all you can to cut out the temperature extremes will help prolong your blooms.
Buds blasting has very little to do with the health of your overall plant - you are most likely in good shape. This may had little to do with the repot - hard to tell for sure. Most of us can repot plants in flower with little ill effect - but this is not 100% either.

[PhalPal]

If you had some healthy roots (round, green or white, firm) and your leaves are nice and firm I wouldn't worry about the overall health of your Phal. Many of us repott new plants immediately for good reason and it is worth losing a few flowers before their time, as hard as that may be.

[Christina]

Thanks for the advice everyone!
But, do you think I should cut the spike? Once all the blooms have fallen off, should i leave the spike as-is or cut it? And if so, where should i cut?

[janet_a]

if it were my plant, i wouldn't cut it, i'd just leave it and let it either branch out or dry up on its own. repotting is stressful; blooming is stressful too. i'd just leave it and let it recover from potting and hope for a nice show next year.

[Christina]

ok, thanks janet a! Ill just give it a rest. I didn't want to have to cut it in the first place. Hopefully it will recover or be healthy and beautiful next year!

Thanks everyone!